SD Gundam Scad Hammers [import] review

Start talking about mecha and most people will probably picture a heaving Islamic mass pilgrimage, as opposed to hulking great mechanical exoskeletons doing battle in a futuristic landscape. You see, to the uninitiated there are few things less welcoming than Gundam - a writhing mass of franchises and back-story that refuses to stop for breath and explain itself. All of which makes Scad Hammer s’ accessibility such a pleasant surprise.

Set in the SD - that’s Super Deformed - Gundam universe, it presents the usual mix of upgradeable battle suits and mecha smackdowns, only with a cartoon-y twist as once gleaming towers of robotic excellence are reduced to cute stumpy cel-shaded tusslers. It in no way pushes the Wii graphically - levels are semi-isometric 3D arenas consisting of identical rooms full of identical dwarven foes to bash - but in the tiny wiggling limbs of supposedly mighty death-bringing machines there is undeniable charm.