New GUNDAM BREAKER Review – A Broken Breaker

New GUNDAM BREAKER? More like Harem Builder 101. From the unusually bad reviews from the Japanese gamers to the comments and posts all over the internet, the new gundam breaker game seems to be receiving a lot of hate… and I get it. It’s not a proper sequel to the amount of fun we all had playing the previous one. Whether it’s the over-the-top, completely insane, overpowered gunpla builds that destroys even the toughest of foes to the coolest and flashy screenshots of fully decked out gunpla to make any fan drool… well at least the latter part is still accessible.

Unlike my usual reviews let’s just address this right now so we can all go our separate ways. OP builds are a thing in the past right now with the “new” system the game has taken. The usual stat-boosting elements which can even be further maxed out after merging parts has been completely scrapped. Every part doesn’t even level up anymore that provided a fighting edge on your second visit to a previous mission. Builder parts that provide optional equipment use is out. Missions are now timed and score-based and every map has been remade. The game doesn’t even have vehicles now… with catapults and portals that doesn’t provide much to the hardcore walkathon I have to do every mission because of the annoyingly bad quests from killing neutral enemies to even more neutrals. It’s a 3v3 right? So why am I being required to kill anything but the actual enemies? Killing an enemy doesn’t provide points unless it’s an active quest and the only reason you’d want to kill an enemy is to halt their progress towards active quests. I know I hated the some of the mission types in Gundam Breaker 3 but I didn’t expect I would hate this one more. And that’s because there’s only two types… Pair and 3v3 Missions. With each one doing the same thing but Pair Missions requires you to finish a main quest in order to succeed on it. It’s repetitive as fuck and I’m usually okay with that.

Meanwhile real-time customization, a feature that looks good on paper but a feature much better left alone. As you can only hold a few parts at any given time, it really doesn’t help as much as you’d hope for considering the amount of gear and enemy drops that it gets hectic which one to keep and which to drop. Inner frames… while it does provide some sort of class-based role system, learning each skill and leveling them for better effects takes a really long time. EX Skills are your main damage dealers, buffs and movement skills to provide a better range of flexibility in battles but are fixed towards the piece of gear and cannot be transferred to others. At this point all you’re really doing is running as fast as you can, a no scope shooting frenzy on containers that makes you level up your inner frames to unlock your EX Skills, then do quests as they come… as enemies will also be racing with you to steal some points and if ever you even have time to rest, grab some parts and store them in your team chest in order to even get new ones at the end of every match unless of course you don’t mind spending from 10,000 to 100,000 GP for each part in the gunpla store which is hella expensive considering you only get quite a few everytime. And forget about bounty hunter from GB3 because it’s not even an option here.

I was hoping to talk about the story but that can wait! While there are a few… and that’s a huge understatement considering the long-ass paragraphs above… so where was I? Oh right! A few negatives to the 4^th game in the series despite not being considered as a proper Gundam Breaker 4, it does have its strengths and one of them being a very accessible game. Since there isn’t any leveling involved aside from inner frame which to clarify does revert to level one every start of the mission, it can be a balanced gameplay through PvP mode which is the main focus anyway. Although “balanced” is very subjective here as the gameplay itself is utter trash. FPS issues, stuttering and the delayed animation in response to input is not something I’d like to see on a game that focuses on fast-paced action especially since it’s a PvP-focused game. While single-player is an option for loners like I am, the friendly AI has never been very helpful towards early-game with all three enemies rushing towards my ever lonesome gunpla and decides to lock me in a continuous combo juggle ‘til death. And I wouldn’t mind dying to create some space for them to get an edge towards the quest but nah, most times, they dance the cha-cha going back and forth like some very confused by-stander thinking whether to leave me to die or help. And like I mentioned, there’s no scope making shooting containers a tad bit harder than it needs to be.

But wait! Wasn’t I supposed to put in the good things about it? Well sadly there’s not a lot and when I say not a lot, there’s absolutely nothing else except appearance customization of your MS since HG and MG parts doesn’t provide significant differences to give you freedom in choosing whichever fits your taste. Builder parts took a backseat to the overall power you can provide to each build although it still does have a minor positive and negative stat that you can also turn off so it’s much easier to decide and build something cool than something weird but powerful plus the fact that there are even more builder parts to satisfy your inner builder.

Story-wise, it’s a terrible harem builder. The story starts off as you, the main protagonist, enroll in Gunbre High School. A popular school that focuses on learning anything and everything about gunpla. There you will meet your childhood friend, a former vice-president of the Student Council that is both sweet and strong. As you learn about the evil ways of the Student Council and how it’s affecting the entire student body, you must form a team to overthrow them using the same method they used to overthrow the previous, gunpla battles. The core story is short and lacking that can be done in 12 missions. With other heroine endings that provide different dialogue yet follows the same scenarios making it one huge repetitive grind to a grand total of 65 missions including all bonus missions towards the end. The game slaps you with dirty jokes from time to time that I found entertaining to say the least.

A game made with Unreal Engine 4. Graphics is great but not perfect. The whole gunpla thing is okay but the characters are stiff with no mouth movements at all due to being still images with very minimal changes during the changes in expression. Maps are dull with nothing else but enemies, containers, catapults, portals, and non-breakable environment. It’s large but feels empty. With the camera being too stiff if left at default which can easily be fixed by adjusting the slider although the camera is a bit too zoomed in than what I’d like that MG gunpla becomes too big that blocks the screen and with the camera during lock-on being another terrible experience. The camera goes crazy during the lock-on mode especially on giant battles which is pretty much a given on every map. You’ll be seeing asses for days with a Super Fumina DLC if you ever thought of getting the game despite everything I just said. Instead of zooming in and out, the camera angle goes up making you lose sight of your MS just to get a glimpse of plastic asses.

Voice-overs and music is okay. In fact I probably prefer to just listen to the music than actually mash buttons in hopes that I can finish a game without having to face the annoying problems the game is facing. I’m a huge fan of Japanese voice-overs and this doesn’t fail to provide enough of it. From the cutesy character voices of Shion and to Iori’s hidden maniacal laughter.

SO WHAT NOW? In case you’re still here hoping to hop on the gundam breaker suicide train, I am against it unless you’re suicidal to begin with. It’s not a proper sequel nor is it a good one to keep yourself hooked for long. Multiplayer that for the love of god isn’t getting any love is simply not getting it due to the lack of players online at any given time. It took me five minutes until I… well, until I end up disbanding. There are a few rooms active but most often than not isn’t full considering you can’t start a PvP game without a full three-person room to match with another room with three. There’s AI for fuck sake! Or at least let us start with 1v1 or 2v2. And unless you’re still not convinced, the game has less mobile suits compared to the base game of the previous one although they did mention that there will be free DLCs with a “quote unquote” largest roster at some point in time… if that time is ever going to come with the negativity it’s receiving. “A builder not a breaker” game that feels unfinished and rushed.