I might been eagerly awaiting Gundam Breaker 4, and never simply because I would not want a Taiwanese PSN account funded with imported present playing cards to play this one. Even supposing I can see three Gundam mannequin kits from the place I am sitting, I am a Gunpla neophyte: Kitbashing my very own {custom} Gundams collectively is properly past what me and my pockets are able to. Now, with the long-awaited Western launch of a correct numbered Gundam Breaker (we do not stroll about New Gundam Breaker), I’ve obtained a digital library of many years’ price of mech items for constructing my very own cellular fits, all while not having to put money into the expertise, instruments, and time that precise kitbashing would demand.
Within the final week, I’ve constructed a winged, axe-wielding terror I named the Gundam Skybreak. After questioning how properly I might make a werewolf mecha, I produced an electrical blue, taloned robotic berserker I dubbed the Gundam Bisclavret. I have been gifted with an unimaginable energy. I turned a Zaku right into a horse.
Gundam Breaker 4 is a sport that I really like deeply, nevertheless it’s additionally a sport I can not suggest to everybody. In case your thought of peak videogames is poring over pages of Gundam elements to piece collectively what the mid-season improve on your hand-built cellular go well with would possibly seem like, then come alongside, kindred spirit: There’s a new backyard that grows Gundams, and it waits for our tending. In case your bliss appears completely different from mine, although, we’d need to hash some issues out.
Limitless waltz
You would possibly, at this level, ponder whether the Gundams are any enjoyable to truly combat with. I will put it this fashion: Fight in Gundam Breaker is just like the WinAmp visualizer of videogames. The expertise could be a bummer with out it and you will get actually deep into your setup if you wish to, nevertheless it’s largely there for the novelty of watching it transfer round. Gundam Breaker 4 has the motion tag on Steam, however it’s, at the start, a kitbashing simulator. The fight’s only a good bonus.
Missions happen in arenas with arbitrary invisible partitions, which you will slam up towards whereas fumbling with lock-on controls throughout the awkward battles towards occasional giant-size bosses. Gunpla fight is a mashy, largely senseless affair, made much more repetitive should you’re not switching out cellular fits between missions. Whereas the story shifting these missions ahead has its charming moments, it is a boilerplate shonen plot fueled by the ability of friendship. And contemplating it is also releasing on Swap, all of it appears slightly… coarse.
These are flaws! They’re simply not flaws I care very a lot about right here.
I am a agency believer {that a} sport would not should be all the pieces for everybody. Enjoyable’s usually greatest when it is in a selected taste. GB4’s mech fights would possibly high out at “serviceable,” however I did not come for immaculate fight steadiness and a wealthy system for buildcraft. I’ve obtained Armored Core for that. I got here to concoct a headcanon for why the producers would possibly’ve swapped out the Gundam Skybreak’s large greataxe for a pair of beam hatchets after I rebuilt it because the upgraded Gundam Skybreak Exalt.
Excessive grade
GB4 brings some clever additions to facilitate my tinkering. Particular person elements—each main elements like heads, arms, and legs in addition to the modular “builder elements”—can now be freely scaled and repositioned. The added precision is a godsend when making an attempt to get items from 45 years of evolving Gundam designs to play properly collectively with none unseemly clipping. A library of preset paintjobs primarily based on present cellular fits gives a superb start line for rapidly narrowing in on a palette earlier than fine-tuning particular person coloration decisions.
There is a new diorama mode for constructing scenes to point out off your builds. Customized Gunpla and preexisting cellular fits will be positioned and posed collectively, and the scene will be additional fleshed out with placeable explosions, vernier flares, beam results, and background objects. The menus are finnicky, nevertheless it’s a greater toolset for showcasing your mecha than the pictures mode carried over from GB3.
As enjoyable as it has been making my very own mechs, I really like having the ability to see what cellular fits different gamers have cobbled collectively. I will bounce into multiplayer classes simply to see what custom-built robots are standing round within the hub foyer. There is a particular overrepresentation of Limitless Waltz wings and Barbatos Lupus claws in Darth Maul colours, however I’ve additionally seen loads of elaborate player-made Gunpla that’ve despatched me straight again into the meeting display screen to try to puzzle out the best way to seize the identical impact with decals and builder elements they may’ve used.
The hub foyer additionally incorporates a huge show space that’ll routinely pull in mech designs from different gamers so long as my web connection’s on-line, showcasing their construct as a real-scale Gundam statue even after I’m taking part in solo. Whether or not it is that includes an immaculate mech construct with a thought-about coloration scheme or a stumpy little tank with a horse head on it, it is surprisingly entertaining to look over between missions and see some proof of the builds different gamers are placing collectively.
Compared, the fight in Gundam Breaker 4 is perhaps slightly stilted, nevertheless it’s not with out its joys. Taking the time to correctly package out the stats in your cellular go well with can depart you carving via swaths of enemy mechs with the terrifying effectivity of an anime ace pilot, and there is a nice shot of dopamine whenever you blast items off of enemy Gunpla to gather on your subsequent creation.
Finally, Gundam Breaker 4 is simply a price proposition price 60 {dollars} if fight’s essential attraction is attending to see your personal cellular go well with in movement. For me, as with actual Gunpla, the satisfaction’s within the meeting, and that is the satisfaction GB4 places first.