Again in early 2016 after I was searching for import-friendly video games on PS Vita, I used to typically see Gundam Breaker talked about. When you’ve by no means heard of the sequence earlier than, consider them as hack and slash motion video games with RPG components, deep customization, and a pure unadulterated love of Gunpla. Across the time I used to be trying into the sequence, Bandai Namco introduced an Asia English launch for Gundam Breaker 3 on PS4 and PS Vita, and I made a decision to purchase each variations. I ended up loving it as my first Gundam sport. Since then, I’ve imported and performed Gundam Breaker 1 and a pair of on PS Vita, and likewise gotten principally each Gundam sport launched in English throughout platforms. To see Gundam Breaker 4 introduced earlier this yr and confirmed for a worldwide multi-platform simultaneous launch stays one among 2024’s largest surprises. Quick ahead to at this time and Gundam Breaker 4 is lastly right here on Steam, Change, PS4, and PS5. Having put in about 60 hours throughout platforms, I like Gundam Breaker 4, nevertheless it has a couple of points proper now.
Gundam Breaker 4 is an important launch not solely due to the sport itself, however due to how far we’ve include the sequence within the West. So what makes Gundam Breaker 4 a giant deal? Gone are the times of ready for an Asia English launch to import. Gundam Breaker 3 was an Asia English launch not launched within the West, and simply on PlayStation. I can’t recall the final Gundam sport that had an English dub possibility, however right here we’re with a twin audio possibility and a number of subtitle choices (EFIGS and plenty of extra). However what in regards to the sport itself and the totally different platform variations? I’m going to cowl all of that on this prolonged evaluate that may also take you on a journey of me beginning my first Grasp Grade Gunpla (Gundam Plastic Package should you’re new to this) after constructing some Excessive Grade (simpler and smaller kits) earlier than.
Gundam Breaker 4’s story ranges from getting the job finished to some highs and lows. The lows are after I felt like sure pre-mission dialog was happening a bit too lengthy, and the highs had been within the latter half of the sport when there are attention-grabbing character reveals and likewise extra attention-grabbing dialog. When you’ve not performed a single sport within the sequence earlier than, Gundam Breaker 4 nonetheless does a great job of bringing you on top of things, however you would possibly surprise why the looks of sure characters is a giant deal afterward. The embargo solely permits me to speak in regards to the first two chapters of the story, and it looks like a simple affair throughout these two. I ended up liking the principle characters fairly a bit by the tip, however my two favourite characters seem a lot later within the story.
The actual draw of Gundam Breaker 4 isn’t the story although. It’s constructing your personal good Gunpla, enhancing it over time, getting higher gear, and changing into stronger to sort out increased difficulties and extra quests. Whenever you start, you get the fundamentals, however what the workforce actually underold within the promotion is the customization side. It’s unimaginable. Not solely are you able to modify particular person elements like left and proper arms, however it’s also possible to modify ranged weapons for every arm, melee with twin wielding, and modify the person half dimension and scale. This implies you may even use SD (tremendous deformed) elements in your regular Gunpla and both have it appear to be this bizarre frankenstein go well with or scale issues to your liking.
Past the precise elements for every principal class in meeting, the customization in Gundam Breaker 4 takes issues additional with builder elements that allow you to add much more issues to your Gunpla. A few of these even have their very own abilities. Talking of abilities, you will have EX and OP abilities to make use of in fight. These rely in your elements and weapons. Afterward, you additionally unlock means cartridges which have their very own specs that provide you with buffs or debuffs.
As you undergo the missions breaking elements and incomes S-rank reward elements, you additionally get supplies. These can be utilized to stage up your elements. Every mission in Gundam Breaker 4 often has a really useful elements stage indicating how appropriate it’s on your present gear. Along with supplies you earn to improve elements, you begin incomes supplies to extend half rarity afterward. This allows you to improve for extra abilities as effectively, and you should use older or lesser half abilities once you improve and cannibalize these older elements.
Throughout the principle story, I spent a little bit of time on the non-compulsory quests to earn cash or elements, however really feel like the sport is balanced sufficient the place you received’t actually need to grind throughout the principle story on the usual issue at the least. Talking of the problem, you unlock three increased difficulties as the principle story progresses, and these up the problem and half stage advice fairly a bit. When you do plan on skipping many of the non-compulsory quests throughout the principle story, make sure that to control the brand new unlocks as a result of a few of the non-compulsory quest sorts are plenty of enjoyable, particularly the survival mode.
Exterior of all of this, it’s also possible to modify the paint of your go well with which helps you to shade schemes you’ve unlocked by means of development or from DLC. When you put time into Gundam Breaker 4, there’s a ton of stuff so that you can get out of it, and I’m floored by how a lot has gone into this. Whenever you’re finished with paint, you may work with decals and weathering results as effectively. Gundam Breaker 4 is the actual deal for Gunpla lovers, however does it play effectively?
Having loved all the things Gundam Breaker 4 has to supply in its gameplay by means of story missions, aspect content material, and boss fights except for one particular mission kind, I believe the workforce nailed it. I by no means acquired bored of fight though the traditional issue is on the simpler aspect. I stored swapping out weapons and making an attempt the assorted sorts earlier than deciding on a greatsword model weapon for the remainder of my playthrough. All the pieces feels various sufficient, and the person abilities and stats make for a recent expertise all through.
With regards to the bosses and minibosses, I like having them seem on the stage within the Gunpla packing containers after which breaking out earlier than preventing you. This by no means will get previous, and seeing one of many Gunpla kits I constructed seem as a boss afterward was superior. Most boss fights contain focusing on weak factors, damaging the numerous well being bars, destroying shields, and the same old. I did have hassle with one explicit boss’ weak factors utilizing particular weapons, however I modified to a whip and sorted it instantly. The one actual arduous boss combat within the story was coping with two of a selected boss without delay. I received’t get into particulars for spoiler causes, however I did battle with the AI in a single particular combat.
Visually, Gundam Breaker 4 ranges from nice to nice. The environments look missing early on, however I discovered the variability good general. A lot of the work went into ensuring the Gunpla kits and animations look the most effective, and it exhibits. The builders clearly weren’t making an attempt to go for a practical artwork model right here, so don’t count on one thing like Gundam Evolution and even how some bits of Gundam Breaker 3 seemed. The aesthetic in Gundam Breaker 4 works effectively and it scales because it ought to on decrease finish {hardware}. The consequences look nice, and the size of many boss fights is superior.
The music in Gundam Breaker 4 ranges from forgettable tunes you received’t consider exterior the sport to some actually nice songs in particular story missions. I’m upset by no means to set music from the assorted anime and flicks right here. Normally we’d see some anime music pack DLC or a premium bundle for Asia and Japan, however I’ve not seen any of that but within the sport or introduced. I additionally don’t see a technique to load customized music like in Cellular Swimsuit Gundam Excessive Vs Maxiboost ON on PS4.
The voice appearing has been a pleasing shock. I performed by means of the sport utterly with English on one save, and likewise spent a few dozen hours with the Japanese voice possibility on one other platform save. Each had been superb and I discovered myself liking the English extra throughout missions as a result of I hate studying small subtitles throughout motion battles after I’m specializing in preventing enemies.
Thus far, except for one mission kind actually annoying me (fortunately not too prevalent) and some bugs, I’ve had no actual points with Gundam Breaker 4. If you’re new to this sequence and aren’t a fan of replaying missions to grind out higher gear and drops, you could discover issues repetitive. I’ve all the time considered Gundam Breaker like Earth Protection Power and Monster Hunter the place after ending the story, I spend time constructing my good Gunpla.
As for bugs, I bumped into one the place sure names wouldn’t save or two I believe are Steam Deck-specific. The primary is that returning to the title display from in-game takes means too lengthy. The second is one particular mission that crashed for me solely when enjoying on my monitor. I replayed it on the Deck itself and it was nice. It would simply have been regarding the efficiency penalty I see in some video games docked, however I can’t say for certain.
The one side I’ve not touched on to date is the web. Pre-release I managed to play a great quantity of the community take a look at on PS5 and Change, however I solely managed to check a little bit of the retail launch on PS5 with a buddy who’s reviewing that model. The PC model’s servers haven’t been on-line pre-launch in any respect, so I can’t take a look at if the web works nice on Steam Deck but. I can be updating this as soon as servers log on and I’ve managed testing the PC model on Steam Deck with mates on-line.
At this level, you’re in all probability questioning in regards to the Gunpla I used to be constructing. I made some progress and acquired by means of 5 units of runners, however made a mistake with one small half. I panicked and nearly broke it whereas making an attempt to separate issues. That is the place my guitar decide got here into the image and saved me. I ended up stopping with my RG 78-2 MG 3.0 about midway finished. As soon as the evaluate embargoes of this week are over, I’ll get again to it and end it.
Now let’s get to the platform variations and options.
Gundam Breaker 4 PC port controls – keyboard, mouse, and controller assist
Gundam Breaker 4’s on PC is the one model of the sport that helps above 60fps. The PS5 model is capped at 60fps and the Change model hovers across the 30fps mark. The Gundam Breaker 4 PC launch additionally has mouse and keyboard assist along with controller assist with a number of button immediate choices.
When enjoying on the Deck itself, it displayed Xbox button prompts. When utilizing my DualSense controller over the Dock on my monitor, Gundam Breaker 4 confirmed PlayStation prompts accurately. It additionally auto switches between keyboard mouse and controller prompts primarily based in your enter. The one controller-related problem I bumped into is the sport not accurately detecting after I’ve reconnected a controller. I examined this on my DualSense and 8BitDo Final controllers wirelessly.
Gundam Breaker 4 ships with three controller presets and a customized possibility. You may modify the keyboard mouse and controller settings independently.
One setting I like to recommend altering instantly or after you check out the primary few missions is digicam sensitivity and distance. You are able to do this in Participant Mode from the sport settings. I discovered the default too gradual and shut.
Gundam Breaker 4 PC graphics settings and show choices
Gundam Breaker 4 helps a number of resolutions and body fee caps. On the Steam Deck itself, it sadly doesn’t assist a full 800p and runs at 720p and 16:9. On the body fee aspect, it could actually go from 30fps to 360fps and limitless on PC. I set it to 120fps when enjoying on Steam Deck since I performed it nearly solely on my Steam Deck OLED. You can too toggle v-sync.
On the graphics aspect, you may modify the standard of textures, anti-aliasing, post-processing, shadows, results, and likewise modify brightness and toggle movement blur.
Gundam Breaker 4 Steam Deck efficiency – does it work out of the field?
I performed Gundam Breaker 4 with Proton Experimental (bleeding edge) as I usually do for untested video games, however I additionally examined it on the default Proton. It really works completely out of the field and even invokes the on-screen keyboard for textual content enter. I’ve confidence on this being Steam Deck Verified pre-launch or quickly after. The 35 hours I put into it on simply my Steam Deck OLED show that.
When enjoying with all settings at Excessive except for shadows, Gundam Breaker 4 simply hit 60fps, however I wished extra. For this, I turned issues to medium and performed at 80-90fps nearly throughout the board. Just a few late-game missions noticed drops to the excessive 60s throughout gameplay, however in any other case I had no points in precise gameplay. In-engine cut-scenes do take a success to efficiency and run within the 50-70fps vary for me on Steam Deck. I did run into one problem the place the meeting part all of the sudden dropped to 1-3fps for a couple of seconds earlier than capturing again as much as 90fps. This didn’t occur greater than 3 times complete, however I couldn’t work out what brought about it. If it is a Proton associated problem, I hope Valve can repair it.
The one visible problem I had when enjoying on the Deck itself is a few of the icon glyphs and menus had both smaller than anticipated fonts, or they weren’t as crisp as they need to’ve been. I seen this even on Change so it probably is a matter with the sport being designed for a better res and larger display. Not a dealbreaker, however price declaring.
Gundam Breaker 4 Change vs PS5 – what to purchase?
On the console aspect, I didn’t have time to check Gundam Breaker 4 on my PS4, so I centered on the Change (Lite and OLED) and PS5 variations. Gundam Breaker 4 on PS5 appears superb and runs principally completely at 60fps within the time I put into it, however I didn’t attain the few missions within the story in the direction of the tip that had been extra visually demanding. I additionally didn’t attain right here on Change, however I put practically two dozen hours into the Change model to see sufficient of the way it runs there. Take a look at a comparability of the opening tutorial mission on PS5 and Change within the screenshot comparability beneath:
The most important downgrades on Change except for the efficiency are with decision, element, and reflections. This is applicable not solely to the phases, but in addition the Gunpla elements. Throughout the community checks, a buddy of mine identified how the Change model seemed like an HG Gunpla whereas the PS5 model seemed like an RG in some scenes. When you constructed Gunpla you’ll perceive this, however for everybody else, it simply means Gunpla within the Change model finally ends up missing in lots of particulars like decals, lining, and even weathering results in particular conditions. They do seem, however I believe the decrease decision and draw distance makes it in order that they’re invisible generally. That is a type of adjustments you received’t understand till you see the sport exterior Change.
I truthfully anticipated this to run at 120fps on PS5 given the visuals. Enjoying Megaton Musashi at 120fps was good as a current launch. Possibly the builders capped this to 60fps for multiplayer causes with the PS4 model, however I’m unsure. Other than the 60fps cap, Gundam Breaker 4 has first rate rumble assist and even has PS5 Exercise Card assist to load into your save faster. Because the evaluate embargo prevents me from exhibiting something past chapter two within the story, the screenshot beneath is from after I simply started enjoying exhibiting the Exercise Card implementation for story mode. I hope this helps on-line play and lobbies sooner or later as effectively.
Talking of loading, the Change load instances are actually lengthy in comparison with PS5 and Steam Deck. Even operating the sport off the SD card on my previous Steam Deck LCD had a lot quicker load instances than Change.
When you solely care about portability, you clearly received’t hassle with the PS5 model, however the Change port presently has one main problem that makes me hesitate to advocate it. The meeting part and diorama mode really feel very sluggish. Whereas the principle foyer or hub can also be sluggish, the efficiency in missions is best albeit nonetheless not an ideal 30fps. I noticed drops even in early missions from 30fps, however once more, it is a lot higher than I anticipated given some current Change ports.
I might be happy with this given the {hardware} if the meeting part ran higher contemplating you can be spending plenty of time there after every mission. Diorama mode additionally wants extra optimization on Change with how sluggish it feels. When you performed Gundam Breaker 3 on PS Vita, you can be greater than nice with the Change model, however I hoped for a greater port all issues thought of. Since there are extra content material updates deliberate, I hope we see some optimization on this entrance.
For individuals who personal a number of platforms, I solely advocate the Change model should you solely need to play portably and don’t personal a Steam Deck. Talking of moveable play, I loved Gundam Breaker 4 on my Change Lite except for the textual content dimension in some menus. Gundam Breaker 4 can also be sadly the ultimate sport I reviewed on it earlier than the display developed some LCD-related points.
Is the Gundam Breaker 4 Final Version price it?
I had entry to a few of the DLC included within the Gundam Breaker 4 Deluxe Version and Gundam Breaker 4 Final Version. I can’t touch upon the story DLC but because it isn’t accessible, however the early unlocks aren’t sport altering. You get stage 1 elements for the fits listed on the shop web page, however I discovered the builders elements to be higher as early DLC that can assist you get began.
Past that, the Diorama content material doesn’t appear to be totally accessible proper now, however there may be some content material from the DLC I had entry to, and it was actually good for posing Gunpla and utilizing the cel-shaded filter as effectively. Having tried the Diorama mode quite a bit throughout my playthroughs on all platforms, picture mode lovers and those that take pleasure in these sorts of modes in video games will discover quite a bit to like right here. Having extra gadgets and equipment on this mode can be good, however you could possibly get these individually I assume. I like how Gunbarrel Strike Gundam – Gundam Breaker Ver appears, so having these elements was good. I preferred the design sufficient to order the collector’s version the second pre-orders went up as effectively.
Is Gundam Breaker 4 price it for the story?
I’ve seen some people excited to play Gundam Breaker 4 for its story, and whereas it’s a nice story, you actually are right here for personalisation, battles, and constructing your ultimate Gunpla. If you’d like a story-focused sport as a substitute, have a look at Megaton Musashi. Each video games have their strengths and weaknesses, however I ended up clicking with the gameplay in Gundam Breaker 4 extra as a fan of the older video games.
After I acquired my evaluate codes for Gundam Breaker 4, I had a enjoyable concept of beginning the MG 78-2 Model 3.0 equipment and constructing it alongside the sport to complete each on the similar time, however sadly there are too many different video games releasing for me to have the ability to try this.
Not solely was it nice to play a brand new Gundam Breaker alongside constructing my latest Gunpla equipment, however there’s a brand new discovered appreciation I’ve for the work that goes into designing these kits now after transferring to an MG and likewise an RG from HG kits. I’ve additionally been fortunate sufficient to have some mates who’re tremendous useful with Gunpla ideas for decals, panel lining, and likewise what to do when caught. I stay up for ending this equipment after which engaged on my RG subsequent.
The look ahead to Gundam Breaker 4 has been tremendous lengthy, and I didn’t even suppose we’d see a brand new sport within the sequence after New Gundam Breaker, however right here we’re. Gundam Breaker 4 is actual and it’s spectacular in nearly each means. It’s my favourite Steam Deck sport this yr since Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance, and one I stay up for enjoying on-line and offline over the approaching months with all of the DLC deliberate.
Gundam Breaker 4 Steam Deck evaluate: 4.5/5
