Again in early 2016 once I was in search of import-friendly video games on PS Vita, I used to typically see Gundam Breaker talked about. In the event you’ve by no means heard of the collection 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 wanting into the collection, 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 couple of on PS Vita, and likewise gotten mainly each Gundam sport launched in English throughout platforms. To see Gundam Breaker 4 introduced earlier this 12 months and confirmed for a worldwide multi-platform simultaneous launch stays certainly one of 2024’s greatest surprises. Quick ahead to as we speak 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, but it surely has just a few 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 collection 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 lots of extra). However what concerning the sport itself and the completely different platform variations? I’m going to cowl all of that on this prolonged overview that can even take you on a journey of me beginning my first Grasp Grade Gunpla (Gundam Plastic Package in case 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 completed to some highs and lows. The lows are once I felt like sure pre-mission dialog was happening a bit too lengthy, and the highs have been within the latter half of the sport when there are attention-grabbing character reveals and likewise extra attention-grabbing dialog. In the event you’ve not performed a single sport within the collection earlier than, Gundam Breaker 4 nonetheless does a very good job of bringing you in control, however you would possibly marvel why the looks of sure characters is a giant deal afterward. The embargo solely permits me to speak concerning the first two chapters of the story, and it seems like an easy affair throughout these two. I ended up liking the principle characters fairly a bit by the top, however my two favourite characters seem a lot later within the story.
The actual draw of Gundam Breaker 4 will not be the story although. It’s constructing your individual excellent Gunpla, bettering it over time, getting higher gear, and turning into stronger to sort out larger difficulties and extra quests. Whenever you start, you get the fundamentals, however what the staff actually underold within the promotion is the customization side. It’s unimaginable. Not solely are you able to regulate particular person elements like left and proper arms, however it’s also possible to regulate ranged weapons for every arm, melee with twin wielding, and regulate the person half dimension and scale. This implies you possibly can even use SD (tremendous deformed) elements in your regular Gunpla and both have it appear like this bizarre frankenstein swimsuit or scale issues to your liking.
Past the precise elements for every essential 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 expertise. Talking of expertise, you might have EX and OP expertise to make use of in fight. These rely in your elements and weapons. Afterward, you additionally unlock capacity cartridges which have their very own specs that offer you 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 beneficial 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 expertise as effectively, and you should use older or lesser half expertise once you improve and cannibalize these older elements.
Throughout the principle story, I spent a little bit of time on the non-obligatory quests to earn cash or elements, however really feel like the sport is balanced sufficient the place you received’t really want to grind throughout the principle story on the usual problem not less than. Talking of the issue, you unlock three larger difficulties as the principle story progresses, and these up the problem and half stage suggestion fairly a bit. In the event you do plan on skipping a lot of the non-obligatory quests throughout the principle story, ensure that to control the brand new unlocks as a result of among the non-obligatory quest varieties are a variety of enjoyable, particularly the survival mode.
Outdoors of all of this, it’s also possible to regulate the paint of your swimsuit which helps you to colour schemes you’ve unlocked via development or from DLC. In the event 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 completed with paint, you possibly can work with decals and weathering results as effectively. Gundam Breaker 4 is the true deal for Gunpla fanatics, however does it play effectively?
Having loved all the pieces Gundam Breaker 4 has to supply in its gameplay via story missions, aspect content material, and boss fights apart from one particular mission sort, I believe the staff nailed it. I by no means bought bored of fight although the conventional problem is on the better aspect. I stored swapping out weapons and attempting the varied varieties earlier than deciding on a greatsword model weapon for the remainder of my playthrough. Every part feels diversified sufficient, and the person expertise and stats make for a contemporary expertise all through.
In the case of 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 outdated, 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 various well being bars, destroying shields, and the standard. I did have bother with one specific boss’ weak factors utilizing particular weapons, however I modified to a whip and sorted it instantly. The one actual onerous boss battle within the story was coping with two of a particular boss without delay. I received’t get into particulars for spoiler causes, however I did wrestle with the AI in a single particular battle.
Visually, Gundam Breaker 4 ranges from nice to fantastic. The environments look missing early on, however I discovered the range good general. Many of the work went into ensuring the Gunpla kits and animations look the very best, and it reveals. The builders clearly weren’t attempting to go for a sensible artwork model right here, so don’t count on one thing like Gundam Evolution and even how some bits of Gundam Breaker 3 appeared. The aesthetic in Gundam Breaker 4 works effectively and it scales because it ought to on decrease finish {hardware}. The results 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 outdoors the sport to some actually nice songs in particular story missions. I’m disenchanted by no means to set music from the varied anime and films 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 Cell Go well with Gundam Excessive Vs Maxiboost ON on PS4.
The voice performing has been a pleasing shock. I performed via the sport fully with English on one save, and likewise spent a couple of dozen hours with the Japanese voice possibility on one other platform save. Each have been superb and I discovered myself liking the English extra throughout missions as a result of I hate studying small subtitles throughout motion battles once I’m specializing in preventing enemies.
To date, apart from one mission sort actually annoying me (fortunately not too prevalent) and some bugs, I’ve had no actual points with Gundam Breaker 4. In case you are new to this collection 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 seen Gundam Breaker like Earth Protection Pressure and Monster Hunter the place after ending the story, I spend time constructing my excellent 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 method 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 fantastic. It’d simply have been referring to 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 very good quantity of the community check 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 check if the web works fantastic on Steam Deck but. I shall be updating this as soon as servers go surfing and I’ve managed testing the PC model on Steam Deck with pals on-line.
At this level, you’re in all probability questioning concerning the Gunpla I used to be constructing. I made some progress and bought via 5 units of runners, however made a mistake with one small half. I panicked and nearly broke it whereas attempting 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 completed. As soon as the overview 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 appropriately. It additionally auto switches between keyboard mouse and controller prompts based mostly in your enter. The one controller-related subject I bumped into is the sport not appropriately detecting once 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 possibly can regulate 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 price caps. On the Steam Deck itself, it sadly doesn’t assist a full 800p and runs at 720p and 16:9. On the body price aspect, it will probably go from 30fps to 360fps and limitless on PC. I set it to 120fps when enjoying on Steam Deck since I performed it nearly completely on my Steam Deck OLED. You can even toggle v-sync.
On the graphics aspect, you possibly can regulate the standard of textures, anti-aliasing, post-processing, shadows, results, and likewise regulate 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 apart from shadows, Gundam Breaker 4 simply hit 60fps, however I needed extra. For this, I turned issues to medium and performed at 80-90fps nearly throughout the board. A number of 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 subject the place the meeting part immediately dropped to 1-3fps for just a few 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 precipitated it. If this can be a Proton associated subject, I hope Valve can repair it.
The one visible subject I had when enjoying on the Deck itself is among 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 doubtless is a matter with the sport being designed for a better res and larger display. Not a dealbreaker, however value stating.
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 seems to be superb and runs mainly completely at 60fps within the time I put into it, however I didn’t attain the few missions within the story in direction of the top that have 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. Try a comparability of the opening tutorial mission on PS5 and Change within the screenshot comparability beneath:
The largest downgrades on Change apart from the efficiency are with decision, element, and reflections. This is applicable not solely to the levels, but additionally the Gunpla elements. In the course of the community assessments, a buddy of mine identified how the Change model appeared like an HG Gunpla whereas the PS5 model appeared like an RG in some scenes. In the event 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 typically. That is a type of adjustments you received’t notice till you see the sport outdoors Change.
I truthfully anticipated this to run at 120fps on PS5 given the visuals. Enjoying Megaton Musashi at 120fps was good as a latest launch. Possibly the builders capped this to 60fps for multiplayer causes with the PS4 model, however I’m undecided. 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. For the reason that overview embargo prevents me from displaying something past chapter two within the story, the screenshot beneath is from once I simply started enjoying displaying 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 outdated Steam Deck LCD had a lot sooner load instances than Change.
In the event you solely care about portability, you clearly received’t trouble with the PS5 model, however the Change port presently has one main subject that makes me hesitate to suggest 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, this can be a lot higher than I anticipated given some latest Change ports.
I’d be pleased with this given the {hardware} if the meeting part ran higher contemplating you can be spending a variety of time there after every mission. Diorama mode additionally wants extra optimization on Change with how sluggish it feels. In the event you performed Gundam Breaker 3 on PS Vita, you can be greater than fantastic with the Change model, however I hoped for a greater port all issues thought-about. 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 suggest the Change model in case you completely need to play portably and don’t personal a Steam Deck. Talking of moveable play, I loved Gundam Breaker 4 on my Change Lite apart from 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 value it?
I had entry to among 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 obtainable, 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 obtainable proper now, however there’s 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 rather a lot throughout my playthroughs on all platforms, photograph mode fanatics and people who get pleasure from these sorts of modes in video games will discover rather a lot to like right here. Having extra gadgets and equipment on this mode shall be good, however you can get these individually I assume. I like how Gunbarrel Strike Gundam – Gundam Breaker Ver seems to be, so having these elements was good. I favored the design sufficient to order the collector’s version the second pre-orders went up as effectively.
Is Gundam Breaker 4 value it for the story?
I’ve seen some of us excited to play Gundam Breaker 4 for its story, and whereas it’s a fantastic story, you actually are right here for personalization, battles, and constructing your supreme Gunpla. If you would like a story-focused sport as an alternative, 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.
Once I bought my overview codes for Gundam Breaker 4, I had a enjoyable concept of beginning the MG 78-2 Model 3.0 package 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 do this.
Not solely was it nice to play a brand new Gundam Breaker alongside constructing my latest Gunpla package, however there’s a brand new discovered appreciation I’ve for the work that goes into designing these kits now after shifting to an MG and likewise an RG from HG kits. I’ve additionally been fortunate sufficient to have some pals who’re tremendous useful with Gunpla ideas for decals, panel lining, and likewise what to do when caught. I stay up for ending this package after which engaged on my RG subsequent.
The watch for Gundam Breaker 4 has been tremendous lengthy, and I didn’t even assume we’d see a brand new sport within the collection after New Gundam Breaker, however right here we’re. Gundam Breaker 4 is actual and it’s spectacular in nearly each method. It’s my favourite Steam Deck sport this 12 months 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 overview: 4.5/5
