The Gundam Breaker series has been a product of Dynasty Warriors meets Gundam, where players can take on tons of other mechas in the battlefield. But most importantly, it always had a wide array of customizability when configuring your very own Gundam, which was the main selling point of the entire series.
Before you ask, yes, the New Gundam Breaker still retains most of what was loved in the predecessor. It shares the same highly customizable interface when altering your own Gundam, allowing players to choose every single part, even down to the color of its feet! Not to mention, even your Gundam’s internal skeleton can be switched around. These are called “Inner Frames” and affect your stats in pretty substantially. It is recommended to choose one based off your playstyle. Like to take a back seat and take out enemies from afar? The Gunner Frame has your back. It adds a ton of firepower but reduces your health pool.
Picking the components for your Gundam can be hours of fun, but that is if you can amass the parts required. The game does not simply hand you the parts you want, players have to work for it. To obtain a part, you are required to cut down your opponents’ until it drops. Then, pick it up and deliver it to the crate. Luckily, there will be a ton of parts lying around, with the AIs naturally duking it out on their own.
How the parts affect gameplay has now changed as well. Instead of being helpless when having your arms or legs blown off, your Inner Frame allows your Gundam to perform most basic functions like running and attacking. Not to mention, parts can also be picked up anywhere. There is also an “Awakened” state that recovers all of your lost parts and health, while giving access to your Inner Frame’s EX-Skills.
Speaking of EX-Skills, every part now has its own unique ability. This allows players to pick and choose which skill to bring to the battlefield. However, these abilities have to unlocked every round through the opening of containers in the arena. It adds a sense of helplessness at the start of every match and forces players to be familiar with the basics of combat, instead of simply spamming the abilities.
Being the fourth in the Gundam Series, CRAFTS & MEISTER had big shoes to fill. Gundam Breaker 3 had tight controls and a wide array of customization, and was loved by most. In the New Gundam Series, the realism “knob” has been turned up to 11. With a heavy focus on realism, everything in the game looked great. You can really feel like it a Gunpla roaming around in your very own kitchen or living room. Plus points for its great visuals and overall aesthetics.
With the highly personalized Gunplas still being a great feature, together with its great visuals, the combat does not fare as well. Performance on the Slim PS4 tanked, with dropped frames at various times when there were a ton of effects in the screen. Controls also felt pretty “floaty”, with delayed attacks and animations not being the top of its class. There were also moments where the camera would get stuck in awkward positions. You would probably have a better time playing on the PS4 Pro or on a beefy PC (Steam).
P.S. Thankfully, Bandai Namco has listened to players’ and critics’ feedback, and are planning to add new features and improvements to the game. Look forward to better input response, camera behavior, and more!
