Gundam Breaker 4 Ultimate Edition review—I’ll be playing this game for years to come.

Gundam Breaker 4 is my introduction to the Gundam series. Before this, I had barely watched the anime, and I played none of the other games. With that being said, the trailer for this game pulled me in like a fish on a hook, and I’m so glad I decided to give it a chance. Let me kick everything off by saying I never knew I needed Gundam Breaker 4 and now I can’t imagine not having it to play. There is so much to love and enjoy with this game.

Gundam Breaker 4 sees you creating and customizing a Gunpla of your own. A Gunpla is a Gundam plastic model kit. In this game, you’ll be breaking off parts of your enemies to add to your loot pool. After collecting parts, you can use them to build and customize your Gunpla. There are well over 250 base kits in the game and you can customize. Paint, and add weapons and attachments to it as you please.

The combat is what I would call a tactical hack-and-slash. You have two different camera options, one is a classic lock-on, and the other changes who you’re locked onto based on what your Gunpla is looking at. It’s a tad slow for my taste and sometimes the enemies feel faster than they should, but regardless the combat is there and can be a good time.

Ultimate Edition

The ultimate edition of Gundam Breaker 4 includes the Season Pass and a Diorama Set Pack. The Season Pass includes 5 story missions. These are not out yet. Once they are released, you can buy them separately from the ultimate edition. The Season Pass also includes parts to create the Gunbarrel Strike Gundam.

All the kit parts can be mixed and matched. One of the reasons I’m so excited about the downloadable content is that you can change the designs of every Gunpla. I have two right now. Although I haven’t dived into the diorama mode in as much detail as I would like (trying every part) having extra buildable pieces to make the perfect aroma is a huge win.

Story Mode

The game divides story mode into chapters, with each chapter containing a set of missions. Each mission allows you to earn a set amount of GP (spendable currency used in the shop and to upgrade your Gunpla).

You can choose from casual, standard, and hardcore difficulty. Changing the difficulty will allow you to earn more GP. At every level, you get a Breaker Booster, parts, and part builder parts.

Builder parts are decorative parts that you can attach to various parts of your Mobile Suit. Some parts are purely ornamental, while others grant Skills and function as add-on equipment. Everything about them is adjustable, including their color.

Breaker Boosters are earned when you clear a mission with an S rank. When you use one before a mission, it will grant effects like an increased number of item drops and an increased level limit for dropped parts in that mission. You’ll know what you got from the Breaker Booster at the end of a mission because the items you get have a special icon. You can buy Breaker Boosters in the store, but don’t bother. You get plenty of items and buying them in the store for $1.99 for a pack of 100 and‌ $4.99 for a pack of 500 is a waste of money.

You have to progress through Gundam Breaker 4s Story Mode to unlock modes and new weapons to use in other game modes. When you first start, Story Mode will be your main source of GP, and trust me you’ll get plenty of it.

Story Mode is alright. The story so far is not revolutionary, but it is also not intrusive. The narrative is about what I expected. First, you’re introduced to Tao, he will become your new friend as you’re introduced to GB4. I like Tao, he can be a little annoying at times, but I also find him somewhat funny. The first chapter of Gundam Breaker 4 is all about getting used to how battling works, unlocking new weapon types, and meeting new friends.

As you progress through the story, sometimes the level will glitch, causing the characters to start wondering what’s going on. As you progress through the story, the game introduces your character’s special ability called Awaken. Only those with a special connection to Gunpla can use awaken. I find this to be hilarious because we are playing a battle simulator. I haven’t beaten the Story Mode yet, but I like it so far. It feels like you’re playing an anime.

Quest

Quests are another type of mission. They’re smaller, shorter missions that are also divided into chapters. Like story missions, you’ll get various rewards and some GP. You can change the difficulty too.

Quests are different because they often have special rules and special maps. As you progress through the story, you’ll increase the types of missions that you can choose from. If you get stuck playing the story, this is where you should go because you also get parts and enhancement materials.

I like these missions because I like the hack-and-slash style of combat in Gundam Breaker 4. I also appreciate that, in every mode, you’re rewarded fairly. I never felt like I was grinding and despite spending most of my time with the Story Mode I will be returning to Quest Mode in the future.

Creating your Gunpla

The options in this game are insane. I’m sure I haven’t discovered everything yet. When creating your Gunpla you have to keep a few things in mind. First, is the Mobile Suit Performance. Second is the Parts Level. Third, is the abilities you want to have.

Everything that you build has Total Specs and Specs. You can see everything from your Movement Speed to your Physical Resistance. When looking at the Specs screen, you can get a closer look at what each piece is giving your Gunpla.

You can also paint your Gunpla, something I’ll talk about later, but as you can see, you have full creative freedom for the most part. You do have to keep in mind that some parts come pre-connected. I try to avoid these unless I go for a specific build.

The builder parts add a lot of variety to making your Gunpla. So, like I said, most of them are ornamental, meaning that they won’t give you any gameplay benefits. However, some will give you abilities. Right now, none of my Gunpla are wearing any. I have to give major props though, because it’s extremely cool that some of them will give you special abilities. Plus, it’s fun to move them around. You can also customize their color.

There is something extremely satisfying about putting your Gunpla together. I find this process to be nearly therapeutic, even when everything is mismatched and the colors aren’t in sync. I love watching the stats shoot up and the cohesion of a design I had in my head come together.

When it comes to stats, I wanted to briefly mention my strong affection for the stat system in Gundam Breaker 4. If you find pieces that you like, you can simply synthesize them. Performing the Reinforcement Synthesis increases the level of your parts. You can also increase the rarity of your parts by performing an Evolution Synthesis. I love this because I have already come across two helmets I adore, and some legs that I couldn’t live without.

Everything on your Gunpla is paintable. Here you can see me coming up with the color scheme for my main Gunpla. You can change the glow too, and certain parts have different paintable spots. Although I found the color choices to be lacking, this is one of the best parts of the game. Again, watching a design in my head come to life in a usable way is so damn satisfying it’s not even funny.

Building your perfect Gunpla is extremely easy in this game and although the stats can become overwhelming, I enjoy the process immensely. If the only thing you want to do is build Gunpla, once you reach chapter 3 of the Story Mode, this game is for you.

Combat

Gundam Breaker 4 is a hack-and-slash-style game that utilizes close-ranged and long-ranged weapons. You’ll have your choice of a variety of axes, swords, and even your fists. I’ll be blunt here – I love the combat in this game, but it won’t be for everyone. At times the combat will feel slow, and the camera might be difficult to get used to, but the combos are so damn satisfying to watch I can’t get over it. They nailed the feeling of fighting as a Gunpla. Watching things fly off of the enemies is such a treat.

The big downside is the camera. Both of the options feel clunky and some of the enemies feel like they’re part of a different game with how fast they move. The bosses are a different story and all the ones I have gotten to fight so far have been absurdly fun. Flying around the bosses to damage specific parts can sometimes feel tedious, but boss fights quickly became my favorite part of missions.

Shop

The shop is where one of my few complaints surfaces. As you buy Gunpla boxes, you’re going to get a lot of pieces. There is no animation when you buy anything, no list pops up, and frankly, the shop is too “safe”.

It’s weird because so much of this game feels like it had a lot of thought put into it. It makes it a pain to buy something and have to go to the assembly menu to find what you got. While I’m talking about it, the assembly menu is nuts. There are exclamation marks everywhere to tell you when you got a new part. That would be fine, but even when you hover over a part, the exclamation marks never go away. It makes it hard to find what you got from the shop when everything is marked as new. I do like the Gunpla boxes though, they’re really cute.

Diorama Mode

The Diorama Mode is, frankly, brilliant. It fits so well in the game and I hope it gets expanded on further with updates. This mode lets you create dioramas using parts you can buy from the store. Every image with all three of my current Gunpla was made using this mode, and while I’m not great at it yet I do love using it.

You can bring in your Gunpla and pose them too! There’s also a bunch of stuff that you can buy in the shop to expand the collection of props that you can use in this mode. I love the cars, but there are also some mechanics and tons of buildings that you can place down.

You can also choose from a variety of poses. You can adjust each pose to the T by configuring where on the animation frame you want the Gunpla posed. There is a limit, however, and you can see it on the bottom right-hand corner. You can place as much as you want as long as it doesn’t surpass that limit.

There are some effects too! You can place down a couple of explosions and some laser lines to make the guns and other explosions pop. Honestly, without using the in-game store you have a lot of options to choose from. The biggest issue with this mode is the camera. When you’re resizing objects it becomes a pain to angle everything right without having to back out to go to the clicker mode.

Final Thoughts

Gundam Breaker 4, at its heart, is a game about building a Gunpla. I love the combat, but where the game really shines is the customization and modes surrounding it. The Diorama Mode is such a treat and a very relaxing way to spend your time. I especially appreciate that I can include my custom Gunpla in my scenes.

The Story Mode is okay. It’s not anything groundbreaking and although it can be frustrating to have to get through the missions to unlock more modes, I wasn’t bothered. Though, for those of you who only want to build I can see this being a headache. Luckily, by the time you reach chapter 4, you’ll have most of everything unlocked. The Quest Mode is a great way to spend some time and squeeze in some quick missions.

I have a major issue with the shop. It feels lazy, and keeping track of parts can become a pain in the butt if you don’t stay on top of it after every mission. There needed to be an animation for opening a box and perhaps a separate icon to display what you got from the shop. The camera is also weird, it can either be too slow or too fast and changing the camera settings during the match doesn’t help.

If you want to sit down and customize a Gunpla this game is for you. It feels like the most thought went into the customization. From the painting to the attachments, this game has it all. As a new Gundam fan, I was extremely happy with my experience and I will continue to enjoy it for months to come.

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