Gundam Breaker 4 review - A step forward for the Gunpla franchise

As a long-time Gundam fan, I was so excited to sit down with Gundam Breaker 4. This is especially true after my sour feelings towards New Gundam Breaker. That game was definitely not for me. However, this latest iteration of the title gave me a safe space where I could build the Gunpla of my dreams without worrying about breaking or otherwise ruining one of the many tiny pieces of my Gunpla kits.

Gundam Breaker 4 feels like a blend between .Hack and Gundam Build Fighters in a way. Playing in an online world, where you can cook up virtually any Mobile Suit - and boy have people made some incredible designs - and battle your way to the top? It’s so much fun. It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely going the right way.

Gundam Breaker 4 offers endless possibilities for Gunpla fans

The story isn't going to blow people away, but it is a fun one (Image via Bandai Namco)

Looking for Crossword hints & solutions? Check out latest NYT Mini Crossword Answers, LA Times Crossword Answers, and Atlantic Crossword Answers

If you’re new to Gundam Breaker 4 (and the series as a whole), but are a Mobile Suit Gundam fan, you’ll notice there’s less depth to the story. It’s less “War Orphan joins the Industrial Military Complex and potentially commits war crimes” and more “anonymous kid goes online to beat up other people’s Kitbash Gunpla”.

That’s perfectly fine, though. Sure, I was hoping for more of a return to Gundam Musou, but we all want things.

You control a player who goes online to create awesome Kitbashed Gunpla, which are Mobile Suit models where you slap together whatever parts you want to make unique designs.

You can paint them, add weathering, and put together parts from 250 models. It’s an incredible thing, and you can do so much with it. As someone who gets incredibly nervous building Gunpla in real life, this game gave me the agency and safety to build.

I often worry that if I break one of those little tiny pieces, or put something in the wrong spot, it won’t be fixable, and that’s a bunch of wasted money. So, in a way, Gundam Breaker 4 gave me something beautiful that I cannot possibly repay it for. The story isn’t anything to write home about. It serves to put you in this place, to batter other Mobile Suits in these arena battles.

Not everyone’s going to love the “player goes online and plays with friends” type of story, but I honestly loved it. Online games/MMOs have been a huge part of my life and career, so this kind of story appeals to me greatly.

You can build almost anything, but should you?

The world is your (Mobile Suit) Oyster (Image via Bandai Namco)

Do you want to take parts from Aerial in Mobile Suit Gundam: Witch from Mercury and use them with Burning Gundam, and Wing Gundam? That’s now more possible than ever before!

As you play through missions, you’ll unlock a wealth of parts. However, it could take several runs through a mission before you get everything that you want. Once you have parts, you can start putting them together in some truly unique ways. You can combine eras and parts to make the Mobile Suit of your dreams.

However, since special attacks are bound to specific parts, you may find yourself using parts you don’t want, just to get more power. Or you can choose to completely ignore that, and just make whatever you want. That’s the route I went, personally. I made whatever design came to me, and if that meant I had fewer special attacks, then that’s fine with me.

I cannot tell you how much fun it was to put together pieces of various suits to make special Gunpla in Gundam Breaker 4. This was the most enjoyable part for me, to be completely honest. More than the story, more than the challenging battles, simply designing Gunpla was so much fun.

Games like Gundam Breaker 4 let you get your Gundam combat/customization fix without playing Armored Core 6. Don’t get me wrong, I loved doing that too. Here, Instead of making similar designs, you have access to the real deal with these Gunpla kits.

Combat is fun, but the controls are a mixed bag

Combat is fast, and it's certainly fun - but some of the controls were not (Image via Bandai Namco)

Combat is where I start running into problems in Gundam Breaker 4. That said, it is not the actual battles I disliked. While the stages became monotonous, that’s not really an issue for me. My problem is that the controls were not fun. Binding Jump and Dash to the same button was not a decision I was thrilled with.

Sure, sometimes that led to me unintentionally doing awesome jump cancel-type combos, where I jugged an enemy mobile suit across the screen, but that wasn’t the intent. There were times I needed to jump, and it just didn’t happen, and vice versa. I understand why this happened, but it wasn’t an enjoyable experience.

That said, combat was still a blast. Dashing around and slashing, stabbing, and shooting my way through Mobile Suits and giant versions of classic Gundam models is such a great experience. I was admittedly still hoping for bigger stages, for something closer to Gundam Musou. Even if that’s not what I got, I still enjoyed slashing other players’/NPCs' Mobile Suits into bits.

Gundam Breaker 4’s Gunpla designs are fantastic

SD Gundam? Check. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Gundam? Double check (Image via Bandai Namco)

I think the best part of the visual presentation of Gundam Breaker 4 is the actual Gunpla kits themselves. These look and feel like the real deal. You can even see the boxes they came from in-game, which is incredible. However, the stages and hub world all feel kind of mediocre. They’re fine and look/feel like standard online game battle arenas. If that’s the look they were going for, they certainly nailed it.

While the world these Gunpla are in won’t blow anyone’s mind away, I still really loved the designs themselves. The Gunpla are the real stars of this game, and they certainly looked amazing. I’m also a fan of the sound design/sound effects in-game. These were solid too, as was the English dub.

Final Thoughts

Whether you fight giant mobile suits or smaller ones, it's always fun in Gundam Breaker 4 (Image via Bandai Namco)

If you’ve ever wanted to kitbash Gunpla together safely, Gundam Breaker 4 is the game for you. It’s not breaking the mold of what an action/beat ‘em up could be, but it’s definitely a step forward in the right direction after New Gundam Breaker. I love that you can just design amazing mobile suits, and pit them in heated battles, online and offline.

I wish it had crossplay, though. This is the kind of game that I feel all my Gundam-loving friends will have on different platforms. That said, it does have solid online gameplay, and you can also bring in NPCs to help you on harder missions if you’d like. The missions are solid; the combat is fun, and it definitely feels like the designers love Gunpla as much as the fans do.