Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

(PS3/PSV) Gundam Breaker review

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    (PS3/PSV) Gundam Breaker review

    I've spent the whole afternoon playing this...I'm kinda liking it despite being mindless and repetitive. I never took part in the beta so the game was completely new for me, and I still had in mind the controls for From Software's Gundam Unicorn. Controls themselves are much easier, as Gundam breaker only takes place on land and there's no need for tridimensional movement. You can jump, dash, attack with close and long range weapons (depending on which mode you are, switched with L1), use special items (like repair items and vulcans with MS heads that have them) or use special attacks based on what is equipped and weapon proficiency.

    The game starts with you piloting a GM (no, they don't let you choose between Federation, Zeon, or other Gundam factions, it's classic Federation) and after the first missions your MS, which in reality is a 1/144 scale model brought to life by VR equipment (akin to Gunpla Builder Beginners G...no, you don't want to see it), you end with a monster kitbash.
    My MS first had a MS-06S head, then at one point I had four body parts belonging to four different Zaku versions, MS-09 arms, a RX-178 beam rifle, a Zaku II axe and a RX-78 shield. Now it's mostly a Hyaku Shiky with a Dom Tropem head and Zaku FZ body.
    Some combinations can end up in being veeeery ugly and/or comical as Federation parts tend to be smaller/less bulky than Zeon parts, but it's the main point of this game.

    Missions always revolve around destroying something, with some of them ending up against an extra-large version of main MS (like the Gundam and Gundam MkII). The AI is hilariously bad, having a hard time to jump on cliffs and standing still until being hit the first time at long range; after that they charge to close range and unless you escape, they won't try anything else. Special moves have incredibly large invincibility windows and in single player it's very easy to abuse them. The camera is decent, though the locking is slaved to it, and it's necessary to break lock to navigate the terrain, a must when your body parts start flying off.

    The game tempo is very fast and the constant level of action keeps the game interesting, though attack patterns usually go as: long-range special attack, fire one normal salvo at long range, dash in close, attack until enemy/ies are down, repeat. Enemy aces (that normally pilot MS well above your power level...Gundam Freedom against a Zaku II? Can be done, never like Seed/Seed Destiny anyway) aren't better, and the onyl thing different between them and the standard mobs is how powerful their MS is and that they can't be give a coup-de-grace if you sever the body from the legs.

    Graphics are nice, but nothing spectacular. Mobile Suits have less polygons than Gundam Unicorn, in Breaker there's the terrain to deal with, a larger number of enemies and faster rhythm. Textures are likewise low quality, especially kit boxes in the shop. Everything keeps loading times down, but technically it's far from being the best-looking Gundam game around.
    There are a lot of options to customize you monstrous kitbash, mostly centred around painting it. For some reason Bandai decided to go for just separate R, G, B values rather than having those and a colour picker. Complex camo schemes (actual camo textures, rather than plain colours) must be purchased using the in-game currency, which is obtained by completing missions. This money is used also to buy entire virtual Gunpla boxes, rather than relying on mission drops, and acquire special parts like grenades and better repair kits.

    I'm liking Gundam Breaker, a lot of intertwined systems that work well together, though the game itself is nothing spectacular.
    2
    1
    0%
    0
    2
    0%
    0
    3
    0%
    0
    4
    0%
    0
    5
    0%
    0
    6
    0%
    0
    7
    0%
    0
    8
    0%
    0
    9
    0%
    2
    10
    0%
    0

    #2
    Can you say all of that again, but in English?
    Kept you waiting, huh?

    Comment


      #3
      Loved the demo and have it coming, i'll play some MP with you BK when i get it.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by J0e Musashi View Post
        Can you say all of that again, but in English?
        Was it that bad? I'll try to rationalise my thoughts on it and then post some more.

        Loved the demo and have it coming, i'll play some MP with you BK when i get it.
        Would love to! I'll give a spin to the multiplayer in the following days, in the meantime I'll get my hands on good parts.

        Comment


          #5
          Thanks for the post.

          When I saw you get this in the imports thread I thought it was a super cool looking Gundam arcade game I saw when I was over there. It was a bunch of linked cabinets where people were playing some kind of deathmatch and it looked great.

          Comment


            #6
            I think your thinking of Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs Full Boost, chopemon. Course the PS3 has Gundam Extreme Vs.

            Comment


              #7
              Or Senjo no Kizuna, though Extreme Versus is far more popular (and takes much less floor space). Anyway, Gundam Breaker is not that different from Extreme Versus, though the action in GB is less frantic and the customisation part is, IIRC, nonexistent in EV.
              Anyway, my MS is now:
              head: MS-06R1 Zaku II
              body: MSN-04 Sazabi
              arms: RX-93 Nu Gundam
              backpack: RX-0 Unicorn (normal mode)
              legs: RX-178 Gundam MkII
              long range: RX-178 Gundam MkII
              short range: someone's beam saber
              shield: MSN-06S Sinanju
              coloured red, of course.
              Had my first shot at multiplayer today, it's the same as single player except that missions can be much harder than in single player, and my previous MS was a lot inferior to the other guys; the first mission went extremely well, I got shot down at least twice in the others...in single player I was at around mission 20, in multi I started playing at mission 47.
              Multiplayer gives a lot more money and better quality parts, so much better than single player truggles to keep up. Everything was also very smooth and I'd say latency-free, though Japanese players avoid communication like the plague; everything was through pre-written text messages (in Japanese, of course) to which I replied by copying everyone else's messages.

              Comment


                #8
                Well except the biggest difference Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs ( Full Boost ) is a player V player experience team - deathmatch, and Gundam Breaker is 4 player PVE style versus the enemy AI.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by MisterBubbles View Post
                  I think your thinking of Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs Full Boost, chopemon. Course the PS3 has Gundam Extreme Vs.
                  I wonder if this is worth getting. I saw people playing this quite a bit in Arcades during my trip to Japan in 2012. The price for it is reasonable now, I just wonder if it will gather dust on the shelf.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Well its still huge in Japan and the lobbies are always full, plus theres a huge single player game, and loads of unlocks, its an awesome game.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      After mission 45 you start to get 1/100 parts for your virtual plastic model. In fact, I was able to secure some MG parts thanks to some online missions, though my 1/144 mecha wasn't particularly of help...but I ended up in being able to use some of those parts, and others are waiting until I can use them.
                      For a while, my model looked like this:


                      1/100 head, shield, legs and backpack. The rest if 1/144. Absolutely lovely, especially thanks to the Master Gundam torso (smaller than normal UC torsos) and Nu Gundam arms (slightly larger than other components, but quite to reach to look proportionate with the legs).
                      Some more online games brought more parts and now my mecha is 100% MG, though it still has the GM head.
                      The rest is:
                      Zaku IIS arms
                      Geara Doga legs
                      Zaku II backpack
                      Hyaku Shiki rifle
                      someone's beam saber
                      Z Gundam shield
                      Online is very smooth, but most rooms are locked and free rooms can take a while to get 4 players...and there's no indication on the other players' level, meaning you can end up in missions way above your current equipment and getting one-shot by essentially everything on the battlefield, making things not funny for you and forcing other players to constantly help you.

                      In single player I'm at mission 50, and the game is starting to get boring. All mission objectives are to destroy the enemies within the allocated time slot (20-25 minutes, and it's hard to get past the 15 minutes mark), and the occasional bosses that are not giant versions of Mobile Suits tend to overstay their welcome a bit too much, repeating the same attack patterns in all of their modes. The weak AI and the overreliance on special attacks don't help either, and the combat is strongly skewed toward close combat; it's also possible to overcome the boost meter by locking onto a target, jump and constantly swing your beam saber; the "get-better-parts" factor starts to get a bit boring as well, because you never seem to get what you want, and the in-game store doesn't seem to stock the virtual modes you would need...no, I've never ventured into the PSN store to see what it's available, and I never will.

                      Missions are shared between single and multi player: completing one in either mode will open the next in both modes. If playing online at a mission higher than your current level, you will still have to play the missing missions between the two to proceed, which can be quite a drag, especially when singleplayer doesn't reward as multiplayer for parts quantity and quality.
                      I can't deny that it was a blast for two or so days and each session lasted hours, but now it's beginning to get boring...and yes, the lack of parts I want is a factor here.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Can anybody give me the low-down on importing my save data from the beta to the full game?

                        Comment


                          #13
                          I've no idea.
                          I thought it did it automatically. Though I've heard it randomly transfers some parts and not others, so really pot luck on whether a good find on the beta will make the transfer.

                          I managed to get the game this past Tuesday and would love to get some co-op going. I'm currently sitting at mission #21 I think in single player. Had a look at the online lobbies an as briareos said, pretty much every room is locked.
                          I wouldn't mind grinding out some missions for some decent parts, as my bog standard RX-78 I made some got superseded very quickly.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            I seen the screen when i stuck the game in jimtendo, but seeing i dont speak japanese or know any kanji, i was just assumed it did it auto, but no, nothing and ive a bog standard RX-78. Ive unlocked loads of cool parts on the beta too and going back to this sucks, plus ive 5 different Gunpla's all painted in various colours. Well send me a message Jimtendo, and maybe get briareos_kerensky & Briaroes for some 4 way action.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Sure thing. Won't be until quite late tonight though.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X