New Gundam Breaker is the latest installment in the Gundam Breaker series of games by Bandai Namco -- this is the first game in the series that uses the Unreal Engine -- which means unlike the last games, they could go all-out with the graphics without thinking about the Vita port.
Story Mode:
- The scenario mode for New Gundam Breaker plays out like a visual novel, with the player being a new transfer student at the most elite Gunpla building school.
- The story is nothing new and mainly serves as an excuse for the player to make different Gunplas fight each other.
Gameplay:
- New Gundam Breaker is a robot beat-em-up -- with an emphasis on collecting parts and real-time customization.
- A big difference with New Gundam Breaker from its predecessors is the real-time customization -- you may knock out parts from an enemy, pick them up and equip them on the spot -- BUT -- enemies may knock out your parts as well.
- Each part of your Gunpla has attributes attached to it, such as different stats and special moves, so:
- Picking up parts from enemies allows you to test out parts without having to build it into your Gunpla.
- Losing your own parts can drastically alter your play style if you are relying on a special move attributed to a part. (Ex. the Shining Finger move attached to your Shining Gundam arms)
- You may lose parts you’ve picked up if you get hit too many times. If you don’t get them back before the mission ends, you’ll have to replay and hope you get the same parts in another round.
- Controls feel sluggish -- as if there’s input delay between your controller and the actions on-screen.
- The battle mode is unfocused. You are given multiple quests such as defeating 20 AI enemies, open 10 containers, defeat specific models, etc BUT you are also expected to complete the main mission objective.
- This means that in battle, you can either: play the game as normal and hope for the best, leave the combat to the AI companions (THE AI CAN COMPLETE THE MAIN QUEST WITHOUT YOUR INTERVENTION) and focus on collecting parts, or focus on completing side quests to earn team points.
- Did I mention that YOU CAN JET PACK TO A HIGH SPOT AND AVOID COMBAT ALTOGETHER?
Customization:
- Parts you picked up during a successful mission can be kept and used to create your very own Franken-Gundam.
- This means if you are looking for a specific model (Unicorn Gundam, Gundam Deathscythe, Freedom Gundam, etc), you’ll have to play through story mode, find and defeat these models and collect their parts to unlock the parts for use.
- There are no limitations (as I can see) with parts you use -- you may combine 1/144 and 1/100 parts to make an unholy misshapen Gunpla -- as long as you have the parts. You may even customize the color per part!
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Summary:
We’ve yet to play through the scenario to unlock the parts for the ultimate franken-Gunpla -- in the meantime, we’re hoping some issues such as the graphical stutter when changing parts gets resolved soon. WIP.