Full Review , Played mostly on the steam deck, its a portable game at heart, has 16:10 support (black bars in cut-scenes, does not bother me) low to best options (frame limit up to 360 cap & unlimited / motion blur toggle) high settings works on deck at 60, generally 4+ hours game time (mid game sleep works well too) there is a issue across the board adding certain "builders parts" that drops the frame rate only in assembly mode to 1-2 FPS (ill remove this if i see its fixed) apart from that, it is a good experience overall, I deal with it but its something that you must know before purchase. The game, for the average user. (you don't need to know gundam to enjoy this IMO) GB4 is basically the dress up game for the bois, its attractive for the girls too because its all about being a creative nerd and looking good in the 24 player online lobby that is quite a casual environment, there's 36 base missions and 5 difficulty modes for the extra completion stamp, it opens up once you reach chapter 3 and can feel slightly daunting at first because you feel weak, you will be able to upgrade, if its your first run you cant reach the level cap (50) till you are in the final chapter, If you play online you need to make sure your missions are done in order to unlock the next stages. The gameplay loop is optimizing how you want to play and generally just being creative with images, diorama mode, farming missions to get the best score, cash or parts, other modes include survival and bounty hunting, guilds are also available, do a few missions and come back later, then spend 269 hours building a waifu or some terror from another dimension, once you have done the game, there are a few special missions, decals to unlock, and for the future (DLC) there should be a nice portion more with extra parts too. Combat is as complex as you want it to be, you can play as if it were a basic beat em up, with x and y close range, or long range with weapons on the triggers, LB+RB being a hold button to access EX/OP skills that you can have 4 x 2 of so 8 different skills equipped but ideally you want to optimize something you like playing with (fully customizable KB+M and controller mapping too) boost & dodge mechanics,shield mechanics and other things that kinda seem overlooked, but that could change with future content (its rather typical to see a game like this update the level cap to 99 and have another difficulty, but who knows?) Story is typical, alternate universe you are in a game, typical plot twists, its forgettable but makes sense, so you dont feel like its bad, just okay because you want to dress up your gunpla anyway, it serves its purpose and that is fine, no need to spoil a thing. Building your gundam, or gunpla if you are familiar with the IRL model kits it is based on, well, not only does this mean if you know the parts you can build whatever in game and then build it in real life most the time, there's casually a lot to it, from paint to decals, weathering its vast and making something truly unique to you, stats wise i don't deem this as a hardcore game, its a nice enjoyable time where you can just mess about looking cool. There is so much variance with up to 6 passive stats per part that you can swap in and out via upgrading, these skills are capped to a 30 limit to make your gunpla play how you want to, pistols, flamethrowers, rocket spam, double gatling spam, grenade spam, its endless and its fun, Also there is ability modifiers you eventually get that can alter certain stats for buffs, adding extra abilities or even just deliberately de-buff your effects (this would be used for getting certain mode high scores), half of the best part is watching people play with the janky mess they have made, or they might just even roleplay as their favorite model kit Online. The online experience is wonderful, is based on a 24 player lobby system where you can do simple chat greetings, emotes, make in game friends not linked to you steam account, so you can be a nerd amongst nerds and not tell anyone, fight for the big display gundam in the middle of the lobby for everyone to see and go and see the available local images in the gallery. It does a fantastic job of making you understand the personality of another player with their gundam, it has a "player card" system where you can give likes, and see what 3 of their favorite gundam timelines they like best and 3 lines of pre-written description that you as a player can set to how you play the game, its enough and it keeps it in the universe. When playing the 3 player co-op the standard downtime "gundam bunnyhop" spam by rapidly jumping is a greeting to other friendly players, most people are just here to have fun get parts and build gunpla, if you get disconnected, (rare in my experience), you can still finish the run solo or quit and keep what you earned, and yes, you will see traditional extra thiccc gundams with cleavage, chibi players or extremely complex units, or even just a teddy, its funny, this brings out the personality in the player and im all here for it. EXTRA Thanks for reading, I hope this conveys to you if this is a good purchase decision for you. Is the base game worth the price? Honestly if you like to mess around with what is available OR you want something to play in bursts on the steam deck, then yes, i think it is, if you are on the fence, a small sale might entice you, but i do think if you are not into mechs in general or dont interact with your creative side much, well that's where most of the game is placed, and that's up to you where you stand on that decision. Much of my gundam knowledge is with gundam wing, and if you have knowledge of the series, you have lore that the game didnt give you so it just enhances the connection of the game, thats all that someone would be missing really. <3
Read more