As someone who played over 100 hours of the Gundam Breaker 3 import version I was totally psyched about this series finally getting a proper localization. But alas after several hours with it I am sorely disappointed.

The biggest issue for me is the technical glitches. The move to Unreal Engine 4 makes the game look nicer but they also switched development teams to one that doesn't appear to be experienced with this engine. The game menus will pause whenever you make a selection and during the game play it will stutter/pause for up to 2 seconds. This can be very jarring and the combined with the input lag, makes activating specials very frustrating. I am playing on a PS4 Pro and there are no optimizations at all and after reading the Gamefaqs forums its has the same issues on a standard PS4 as well.

Gameplay wise this is basically Gundam Versus with a story mode. Unlike Gundam Breaker 3 there isn't much mission variety. Its always either 2v2 or 3v3 with the same objectives every time. The team to get the most points at the end wins. It gets very repetitive and boring fast. The previous game had lots of variety in the objectives and boss fights.

Compared to GB3 the game is also a lot slower. Your mobile suit moves about half as fast and your boost runs out twice as fast as well. Because of the input lag, trying to jump is nearly impossible because the game constantly thinks you want to boost (they are mapped to the same button). Considering the size of some of the maps its makes it a chore just to get anywhere. Combat is super clunky and not very satisfying. Compared to the GBE where you could rapidly move across the map and execute combos, you will be constantly air juggled by the NPCs and knocked back by the smallest attack. Ranged weapons are pretty much useless as they run out of charge quickly.

You no longer level up parts so there is no reason to stick with a part unless you like its special move. Also the difference between HG and MG parts are only cosmetic now. There are no SD Gundam at all which is ironic since the story is about the love of all Gunpla. Your inner frame is the only part that levels and is basically your player class (Melee, Tank, Ranged, Support, etc). Super Fumina is in the game as a boss but you can not build her :(

The story itself is pretty average. If you have watched any of the Gundam Build Fighters/Divers shows this a mediocre version of those. The only redeeming factor is they got some major voice talent despite the low budget visual novel format and cliche archetypes. Overall I would wait for this go to the budget bin or a major patch overhaul. It seems it is getting trashed online in Japan and people are reselling the game in droves. As for me I might be done with it after only 15 hours.

It feels like a bit of a catch 22. People want good Gundam games to come over more often so that a niche market could thrive, but it's really hard to support something like New Gundam Breaker.

For someone coming into it blind, they might find something to enjoy. I'm not going to try to stop anyone from throwing money at it to try. However, it's much harder for an established fan, because this is clearly a regression. This is really about established fans being disappointed, defending the original formula from misrepresentation, and redirecting new players to, at least, try the previous installment. This makes me wonder if they intentionally did not call it Gundam Breaker 4.

If Gundam Breaker is basically "Kitbash Gundam Diablo", then this basically feels like Battlerite with Gundam.

I understand that they the franchise needed something to "shake things up". The idea of a multiplayer build your own Gunpla game isn't bad. I just didn't expect that the whole "not-MOBA" arena was the entire game and not a separate mode from the usual Diablo-style mission runs.

The joy of cross-universe kitbashing is gone, there's a whole cringy highschool dating sim aspect, and the gameplay has been kneecapped into a an awkward looking sludge. If the thing you're going to do is farm for parts, then it should at least be competent. They made the average combat even worse. Even if they had acceptable combat, customizing your own unique Gundam should be the main pillar of this game. However they also made it more meaningless. It's a real shame.

That's disappointing to hear. I purposely skipped buying Gundam Breaker 3 recently because I saw this new localized game was coming west.

Is this going to be the "New Coke" of Gundam Breaker games?

I guess waiting for a potential proper Gundam Breaker 4 might be in order... though if this does badly I wonder is Bandai Namco will pull the old "the game failed to gain an audience in the west even though we severely dumbed it down for them" move that many Japanese publishers have done in the past with poor entries into their normally Japan-only games, and not localize any future games for the western market. It's so sad to see Japanese game publishers continuing to make these same mistakes and do such a bad job of reading the market for these games over here.

If you haven't listened to Austin Walker's take on New Gundam Breaker I would highly recommend it. On Waypoint Radio episode 166 his explanation of the visual novel story is both hilarious and one of the best parts of this flawed game. He and Vinny did the quick look for Gundam Breaker 3 for Giantbomb back in the day and is one of my favorite quick looks of all time on this site.