Assault Gunners HD Edition

There's little to get here that you can't get from a mobile game, except you wouldn't sit in front of a 55-inch screen to play something like Temple Run. Assault Gunners HD Edition doesn't benefit from being on PS4 at all; if anything, it's worse off. With little to no depth or nuance, Assault Gunners HD Edition is a mindless action game that offers very little in return for your dedicated time in front of the TV.

Assault Gunner HD Edition is (at the time of writing) the very best mech game available on the Switch. It provides more than enough bang for your buck but sadly doesn't do it in the spectacular fashion one would expect when controlling a gigantic robot. We still heartfully recommend this to mech game lovers out there, but other players will simply not be converted to the genre by this one. The wait for the definitive mecha Switch game continues, and hopefully, DAEMON X MACHINA will fill that gap.

Assault Gunners HD is a port of an, almost decade-old, forgettable mobile game which started its life on the PS Vita... and it shows. There's literally no reason to try it out, unless really, really, really into mechs.

Overall, if you’re feeling the need to mech up and have some destructive fun Assault Gunners HD Edition could be a good match for you if you temper your expectations. In terms of both presentation and overall action this feels like a last-gen game at best, but probably even further back than that. Its sensibilities simply aren’t very evolved, you’re going out to destroy everything in sight and doing so feels far more vanilla than you may expect. That said, for the moment there aren’t many options anything like it on the console for now so depending on the fix you’re looking for it could be a good fit.

The customization and upgrade system is pretty cool, but it does not make up for the frustratingly repetitive gameplay. The port itself isn't good either, having several control and UI issues.

I can’t say I really enjoyed my time with Assault Gunners HD Edition. I think the control scheme is terrible, the music is bland, the mission variety is lacking, and the story is uninteresting. I spent about six hours with this one and completed all 35 missions and the 12 DLC missions. Inferno mode is also included. This is a horde mode where enemies come in waves, so if this gameplay is your cup of tea this will extend playtime quite a bit. If you’re really starved for a mech game you might find some enjoyment out of this if you can look past all these issues, since it’s not very expensive at $11.99 with the DLC. Otherwise you should likely wait for a better offer down the line.

Assault Gunners HD Edition isn't a bad game, I had a lot of fun playing it and I can see myself playing it until I get the platinum. However, it's clear to see the PS Vita origins and it's sad to see that the full potential hasn't been grasped here as they could have done so much more with this remaster – they don't even use the PS4 controller as well as they could have. My recommendation would be to play the game in short bursts, maybe five missions or less at a time, in order to keep the game enjoyable and fresh and also to turn up the difficulty a bit.

Nothing about the game feels tense or challenging, and completing missions within a minute makes it sadly forgettable.

Assault Gunner HD manages to make mech-based combat boring and lifeless but may appeal to diehard mech fans just looking to destroy robots. A 2012 Japanese import that translated poorly from Vita to PS4.

Assault Gunner HD Edition is a game filled with substandard visuals, repetitive, unvaried game play and a plethora of small niggles which really mount up. The game might have received some positive reviews on the PSVita but the jet boost to the West and to the PS4 has not been kind on this game.