AlexMax
06-17-2003, 08:48 PM
If Halo was the killer app for the Xbox, then Mechassault is DEFENITLY the killer app for Xbox Live. The game play is simple, and the single player a little lacking. Once you play it online, though, you will be sucked in for WEEKS!
OK, surface gameplay out of the way first. In mechassault, you control mechs from a third person view You have your choice of a good number of meches with predetermined loadouts (You con't custemize your mech...but it's not nearly as bad as it sounds...it's just for play balance). You control your mech with a twin sticks setup. You have three sets of weapons for most all mechs, an energy weapon (Your basic Laser, Pulse Laser, PPC) , a projectile weapon (Autocannons, chainguns, gauss rifles), and a propelled weapon (a few variations of missles, hammers)...though some mechs (Kit Fox, Elemental) might have only two types of weapons. You have infinite ammo, but by picking up powerups (most commonly left behind by other mechs that you blow up, but sometimes found in the open) you can upgrade your weapons (twice) to better weapons that have limited ammo. Some mechs have jump jets, which you activate by pressing the right stick, and some have special defenses like null signature or chaff, which is activated by the right stick.
The unique thing about this game is that almost anything on the map is destroyable save for the terrain. Buildings, bridges, glaciers, debris, anything. And it's more than just looks. Enemy mech is on a bridge? Take it out, and the bridge falls down, your enemy with it, and will more than likely result in the opponent to go nuclear. Enemy near a tall building? Destroy it, and the building will fall down and the falling rubble will crush the enemy. Enemy underneath an unstable portion of rock or ice? ...I think you get the picture.
The single player missions are ho-hum...blow up these buildings, investigate this site, kill these mechs, etc.
But the multiplayer? Oh my god the multiplayer...
There is no way to describe it. The games are very intense and the fighting fierce. It requires a bit more thought than say Unreal or DOOM, since your mech goes so friggin slow you are a plain shot and you are probably going to get hit...a lot. You must maximize your use of terrain, buildings and anything else you can find in order to top the other players. All 7 others of them (8 players over Xbox Live, and if you can find 7 other people with xbox's you can pull off 16 players over a system link game).
And just when the fun starts to wear just a LITTLE bit thin....BAM! Downladable content.
The multiplayer started out with a pitiful handful of maps and only 5 gametypes, in spite of the impressive selection of mechs. Since then, in three seporate waves of downloads, four new mechs, seven new maps (more than doubleing the origional number), and six new gametypes (Capture the Flag, light and medium mech only skirmishes/team skirmishes and an innovative game called Giant Killer where you have to kill a one giant mech with your team of tiny Elementals...and once you do, you become the new giant mech who everyone else targets). This is the most new content that has been released for any Xbox Live game thus far, and it shows how much Day 1 cares about their games.
Not to mention you get the other perks of Xbox Live, such as friends lists, guarenteed connections with broadband users, and the best voice chat to grace gaming...EVER!
So anyway...this game kicks ass, and is defeniatly worth investing in an Xbox and Xbox Live! for.
OK, surface gameplay out of the way first. In mechassault, you control mechs from a third person view You have your choice of a good number of meches with predetermined loadouts (You con't custemize your mech...but it's not nearly as bad as it sounds...it's just for play balance). You control your mech with a twin sticks setup. You have three sets of weapons for most all mechs, an energy weapon (Your basic Laser, Pulse Laser, PPC) , a projectile weapon (Autocannons, chainguns, gauss rifles), and a propelled weapon (a few variations of missles, hammers)...though some mechs (Kit Fox, Elemental) might have only two types of weapons. You have infinite ammo, but by picking up powerups (most commonly left behind by other mechs that you blow up, but sometimes found in the open) you can upgrade your weapons (twice) to better weapons that have limited ammo. Some mechs have jump jets, which you activate by pressing the right stick, and some have special defenses like null signature or chaff, which is activated by the right stick.
The unique thing about this game is that almost anything on the map is destroyable save for the terrain. Buildings, bridges, glaciers, debris, anything. And it's more than just looks. Enemy mech is on a bridge? Take it out, and the bridge falls down, your enemy with it, and will more than likely result in the opponent to go nuclear. Enemy near a tall building? Destroy it, and the building will fall down and the falling rubble will crush the enemy. Enemy underneath an unstable portion of rock or ice? ...I think you get the picture.
The single player missions are ho-hum...blow up these buildings, investigate this site, kill these mechs, etc.
But the multiplayer? Oh my god the multiplayer...
There is no way to describe it. The games are very intense and the fighting fierce. It requires a bit more thought than say Unreal or DOOM, since your mech goes so friggin slow you are a plain shot and you are probably going to get hit...a lot. You must maximize your use of terrain, buildings and anything else you can find in order to top the other players. All 7 others of them (8 players over Xbox Live, and if you can find 7 other people with xbox's you can pull off 16 players over a system link game).
And just when the fun starts to wear just a LITTLE bit thin....BAM! Downladable content.
The multiplayer started out with a pitiful handful of maps and only 5 gametypes, in spite of the impressive selection of mechs. Since then, in three seporate waves of downloads, four new mechs, seven new maps (more than doubleing the origional number), and six new gametypes (Capture the Flag, light and medium mech only skirmishes/team skirmishes and an innovative game called Giant Killer where you have to kill a one giant mech with your team of tiny Elementals...and once you do, you become the new giant mech who everyone else targets). This is the most new content that has been released for any Xbox Live game thus far, and it shows how much Day 1 cares about their games.
Not to mention you get the other perks of Xbox Live, such as friends lists, guarenteed connections with broadband users, and the best voice chat to grace gaming...EVER!
So anyway...this game kicks ass, and is defeniatly worth investing in an Xbox and Xbox Live! for.