The Mech Annexe - The Bear and Badger

adkm1979

So, I saw Pacific Rim tonight, and it or me thinking, it's ages since I played a mech game. Probably Mechwarrior 2 on PlayStation, and I used to have difficulty controlling it because the torso wouldn't self-centre after you'd rotated it. I may have just said something sinful as far as mech fans are concerned, I dunno.

I know there was a bit of excitement over Hawken, and a bit of disappointment over Steel Batallion 2, but that's about all I know. The whole mech thing strikes me as going the same route as your Street Fighters etc. getting increasingly comple to keep the fans happy, but becoming increasingly impenetrable to those of us left behind.

There must be mech game fans here, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the various franchises, or how people have gotten into it, or used to be into it and lost interest.

(I'd also welcome recommendations of any games on the current generation of consoles that might be worth looking at.)

metagonzo

I'm partial to a Mech game.

Hawken is an arena FPS dressed in mech so not a mech game (although I do quite like it). The most recent mech game I really enjoyed was ChromeHounds and that's going back a fair bit. Beyond that it was the Mechwarriors.

There's the online now of course but who has the time?

Brooks

I really hoped Hawken would nail this but they screwed the dachshund with perk shit.

Meanwhile, the major title in arcades J-side seems to be not so much a trad fighting game but Gundam Extreme Vs. Full Boost, which is a 3rd personer closer to Virtua On than Armoured Core. You play 2v2 matches sharing a 6000 points stock (kinda like the shared pool of 15 lives in Gears Team DM). It has a huge list of selectable robots and I'm probably going to try playing it hence.

This is called the "Tallgeese III":

Apparently it's top-tier in its 2500-point class. It may be the thing for me.

Bollockoff

Mechwarrior Online is in free open beta now and worth a punt if you fancy. 8v8 matches and if you get into it you can start customising your own loadouts including weapon groupings and heatsinks/armour thickness on different parts of the body.

Strike Suit Zero was a recent Macross style transforming mecha shooter in space lark but it got average to dire reviews. The two Zone of the Enders games are pretty decent (second much more than the first) and worth a play.

@Brooks that looks pretty much a carbon spiritual copy of the VO gameplay. Which isn't a bad thing I guess, and it's Gundam. Will no doubt never see a western release.

That music needs to die, though.

Brooks

Oh yeah, it's headphones on when at the cabinet for sure.

Blue Swirl

I got thoroughly addicted to Armored Core back on the original PlayStation, but haven't touched the series since. I keep thinking I should pick up one of the more recent titles but something always gets in the way. (Usually a lack of cash and reviews ranging from all out praise to utter condemnation.)

Bollockoff

I've tried AC: For Answer and AC 5. I've despised both and I can't put my finger on why.

I was thinking they should do a Pacific Rim game which could be a co-op brawler mixed with XCOM elements. Managing and repairing your Yagers all around the pacific coast.

Skerret

Mech games peaked with Mercenaries (the first one) and Front Mission (also the first one). Making the current gen FM a 3rd person hacktioner is unforgiveable.

When my phd is done I'll be giving Mechwarrior Online a go.

I remember the TallGeese.

[Deleted User]

Bollockoff wrote:

I've tried AC: For Answer and AC 5. I've despised both and I can't put my finger on why. I was thinking they should do a Pacific Rim game which could be a co-op brawler mixed with XCOM elements. Managing and repairing your Yagers all around the pacific coast.

the old front mission games were a lot like x-com.
best mech games by a country mile.
(xcoms ace too, i funking loce it now).

[Deleted User]

probably the last great front mission game.

[Deleted User]

and after i posted that i learn theres a fan translation of the japanese only front mission 5.

Blue Swirl

Bollockoff wrote:

I've tried AC: For Answer and AC 5. I've despised both and I can't put my finger on why.

Sad face. I may take the plunge if I see one at bargain basement prices, but they didn't exactly sell in large numbers so second hand bins aren't stocked to the gills with copies.

Bollockoff

@davie i'll have to get one on an emulator and enjoy.

Smang

not quite the same but that non-movie transformers war for cybertron game is half decent. serviceable mp as well form the little i played of it...

i always wanted to have a go on that giant cockpit controller for the original xbox.

Tempy

Hawken is shit for many reasons, least of all perks. When I played it I thought it was rotten. Just felt like being a bloke jumping around, never at any point felt like a mech and the weapons all felt like you were shooting brightly coloured bits of torn tissue paper at each other, what a waste of time.

Mechwarrior online is about as fun as a single, soiled boot as well. Just doesn't feel big, and the controls feel far to twitchy for a mech. It also looks blend as all hell, a highlight was playing on a map so dark that I was killed by a 70t mech that was 30 meters from me that I couldn't even see.

Ain't been a solid Mech game in too long.

adkm1979

It strikes me, and please tell me if I'm wrong, that there are two very different styles of mech game. The style that seems favoured in Japan are these aerodynamic, swift moving, almost unlimited flying ability mechs (see the videos in the first few posts), which look much more like gigantic men in armour suits, and the slower, plodding, ED-209 style mechs which rotate at the 'waist' and may have a limited boost, or none at all

Is this division a generally acknowledged one amongst fans, and is there a rivalry? Has one or the other become the more common, or most popular?

WorKid

Just got the thread title. Slow today, me.

Smang

adkm1979 wrote:

Is this division a generally acknowledged one amongst fans, and is there a rivalry? Has one or the other become the more common, or most popular?

i think the answer is essentially Japanese design v western design. in japan mechs are seen as an extension or even a replacement for the human body, whereas western robots are essentially massive tanks.

no idea about rivalries though, but if there are any i hope they're settled in those massive VO arcade cabs!

Brooks

Aye, the specifically humanoid J-bot comes outta the same genepool as Ultraman i.e. puny humans made not so puny. The closest you get to western mech design in Japan is probably stuff the tachikomas from Ghost in the Shell (or even the Metal Gear from uh Metal Gear games), but even those retain an animal quality:

Far as I'm aware, robot fans aren't really partisan. They just like robots.

Tempy

Were the early Mobile Suits in Gundam not a bridge between Western Tank stuff and the more Real Robot stuff?

Also, they aren't that averse to the tank type things are they, afterall they did make Steel Battalion

Brooks

Exactly - I do believe they're pretty agnostic when it comes to this shit.

Actually the early Gundam and so really the iconic RX-78-2 model:

... was more like an attempt to toughen up/modernise '70s super-robot shows like Mazinger. Though in practice what was really toughened up was the whole space realpolitik aspect.

Tempy

Oh I meant like the Leo's and stuff, the really basic footsoldier guys that weren't made from Gundamian Ore or w/e but it looks like I was wrong and they still look pretty advanced.

Is it still a big genre over there? Last thing that lapped up on our shores was Gurren Lagaan. Shoulda made another Big-O.

Smang

Big-O was boss, i never did see them all

Tempy

Thought it was a good aesthetic having mechs that, despite their implausibility, felt plausible due to their heft and the limitations of their designs.

Skerret

From memory the original FM offered multiple playthroughs. Can't recall if you got to keep all your superpowered kit, but you do unlock a big spider mech that kicks the shit out of most things. I'm going to go and play it right now...

Brooks

Temps I'm thinking not. I mean it's a persistent meme but as a money-spinner it lost out to deviant moe-moe shit a while ago. More's the fucking pity.

Skerret

Back on MW: Mechwarrior 2 was brillballs due in large part to the gear that came with it, namely the warrior caste stuff and the soundtrack.

Tempy

Brooks wrote:

Temps I'm thinking not. I mean it's a persistent meme but as a money-spinner it lost out to deviant moe-moe shit a while ago. More's the fucking pity.

Indeed. Still, as proven in the trailer for that Otomo shorts flick, they do ace mechanical designs.

Skerret

This and the Syndicate Wars intro stuck out back in the day.

Tempy

Mech Commander has a good intro but I'm at work so no dice

Skerret

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