Since
Battletech was first released as a pen-and-paper game, legions of fans
have become familiar with the politics, intrigue, social strife, and,
perhaps most importantly the Mechs of the Inner Sphere. Battletech
kicked things off as a tabletop strategic battle game sort of like a
really complicated game of chess. FASA Studio, now one and the same as
Microsoft, but back then an independent pen-and-paper game publisher
from Chicago, cranked out a series of add-on games including the wildly
popular MechWarrior, which gave Battletech an RPG spin. With the
addition of MechWarrior, Battletech players gained tangible reasons for
waging their tabletop wars, and gamers ate it up. Battletech has seen a
whole library of books published, most of which fill in the details of a
future history in which the galctic federation has fractured and mutated
into a Romanesque empire threatened by outsiders, freedom fighters,
rebels, and mercenaries, not to mention internal political strife.
Battletech happens in the 31st Century, and its interesting
for a wide variety of reasons. From the fetishized BattleMech culture,
fans who memorize every technical specification and spend weeks hunkered
over miniature replicas of their destructive robots, to the hardcore
MechWarrior fans, who spend hours and hours memorizing insignia,
histories, and the intricacies of a fictional system of social
striafication, Battletech inspires allegiance and devotion.
As
with any popular subculture, the Battletech and MechWarrior worlds have
been developed, re-developed, enhanced, re-enhanced, and generally made
very complicated. Battletech games are seen as early as 1988 on the
Amiga, Commodore 64, and in arcades. FASA Studios in Chicago unveiled
their famous Battletech simulators early on, creating a scenic
destination for early BattleTech fanatics. Since MechWarrior for the PC
first debuted in 1992, the franchise has seen a lot of action in the
videogame world. MechWarrior was released for Super Nintendo, but it
hasnt been since the 1997 release of MechWarrior 2 for PlayStation and
Saturn that weve seen a Battletech title on the console system. This
makes since for a couple of reasons, not the least of which being that
Battletech is a complicated game. On the PC, gamers can take advantage
of their joystick, keyboard and mouse to facilitate all kinds of
complexity, better simulating the board game and the imagined difficulty
of actually driving a Mech as well as including roleplaying elements to
round out the storylines. Add in the more robust technical specs PCs can
often lay claim to, as well as online multiplayer and mission pack
updates, and youve got yourself a hit PC game series, which is exactly
what MechWarrior is. In a MechWarrior game, you get to simulate not just
the action, but the life of a Mech driving soldier in a dark future of
intergalactic strife.
Thats
all fine and dandy, but after awhile gamers became nostalgic for the
simple joy of commanding a battlefield full of 90 ton metal monsters,
focusing on strategy over reflex, which is really what the Battletech
board game was all about in the first place. To fill in that gap,
Microsoft offered us MechCommander, and it was good. In Battletech it
wasnt all about managing your heat and ammo usage it was also about
getting high ground, using cover effectively, flanking enemy lances, and
a lot more strategic and tactical elements. MechCommander allowed gamers
to focus on that element of the Battletech universe without all the
worry of actually controlling the cockpit.
The
MechWarrior and MechCommander games represent two distinct takes on the
Battletech universe in an effort to bring it into the videogame medium.
Now, Microsoft adds a third take on things: MechAssault. MechAssault is
a vision of the BattleTech universe tailored to the Xbox console. This
year weve seen a wide spectrum of big robot games, from innovative
titles like Robot Alchemic Drive to "realistic" simulators like Steel
Battallion, there is no shortage of games. MechAssault fits somewhere in
the middle. The focus of the game is definitely not on the story, as in
Robotech: Battlecry, and the play of the game is not focused on
complexity, as with Steel Battallion. In fact, the focus of MechAssault
is probably most appropriately summed up as this: online multiplayer.
MechAssault
does away with the roleplaying elements of MechWarrior almost
altogether. There is a 20 mission single player story mode, which is
robust for this kind of game, and throughout it youll gain control of
20 big Mechs, which is certainly more variety than present in most
other big robot games. The story mode is not bad: Youre a MechWarrior
in Wolfs Dragoons, a mercenary group who lands on the planet Helios in
time to confront a cult of techno-zealots called the Word of Blake. The
Word of Blake proves to be stiff competition, and the single player
missions can be quite difficult, but the variety of missions, goals and
techniques with which you are presented keeps you interested and moving
ahead. In addition, you practice and hone skills that will pay off in
multiplayer games.
One
of the first things you notice in MechAssault is the graphical quality.
This game looks really pretty. Many of the levels feature ambient
effects such as steam, snow, dust storms, etc., and they all look super.
The snow levels, especially, create a weird, calm feel, with muffled
sound and lingering footprints. Textures are excellent, and the level
design is great. In most missions, there are several ways you can choose
to attack the task storm in with a heavy Mech or sneak around the
back way with an agile Mech? The choice is often yours, which is nice
not only because it adds variety to the missions, but also because it
showcases the talents of the various Mechs. And any Battletech fan will
tell you that variety is the spice of life when it comes to 'Mechs.
Driving
around big war machines is, of course, all about destruction. Weapon
effects are rendered beautifully. The Mechs all look really, really
great, and things like explosions, muzzle flash, and smoke are rendered
beautifully. Lighting effects glisten and spark on the screen, making
charged PPC blasts devastatingly beautiful in addition to the regular
kind of devastating. Missles take off with that surreal missle look,
floating out of their launchers and trailed by a dynamic cloud of smoke.
Just watching the destruction happen can keep you entertained for hours.
And then you can blow up the environments, too. There are plenty of
destructible elements in the landscape, from rock bridges and
outcroppings to buildings, bases and entire cities. Fighting a Mech who
just happens to be standing downhill from a giant boulder? Blow that
boulder to bits and it will reign down some serious damage on your foe.
Enemy Mech standing too close to the power station? Take it out, and
youll take him out, too. Little Mechs sniping you from the skyscrapers
in River City? Bring those suckers down and then shoot them while
theyre trying to stand up. The destructible environments add a whole
other level of strategy and technique to MechAssault, and when theres
nothing else to do, blowing up buildings is just fun. In some of the
nighttime levels the buildings are lit up until you shoot a rocket into
them. At that point the lights flicker and everything goes dark if
thats not paying attnetion to detail, I dont know what is.
The
second thing youll notice in MechAssault is how easy the controls are.
This has led a lot of reviewers and gamers to complain about the "dumbing-down"
of the Battletech franchise, but they are wrong. To control your Mech
you use both analog joysticks in typical first person shooter style,
plus the triggers. The left trigger cycles through your weapons and the
right trigger fires. The left analog stick can be pressed to activate
jump jets (if youre driving a Mech with jump jets) and the right
analog stick can be pressed to activate your defensive ability (chaff,
anti-lock on, null signature, etc.). These controls are simple and
effective. They give you control over pretty much everything you could
want to control.
But
the game doesnt take care of all the other strategy. This is where
MechAssault becomes a blend of MechWarrior and MechCommander. The
simulation aspect of the game has been reduced by the third person
viewpoint and the simple controls, but the strategy aspect remains
basically intact. You must still keep an eye on the heat of your Mech
these things are notorious for overheating, which reduces speed and
firing rate. So doing things like avoiding lava pools or standing in
rivers while firing can help you win a battle. You should probably
always keep moving, as in many shooters, but it isnt as fast as a
shooter like Unreal Championship, so using environmental elements like
trees and buildings for cover is crucial. Levels remain important,
meaning that balancing high ground and low ground is essential (and,
usually, higher ground is better). In addition, coordinating with
teammates, especially in the team-based multiplayer modes, is essential
to flank enemy units, stay alive, and best utilize the various types of
Mechs on each team. Thanks to the Xbox LIVE communicator, keeping in
close contact with teammates is no problem at all.
As I
mentioned above, the online multiplayer aspect of MechAssault is a big
focus of the game. It would be nice if the single player mode were a bit
bigger, but only because its fun to play the missions that are there.
However, the online multiplayer will keep you playing this game for
ages. The local multiplayer game is somewhat disappointing because it
only supports two player, so youll definitely want to play with either
a few Xboxes hooked up through system link or, preferably, via Xbox
LIVE.
Currently,
there really isnt enough to the online multiplayer, but it's still
incredibly enjoyable. There are five modes of play right now:
Destruction, Team Destruction, Last Man Standing, Team Last Man
Standing, and Not It. The most popular of these modes is Team
Destruction, and with good reason it is the most rewarding way to
play, both cooperating and competing with the folks online. There also
arent enough multiplayer maps included with the game, although all five
maps are well-designed and fun. Anyone playing MechAssault online will
tell you that there needs to be more city maps (people love tearing up
River City) and more gameplay modes.
Fortunately,
Microsoft has already listened, and the first updates for MechAssault
will be released in January 2003. This includes two new Mechs, a new
multiplayer map, and a new multiplayer game mode, Capture the Flag. With
the variety and number of Mechs available in MechAssault, and taking
into account the voice communication of Xbox LIVE, a rousing session of
Capture the Flag will be tough to tear yourself away from. Its great to
see this kind of continuing development, and if these content updates
work out well, I definitely see a bright future for MechAssault as an
online staple.
Of
course, no amount of geeky detail is going to make some folks enjoy
MechAssault. It is a mid-speed shooter. Its not as slow and thoughtful
as a game like Ghost Recon, and its not nearly as fast and twitchy as a
game like Unreal Championship. It inhabits a middle territory which
hasnt been explored a whole lot. Newbies find themselves dying a lot
when they first come online, but experienced MechWarriors often get out
of a round with barely a death or two. Some folks are turned off by the
simple controls because they want the complexity of a real big robot
simulator. Other folks are turned off because subtleties like
controlling heat and battlefield strategy are not foregrounded in the
manual or gameplay instructions. That means you have to learn a lot
through trial and error, and maybe through helpful online gamers. On the
one hand, its easy to pick up MechAssault, drive your Mech, and blow
up some stuff. On the other, its very tough to be any good at it.
However,
if you are of the right mindset, MechAssault can become your favorite
game. It has bumped other pressing titles out of my Xbox on more than a
few occasions, and it has kept me up way too late playing robot soldier
with people I dont even know. Thats a measure of success for me. If
youre looking for a high quality big robot title and you have an Xbox,
I definitely recommend MechAssault. If you have Xbox LIVE, it is a must
have title.