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Knight
10-11-2002, 10:44 AM
Hands On MechAssault
New info, screens and movies on Microsoft's biggest holiday title.
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October 10, 2002 - Our most recent session with a near complete version of MechAssault left us thoroughly impressed with the game's core elements: big explosions, cool weapons and non stop action. The real measure of this game will be how it works in the online realm of Xbox Live and that will be part of a hands on report another day. For now, we're stepping back into the Battletech universe to check the nuts, bolts and backbone of the game that will carry the first party torch for Xbox this holiday season.
The pace for unlocking mechs is nice and steady with your first new ride showing up just before the third mission of the campaign mode. Granted it's just a souped up version of the default Puma you start with, but the Cougar introduces the PPC weapon and the null-signal (invisibility to the civilian) defense mechanism. The missions also seemed to be paced to give you plenty of time to get used to the controls early on and then grow more comfortable with your weaponry.







Going head up against other mechs is the game's ultimate challenge during the campaign mode so it's easy to understand why the game eases you into those confrontations. Enemy mechs are at least as tough as your own mech as we saw them take multiple direct hits and keep on trudging around launching rockets at us. Infantry is no challenge because you simply step on them, tanks can be pesky when they attack in large groups, but it's the tiny little elementals that will confound even the most accurate shooters. It's quite a jump in difficulty to go from trouncing dozens of infantry men to attacking a fully equipped enemy base with tanks, giant turrets and a mech or two lurking in the background.

The storyline has you, as a lone warrior, in a modified mech clearing the way for the rest of your army to land and being an all out assault, so you'll have no assistance in taking those bases. In fact, clearing bases can be the most time-consuming element of MechAssault. Pounding on giant buildings, some of which must be destroyed for you to advance, with rockets and particle cannons can get a bit tedious. Your weapons are spread across three broad categories of rocket-type, energy based and ballistic and you can get temporary upgrades by finding powerups in the battlefield.







Controlling the mechs will be a cinch for anybody who's played Halo. The two games share the very similar control schemes and even the speed (walking, traversing) of Halo and MechAssault are too similar to be coincidence. The two thumbstick buttons will be used to activate the special abilities of your particular mech like jump jets with the left stick button designated for defensive abilities like invisibility. The weapon categories are button and color-coded with blue (X) for energy, yellow (Y) for ballistic and red (B) for missiles so that way you'll know what kind of weapon a particular mech has in a given category. For example, the Puma's energy weapon in the PPC, while the Cougar uses a basic twin laser array. You can switch between whatever type of weapon you need for the moment by tapping the corresponding color and then using the right trigger to fire. You can only have one weapon in each category at a time and you have the option of simply toggling through the three categories using the left trigger.

IGN will have much much more on MechAssault in the coming weeks leading up to the game's November launch.

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/374/374059p1.html

public EnEmy406
10-11-2002, 11:54 PM
nice read thanx

Discretion
10-12-2002, 12:02 AM
Thanx man!

EHWfedPres
10-12-2002, 06:38 PM
God damm, this game will be amazing. I heard about a Base vs. Base mode that allows you to play a full scale version of Command and Conquer, so to speak...and if that was mentioned in your original post, forgive me, I havent read it yet.