I'm playing the closed beta of MechWarrior Online,
a free-to-play robot shooter by Piranha Games
and Infinite
Game Publishing.
This is the shooter half of the new
MechWarrior games that are in development (the other being
MechWarrior Tactics, a strategy take on the BattleTech setting),
which centers on online deathmatches where you attempt to destroy
hulking metallic behemoths. Step one is to choose your mech: there
are four starting configurations that new players can pick from.
There are a lot of mechs that can be unlocked using in-game cash, but
they are too expensive to purchase unless you invest a significant
amount of time in the game or pay real money. Despite the large array
of available mechs, there doesn’t seem to be any hands-on
customization at this point. You can add abilities to your pilot
using experience points, which somewhat offsets the apparent lack of
mech design. Matches are short (under ten minutes); currently only
the “assault” mode, which is deathmatch with a base that can be
destroyed (although this never happens before one team is completely
eliminated), is available. With only one life per game, pilots will
generally use the terrain to hide and strike in groups. Enemy units
are spotted for the entire team, which makes covert action even more
important. The controls have a learning curve: your current view is
independent of which way your mech is facing, and you determine speed
and must manually slow down. MechWarrior Online has several weapon
classes to choose from (lasers, machine guns, missiles), and you can
assign weapons into groups so they all fire at one time for maximum
carnage. The damage model is impressive, with individual parts (arms,
legs) receiving harm and occasionally becoming removed completely.
This also disables weapons mounted to destroyed parts of your mech,
which can produce strategic aiming to immobilize specific enemy
systems. Heat output must also be managed, so you cannot fire you
weapons constantly when under enemy fire as your mech will be
disabled for a significant amount of time. The graphics and interface
are also done well, immersing you into the futuristic environment.
Since the game is free-to-play, you can try it out for free when the
open beta begins. Overall, the game delivers solid robot destruction,
although some aspects of the free-to-play model are irritating and
the game has a learning curve to overcome.
