It’s no secret that I’m an enormous fan of mechas. For me, the love probably began within the Transformers and Voltron days and extends nicely by way of dozens of mecha animes. Possible the most important franchise I’m in love with is Gundam, however I’ll by no means flip a mecha down. I can speak about a few of the unusual ones like Fafner all the best way as much as the smaller gems like Aldnoah.Zero.
Placing all that apart brings us to the sport I’ve been taking part in just lately: Mecha BREAK. A title that tells you each nothing attention-grabbing and all the things you really want to find out about this recreation. It’s such a generic sounding title that initially I had ignored it utterly. However then the murmurings started. I stored coming throughout players on socials and elsewhere speaking about how strong it truly is. Then I lastly bought the message that I couldn’t ignore. My outdated good friend from highschool, somebody I haven’t had the respect of gaming with a lot today as a result of we’re adulting, despatched me a DM: “You’re a fan of PvP Video games. Have you ever tried Mecha BREAK but? PvP in Gundams.”
Say no extra fam; I’m offered.
Fight in Mecha BREAK is kind of your typical crew vs. crew battler, so we aren’t coping with battle royales and even extraction shooter gameplay right here. It does really feel extra like Marvel Rivals and even Gundam Evolution than like Fortnite or Valorant, which is good since generally you simply desire a extra simple fight recreation. BRs and extractions will be a whole lot of enjoyable, however good old style crew aims ought to have a spot on the desk too.
There’s two fundamental recreation modes in Mecha BREAK: objective-based 6v6 matches and 3v3 crew deathmatches. The target-based matches are available 5 completely different varieties, every with a unique tackle the mode. Within the Eye of Misra map you’ll be taking part in capture-the-flag throughout three completely different places. Gamers compete over capturing the flags as they spawn through the match after which attempting to get them again to their crew base. The Palmbay Harbor performs as an escort mission, and Cap Blanc Observatory is type of like a CS:GO dismantling-the-bombs-style recreation. In fact the aims and maps are very robot- and mech-themed too, so within the Eye of Misra, we’re attempting to snag keys (as in encryption keys, and never precise flags within the sky), however the gameplay is identical.
The crew deathmatch mode, referred to as Ace Enviornment, has 4 completely different maps for altering up the feel and appear of your fights, however in contrast to the objective-based mode the place the maps provide radically completely different gameplay, these are finally all the identical battles. The primary crew to eight kills wins. I’ve to say I’m actually into the truth that Mecha BREAK consists of each recreation modes with such a wide range of play choices as completely different queues. I’m not as massive a fan of queuing up for the aims and never realizing which particular one I’m going to get thrown into, however a minimum of I can queue up for straight lethal fight individually from the target mode.
The fight within the recreation is extraordinarily easy by and enormous. Animations and results look actually wonderful, and efficiently executing a finisher is so dang satisfying! The variety of instruments at your disposal with anyone character loadout isn’t overwhelming, so it’s simple to hop in and begin having a very good time.
I performed the sport with a number of completely different configurations. First I performed it on my PC with mouse and keyboard, then I switched it as much as see how nicely it’d run on the Steam Deck, and eventually I went again a bit to PC, solely that point I swapped in my controller. Finally, whether or not you go for the keyboard or the controller I feel relies upon extra on the mech you select. Should you’re going for a ranged fighter, I feel you’ll undoubtedly need to play it keyboard and mouse. With the melee toons, I used to be extra profitable after I pulled out the controller.
The principle motive for that distinction to me comes all the way down to the best way melee flows in Mecha BREAK. Principally all of the melee assaults root you. It’s type of annoying once you actually need to transfer and move extra from one swing to the following. After taking part in Armored Core Rubicon a number of months in the past, I discovered Mecha BREAK’s fight actually doesn’t move in addition to a complete, however the fights do really feel satisfying all the identical. If there have been a solution to get Armored Core fashion motion and move in right here, then it’d be fingers down my go to recreation for the close to future.
On the Steam Deck, the expertise was extra lackluster. The sport straight froze and booted again to the house display screen throughout one match, and in one other there was a whole lot of lag. I’m rocking the OG Steam Deck right here, although, so no OLED or up to date specs, so that might’ve been part of the issue, or perhaps my Wi-Fi was simply too spotty. I don’t know, nevertheless it’s value noting.
The opposite main be aware – and the key motive I’m not going to be taking part in Mecha BREAK till the builders clear issues up – is that it gained’t play on Linux in any respect. I’ve learn another boards and participant suggestions, and the collective neighborhood has decided that it’s an intentional lock-out. The sport installs and the launcher will pop up, however as quickly as I click on to play, the launcher will learn that it’s beginning the sport and checking my system, after which relax to the beginning button once more. Weak. So till I can play on my new system, there’s actually no approach I can commit time to it.
There’s additionally been a whole lot of side-eye for the character design within the recreation. Sadly, it’s your typical tremendous horny girls with all of the jiggle physics cranked up. In fact you’ll be able to change your character to a male design, however the default is tremendous tight battle garments and excessive heels, naturally. So the criticism there may be justified. There’s a very good variety of customizations you may make to your design, nonetheless, and regardless that the precise gameplay is all battles and matches, there’s a house station you’ll be able to stroll round in and work together with.
Now, my first thought was, “Wow. That is fairly cool. Pretty nicely achieved too! I don’t know why it exists; perhaps there’s some missions the place you’ll be able to exit and run round as your pilot. At the least there’s a number of little achievements I can get within the house station, so I’ll test them out.”
Then, I arrived at my quarters and it started to click on… the belief that one thing extra was occurring right here that my outdated man gamer thoughts must be choosing up on however wasn’t. Then I discovered the washroom. After which I spotted that, sure, I can use the bathroom. After which, sure… you already know the place that is going. There’s a bathe. My god, builders simply can’t assist themselves can they?
In any case, again to customizations. Regardless of the mechs being basically prebuilt heroes with each having its personal distinctive playstyle and ability units, you do a minimum of have the potential to customise your mecha’s visuals, which is large for a mecha recreation! If I had been caught with solely skins (which is an choice), then I might’ve been extraordinarily irritated. However actually, there’s a storage the place gamers can set completely different colours for his or her mecha. And the colours are moderately priced too. A lot of these video games wish to nickle and dime you for all cosmetics, however at a minimal a minimum of the bottom pores and skin and colours can be found with in-game earned foreign money. And it’s low-cost to purchase the dyes. So there’s a win!
I actually loved my time in recreation, and I’m certain every other PvP, team-based shooter fan who loves mechas will get pleasure from this one as nicely. It’s a disgrace that Gundam Evolution made so many errors with its monetization as a result of I assumed it had actual gameplay potential. Now it appears as if Mecha BREAK may simply be one of the best religious successor we might’ve hoped for. I’m not a correct Sandrock Gundam, however a few of these mechas hit nicely. Till subsequent time, see you within the area, House Cowboy.
