he original MechAssault was an arcade-style take on the Mechwarrior/Battletech franchise aimed at throwing players into on- and offline firefights without having to deal with the complex controls associated with its long-running siblings.
Like the original, MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf is a third-person, over-the-shoulder shooter in which players assume the role of a lone "mechwarrior" as he pilots a variety of gigantic, bipedal, robotlike "mechs" across far-future battlefields. Now, as then, he must fight against the villainous forces of the Word of Blake, a fanatical religious organization that seeks to hoard technology against what it sees as the inevitable fall of human civilization.
While the fight is similar to the original game, the tools are different. The mechwarrior is never far from his namesake battlecraft, but he now has the option of exiting it in order to accomplish his missions. His first option is to venture out in Heinlein-style battle armor, which features a built-in blaster, a high-energy mortar and jumpjets. Although far less powerful than any mech, players in battle armor can easily scale buildings, jump around enemies and fight using guerilla-like tactics. More importantly, battle armor allows the wearer to attempt to hijack a mech by leaping onto an enemy and then playing a pattern-matching mini-game. Beating this game ejects the enemy and lets the mechwarrior assume control of the mech.
Players can ditch the battle armor in favor of a simple flight suit, which makes them exceedingly vulnerable to enemy fire but allows them to place explosive charges and bypass secured gates. The game also introduces the battle tank, which isn't as powerful as a mech but has a sniper-like artillery mode and can cloak itself, and a VTOL plane that's capable of transporting supplies and tanks. There are also several new kinds of mechs.
The original MechAssault was one of the first big hits for Microsoft's Xbox Live Internet gaming service, and the sequel seeks to build on the first's achievements. In addition to the multiplayer modes found in most online games—deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, etc.—MechAssault 2 introduces "Conquest," a semi-persistent online campaign in which players join a "House" and vie for control of the galaxy's solar systems.
'Jacking expectations
The missions comprising MechAssault 2's single-player campaign are more varied than the originals, alternatively placing players in control of battle armor, mechs, tanks and turrets, but ultimately they remain very linear. Its new capabilities—such as battle armor and flight suit modes—are pressed into service ham-handedly, whenever the story demands it, rather than when the player might want to use it. Indeed, player choices overall are diminished from the original, which at least let players pick which mech they wanted to use in a given scenario. This time around, players use what they're given.
The game's visuals have been upgraded and look fantastic, even in the middle of large on-screen battles. The campaign, however, remains simplistic, and its recycled villains and lack of meaningful character development make it little more than a training mode for online play.
The question of whether MechAssault 2's online mode is as good as—or better than—the original depends on what players think of the new "mechjacking," battle armor and flight suit modes.
Every online game starts players in their flight suits, forcing them to scramble for a mech or battle armor. This can have comic and infuriating consequences; comic when mechwarriors accidentally step on flight-suited teammates, infuriating when online enemies purposefully and repeatedly target unprotected pilots. "Mechjacking" is an interesting idea but can be maddening for those who want to be blowing stuff up, not playing a 10-second game of Simon in order to fend of some hijacking, battle-suited parasite.
In both cases, players can legitimately say that these additions distract from the game's core premise, and it may be enough to turn off some entirely, particularly if they're only playing random games on Xbox Live and find themselves repeatedly facing overzealous pilot killers.
That's too bad for them, because when it's played with friends, or those who don't abuse the game's shortcomings, MechAssault 2 can be an exceptional online experience. The addition of the VTOL aircraft was a stroke of genius—it truly adds depth by placing one player in the essential role of gathering much-needed power-ups for teammates and transporting tanks and turrets to important pinch points on the map. What had previously been simplistic clashes between mechs turn into strategic slugfests as VTOLS fly in and out of battles, dropping supplies and shouting battlefield advice gleaned from their airborne positions.
The Conquest mode has the potential to be another great addition, but it's something that can't be properly judged until it's had a few months of uptime. As is, the idea of having players actually fight for online territory, rather than simply battling it out in unending multiplayer death matches, is intriguing and definitely worth exploring.
Overall, MechAssault is a worthwhile follow-up to the original, but one that fans should rent before buying to make sure it meets their expectations.
MechAssault has always been about blowing things up, and when the sequel sticks to that premise, it's great. When it doesn't, it staggers like an "Atlas" with one leg blown off.
—Ken
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