We stepped into a mech, and had a whole lot of fun with Hawken. Here's what thought of the beta that is currently ongoing.
Mech based first person shooter games have been apart of the gaming scene since the early 1990’s, and for the most part it was complicated era for the genre. It’s good to have total command your character or in this case mobile suit mechs, but when there is too much control it becomes a messy disaster. This is why Hawken works, because it provides linear control setup provides one of the best mech experiences available, and it’s still in beta.
Describing Hawken’s gameplay is rather simple: While it doesn’t indicate it, Meteor Entertainment, the developer behind the game has created the mobile suit mech version of Valve’s Team Fortress series. Most of the maps are small, and are tightly designed to force player interaction. Health, or in this case armor is at a premium because of the amount of damage you take from one attack, making the action intense.
Just like Team Fortress, game’s speed is always in hyper drive. The action never ever stops to let you breath or to let you rest for a bit. If your low on health, I found that my teammates would scream out, “COVER ME” so that they can repair their mech. It’s here you find that communication is key in the four the online modes that are in the currently in the beta.
Hawken holds onto the traditional favorites like Deathmatch, and team Deathmatch with matches play out as you would expect, but with an added ingredient. Instead of winning being determined by how many kills you have, the scoring system is point based. With each assist, kill, and how much damage you caused you earn points. This is small tweak, but keeps the action exciting all the way till the end. What you’re going to be playing the most is the Siege, and Missile Assault modes.
