what does everyone think of mechassault 2?
Could’ve been better. I liked the idea of jacking other mechs, and the game was fun enough, but it got pretty repetitive.
It’s alright, though nothing spectacular. Single-player is repeatative like the first one, and multiplayer has a few quirks. I do like the idea of the Conquest mode, but it doesn’t seem as well-done as it could’ve been. Still, a decent game, but I’d recommend renting it first (unless you were a REALLY big fan of the first game).
What do you guys think was missing? Are you fans of Battletech?
I was always a fan of the older Mech games instead such as Mechwarrior Mercenaries and the like. The new Mechassault games never really caught my interest. When I played the first one I thought it was too twitch based for my liking, I only assume the second one is the same; correct me if i’m wrong.
I’m not really a huge fan of Battletech, although I did enjoy Mechwarrior 3 quite a bit. I guess with Mechassault 2, it just seems really simplistic. Missions are pretty much just basic search-and-destroy, and it gets fairly monotinous pretty quick. Multiplayer doesn’t really seem to have much skill involved, just point and click for the most part. I was hoping the vtol and power armor would make the game more interesting, but they weren’t used nearly as well as it could’ve been, especially in mutliplayer. It would be nice if they had some real city battles where you could set up ambushes, or maybe a few game types where there’s actually a reason to transport stuff around with the vtol. The way it’s set up, it’s pretty much a head-on battle with little reason to plan out your attacks. Oh, and it’s kinda annoying that it doesn’t have ANY customisation whatsoever for your mechs, like all the old Mechwarrior games had.
I donno, I guess I prefer games like Steel Battalion once more. Not just because of the simulator aspect, but because it actually made combat interesting and kept the single-player moderately varied. Plus I think the Conquest mode was handled much better in Line of Contact, if only people would actually play it…
LoC had a Conquest mode? Just got that game for X-mas (well, LoC… have had Steel Battalion for a while) and haven’t had a chance to play.
I dunno… I thought SB was a bit of a let-down. It was too damn slow and hard to see anything (and man, the “cutscenes,” if that’s what you can even call them, are horrible). I thought the controls could be done a little better, too (gas pedal for a mech??).
So, what else would you have changed about Mech Assault 1 or 2?
I’ve never been a big Battletech guy, but for me the whole thing peaked at Mechwarrior 2. That game was glorious.
Yeah, LOC has a conquest mode, it’s pretty cool because it basically cycles through 3 maps ever week, and then as time goes on new mechs and factions become availible (at first, you only have gen 1 VTs). Whichever side gets the most wins on a particular level gains that space on the map, and then at the end of the round (I think ever 3 months or so) it tallies up the winning side and the game restarts and you keep your credits. It was great when it was released, but now it takes FOREVER to get a game going. I’ve been thinking about making announcement on the Steel Battalion forums to set a time period when LOC players should play the game so that everyone can actually get togeather and play the game all at once instead of trickling into the game at different times.
I donno, I thought Steel Battalion was executed very well. As far as mech sims go, it’s definatly the most immersive, and once you get some decent VTs the game moves much more quickly. I really liked the combat system in that game, plus I thought the controls were perfect (hey, how WOULD a mech move around except for a gas pedal? This is the army we’re talking about, it’s a wonder they don’t just have to big buttons labeled “Stop” and “Go” 
). I do wish they made more use of the toggle switches in Steel Battalion, but luckly Line of Contact actually uses them for something other than the basic mech startup sequence. What was so bad about the cutscenes though? I thought they were pretty good, especially the one of the Juggernaught dropping in from the transport chopper in the last mission of the first campaign.
With Mechassault 2, I would’ve liked some customisation with the mechs rather than just “this mech has these weapons, that mech has those weapons”. And none of the weapons are really interesting, they all work pretty much the same way. Would’ve been nice to actually see some weapons that functioned differently, like lasers or mortars or something…the way it is now it’s like every weapon can be considered a homing missle. I liked the variety and customisability much better in Mechwarrior 3. Oh, and the levels are kinda simple, it’s pretty much just flat ground with a few hills here and there. Would be nice seeing some complex city streets or rivers or lakes or SOMETHING to break up the blandness of the backgrounds.
Well, for one, you figure that far into the future, mechs wouldn’t need you to switch gears o_O Either have a throttle or a gas pedal… you don’t need both. Or heck… if you’re going to put sideways movement on a joystick, why not have it be 8 way movement on the same joystick? That wayall your movement is mapped to the same place.
Also, generally, I found it difficult to see targets clearly.
But, nevertheless, I agree in concept with a lot of the points you bring up about MechAssault 2. I just wanted to pose some counter questions:
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You didn’t think the POV missiles, flamers, and PPC cannons were different enough from the other weapons? There were lasers in the game that didn’t have heat-seeking capabilities, and machine guns were supposed to be extremely short range but effective weapons. What made you feel like everything was the same?
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The environments did feature a lot of the things you mentioned. There are city levels, areas with marshes, rivers, snow, etc. What made you feel otherwise?
And a side question about LOC’s Conquest mode… how is it balanced out? I mean, if the winning team gets to keep all their winnings, how do they ever lose?
For the first point, all of the major weapons were slow-moving, seaking projectiles. There were a few lasers and such that were kinda instant-fire, but they weren’t used very much and were generally pretty short range. Compared to the lasers and PPCs of Mechwarrior 3, they didn’t seem to be as different from the other weapons. Especially since in Mechassault 2, there was quite a large amount of auto-aim, and since there was no reason to aim anywhere except directly at the enemy (no need to aim ahead of your enemy or antyhing) every weapon seemed to handle almost the same. The power armor did have a mortar, but even that wasn’t used much, and ended up being kind useless a lot of the time.
For the environments, they just seemed to be lacking. Like the weapons, they may have looked different, but as far as gameplay is concerned they were very simplistic. It didn’t really matter if you were fighting in snow, or swamp, or grasslands: your mechs handled pretty much exactly the same on any ground. The few “rivers” you came across usually weren’t deep enough to really change the way you move, and especially in multiplayer most of the levels were pretty basic. The city sections just didn’t seem much like cities, more like a few building scattered here and there, and most mechs with jumpjets can just jump on top of them anyway. The cities in Robot Alchemic Drive were very well done: you could actually use buildings to your advantage, rather than just being a minor obstacle like Mechassault treats them. I thought Steel Battalion also had some decent city maps, since they were pretty complex and really made you have to plan out your movements and such rather than just charging into them.
Oh, and the Conquest mode in LOC seems to stay moderately balanaced, although usually the PRF get the most players since they seem to get some of the better mechs, especially early on. But since you need even teams, it’s not really a matter of who has the most pilots as much as it is who has the most skilled pilots. Also a ways into each round a mercenary faction becomes availible that allows it’s members to join any side in a battle. So if one side is really hurting for members, the mercenaries will usually fill in the blanks. Though the mercenaries themselves can’t gain land or anything, so it’s pretty much just for gaining credits and jumping in and playing without a commitment to a single side.
Abadd, are we being used as a Vox Pop for one of your future projects? 