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Title: Hardcore Mecha
Publisher: RocketPunch Games, Lightning Games
Developer: RocketPunch Games
Genre: 2D Strategic Action-Adventure
Official Site: http://www.rocketpunchgames.com
Release Date: June 26, 2019
Available on: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Linux, Classic Mac OS
Where to Buy: Steam, PlayStation Store, Nintendo Switch.
Mech animes are one of the oldest genres of anime and highly beloved by fans all over the world. That said Hardcore Mecha, released back in June 2019, is a game that’s in this particular style and genre. This anime mecha game is set in the far distant future where mech mercenary companies rule the battlefields of tomorrow. Today, we are going to see how this highly intriguing anime mecha game holds up on the Switch, so suit up and power up because you are in for one heck of a ride.
Hardcore Mecha’s War for Mars
Hardcore Mecha takes place in the distant future, and humankind has spread across the stars and established several colonies. On the Mars colony, the seeds of rebellion have been sowed by a shadowy terrorist group known as Steel Dawn.
It is on this Mars colony where the story starts and where you are launched into a grand space opera of warring mechs. In Harcore Mecha, you play a young mercenary mech pilot called Tarethur O’Connell, and through the course of the story campaign, you will play a pivotal role in the war to come. You will also meet several well-written characters and learn their motivations for why they fight.
So far, the premise of Hardcore Mecha is exciting and is presented in a high-quality way with insanely detailed cutscenes and animations. Along with this, the story is carried to soaring heights of excellence by its superb writing that delivers characters’ emotions and thoughts with extreme intensity.
With that said, I’m quite pleased with everything I experienced in regards to the story. It managed to both immerse and keep me hooked and wanting to learn more about its excellent world. However, the story, in the long run, was a little shorter than what I would have liked. Despite that short length, you thankfully get your money’s worth.
Visually Appealing Stomping Robots And Crisp Controls
Controls in Hardcore Mecha are excellent and function with ease. Everything works in order, and I didn’t run into any major issues. Despite that, a minor issue I found early on was the keybind text being difficult to read. In general, everything other than the text size seems to be in order.
Visually Hardcore Mecha is just phenomenal and visually appealing because of the anime art style. Everything from models to the varied enemy types looks excellent because of the art style. Visual effects add to this beauty, bringing a new layer of depth to the art style. This is especially the case when you see all of the varied enemies in this game blow up and the effects of firing the various weapons. However, the game on the Nintendo Switch currently has some slowdowns and stuttering performance problems, which can vary from mild to severe. When it is the latter, the game will freeze and stutter, which severely lessened the overall enjoyment of the game for me.
Intense Action-Packed Mech Warfare
Now gameplay-wise, Hardcore Mecha pulls no punches by providing the player with an enjoyable experience. In the game, you pilot a mech or robot that is customizable with several weapons and utility slot upgrades through a series of missions – 18 in total – and fight loads of enemies. The battles are some of the most bombastic I have seen from a 2d platformer. They consist of the player traversing several locations spread across Mars fighting hordes of mechs and terrorists.
It’s especially fun to relax and slaughter the various enemies in this game. To go with that, there are even some RPG elements, further adding to the fun gameplay loop of leveling your character. To put the icing on the cake, the game offers you numerous abilities. You can melee, fire a machine gun from your chest, and do special moves that can wipe out several enemy mechs. It’s great all-around, and you will probably find yourself becoming addicted to it.
The levels offer up plenty of variety thus not to dull the experience. There are even sections where you must dismount your mech and complete various tasks to proceed. However, with certain areas, it seems the performance tanks and the issues we talked about earlier rear their ugly head.
This becomes a huge problem with the games space battles later on, which can become sluggish rather quickly. Along with this, long playthroughs can lead to the game freezing when trying to load the next level. But overall the experience I feel is highly enjoyable despite these performance problems.
The mech customization is also solid, and there is a lot of variety in the number of weapons and upgrades you can get, though aesthetic options are missing. I feel this is a bummer as it would be fun to be able to dress your mech in new colors and designs, but the game explains that the player doesn’t own this mech and is only test driving it, so at least it makes sense.
Verdict: Hardcore Mecha is an extremely fun game that is a must-have for any fans of anime mecha games on the Switch. It’s highly enjoyable all around despite its performance issues. Along with that, the amount of content you get for the asking price of $19.99 is a sweet deal you can’t refuse. If you want a great mech fighting game, Hardcore Mecha may be just what you’re looking for.
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