WTF Happened to Mech Games?

See what Todd Misura, writer for Shifted2u.com, had to say about the current state of the Mech Genre, and he throws in his opinion's of what he thinks can be done to revive the comatose-state Mech Gaming is in right now.

[Twizlex]

Aren't they making a Steel Battalion Kinect game?

[ATi_Elite]

Nothing!

I can't wait to get my hands on Hawken in 2012!

[tiffac]

ZOE 1 and 2 is also getting an HD release and according to Kojima there is a chance for ZOE 3 if the HD edition sells well. So there is hope yet.

Unless Japanese mech games can fill your appetite.

[tarbis]

ZOE 1 & 2 HD remake. ME WANT!

[CrescentFang]

Armored Core V is coming though I think only for Japan atm

[SITH]

Steel battalion was the best mech series ever made. It to this day has a large fan bas waiting for it to return. The controller had the most impressive immersion into a game I ever had. The game failed online due to an exploit that allowed duplicate VT (vertical tanks) and optional parts which is destructive when every single one had a serial number and a limit of availability. It was the first game that I played which allowed user created content like paint jobs and selling of equipment and tanks just like forza allows selling of cars and custom painted skins. Weapons had effective range which included arming ranges, meaning at point blank some did not work. Some weapons even had beyond visual range strike ability.
To this day no mech game has delivered sim quality even on the PC that steel battalion and line of contact did. I miss it and doubt steel battalion heavy armor will even get close to the other two games. And no hawken won't even do it. It is an arcade game from what I have seen. Looks cute though.

[Dude420]

No PC sims come close to Steel Batallion? You CLEARLY have not played any Mechwarrior game before the 4th. That's all I have to say.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[krazykombatant]

OMG I USE TO PLAY THAT GAME AS A LITTLE KID!

[palaeomerus]

Bullcrap. I don't remember losing the save file if your mechwarrior was killed or having the mech stall and shut down if you didn't pilot it right (and I'm not talking about just shooting too much to build up heat). Nor do I remember it being hard to even start the mech. Tekki is it's own thing. It's insane. It's practically the Falcon 4 of mech sims.

[SITH]

Exactly palaeomerus all mech games are light weights compared to Steel Battalion series. All future mech games should want to be as immersive and dyanmic as that game. Comparing Mechwarrior to Steel battalion is like comparing Mario Kart to Forza. No contest which offers a simulation experience. If dude ever played it he wouldn't have mentioned mechwarrior.

The learning curve alone in Steel Battalion blew away mech warrior. I don't recall having a large controller, nor 3 pedals in Mechwarrior. No range management of the weapons, no ejection or lose your entire save file, no large maps so big you can go entire game without finding anyone. None of that was in Mechwarrior. Everything in Mechwarrior except flying vehicles was in Steel Battalion.

[SITH]

I have played every mech warrior game.
BattleTech - The Crescent Hawks Inception
MechWarrior 3
BattleTech - The Crescent Hawks Revenge
MechWarrior 3: Pirate's Moon
Mechcommander
Mechcommander 2
MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries (all I ran was a Nova Cat with 3 clan PPC LASERS on the arms and a large laser on the chest weapons slot)
MechWarrior 4: Black Nights
MechWarrior 4: Vengeance
MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries
MechWarrior 2: Ghost Bear's Legacy
MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat

Ask next time before you ASSume.
I stick by my statements. No PC game beats steel battalion series. None. The mechs were better. The weapons and interface were better. And the there isn't one level in the mechwarrior aeries that was as large as steel battalion. Now have YOU played steel battalion or are you baseing this whole discussion of your limited experience like you assumed of me? If you did then you would know the first VT (mech) you start with in steel battalion loc which the article refers too.

[Baka-akaB]

Well microsoft and FASA happened to Mechwarrior .
Sega decided to drop Virtual On , one of their biggest mistake imo .

And armored core can blows or be great from one game to another .

At least ZOE will be back , and we still got a few great macross and gundam games ( a few i said)

[Psychotica]

I could never understand why Microsoft didn't make Mechassault 1 backwards compatible for the 360 (Mechassault 2 sucked).

[Ducky]

As someone in the article's comments pointed out, Hawken is a game to keep an eye out for.

[TaxExemption]

I would like to see more Mech games, hopefully the new Steel Battalion will be good

[krazykombatant]

I wish for a proper Gundam game, not that dynasty warrior crap

[aliengmr]

They have "sim" components and therefore don't appeal to the largest group of gamers. Take the "sim" out and all you are left with is Mechassault.

Another problem is that, at least in the US and Europe, its a niche genre so you would have to use an established source like Mechwarrior. But licensing issues were causing problems with that. Not sure the status of the new Mechwarrior game, though Im guessing its probably cancelled.