There are a whole host of giant robot fighting games, mechwarrior, zone of the enders, etc etc. My question to you is, waht makes a good mech game? What features/options do you like to see?

alright, so recently I've been doing some research on a new mech game coming out for the PS2 called S.L.A.I. (steel lancer arena international) hunting after a demo that came out with with an issue of OPM that came out Febuary. And there haven't been that many good reviews from people on it. and I can't understand it.

Slai is the second release of a game called Phantom Crash that debuted on the xbox last year, this game has been almost completely underground from the fact that it didn't sell barely and is not even sold/produced in Canada at all anymore. But it was one of my favourite games for the xbox and I still play it all the time.

Phantom Crash/Slai are mech games that offer a ton of custimization and variety, and is a little different form most games in the fact that it is mostly geared towards speed and non "stomp stomp" kind of motion/maneuverability that you get in Mechwarrior games.

Im not the biggest fan of mech games but I think there are a few things that are important in making a good mech game.

First I think it should be simple. Some mech games are very difficult to play because they are just so complicated. All the different weapons, weapon shells, weapon tips, its tough to know what to load for the circumstances.

Also, it shouldn't be too fast paced. It should give you time to think about whats going on and to move your mech properly. Often mech games seem too much like first person shooters, I dont think that makes for a good mech game.

Lastly, the armour possibilitys are important. I like to be able to choose each piece of armour, colour, composition, things like that.

yea like aequitas said -the armor is pretty important and should have LOTS of options to it like -defence to different types of attacks or just basic stuff like colour or the weight and price of each equipment.

opinion
Mech Games

I think a mecha game should have the exact oposite from what Aequitas thinks



As a first it should be realy fast pased and highly costomizable but also come with a basic mode for players that don't like to many options.



It should have a lot of deep costomize options like fully in to def/hp, atk/def or atk/hp or my personal fav atk/speed.



Ive been playing a game called exteel for a while that verry loosly fits what I'm looking for it's fast pased but has verry little costomization and the weaponsbalance between melee and ranged is verry unbalanced ,I like to play with swords and stuff sneak up to the oponent dodge attacks and when there screwd kick there ass which in exteel will get you 1 kill and have about 1% of your health left : /



So in short what should a mecha game have?



Huge seroundings difering from Urban city's to space combat or just a open field



A lot of costomization so you can creat the mech that fits your style



A good ranged to mellee balance



And ofcourse component damage as in a earth based map if you shoot or slash of a mechs leg it gets slower or has to use boosters to move



-reply by nick

Serriously Feedbacker was right a mech game needs a large number of customisable features (guns, armour, equipment etc.) thats what will keep you comming back 4 more.
For example mech assault was once of the simplest mech games ive every played, it was alright until I finished the campagin, then that was it even with multiplayer because I had to play the same exact mech with the exact sam laodouts all the time.
On the other had theres mech warrior 4 which I still play 2day, IT ROCKS because I can customise almost everything.

Moral of the story while you don't want a unfathomably complex game a lot of depth and customisability goes a long way.

Oh, and there should be a lot of enviroments to play in phantom crash only had about 4 arenas from memory, thats just not enough however detailed they are.

-reply by I luv mechwarrior

Replying to m3ch4
Honestly I think mech games should be like mechwarrior if your gonna make a mech game leave it to the battle tech eginners and stuff. It has none of the mechs people today are use to like the timberwolf or daishi.

In my opinion, the best game was mechwarrior 4 mercenairies. I think this because of the extreamly custumisable mechs and the great path branching. I have played the campaign 5 times. Once on easy and the rest on hard.

I know quick and fast is good for some people, and if you want quick and fast, then load up a flea or a wolfhound and run into the battlefield against a bunch of assault mechs. See what happens -.-

I wich there was going to be a mechwarrior 5, excuse my laugage but those fagits who decided to cancel the project lost out millions of dollers.

-reply by Matt

Replying to Aequitas619
I think aequitas has a point. Mech games should prolly branch out and start adopting different feels and types. We can still keep the complicated micro-managing that a lot of us love in mech games, but for other people who would rather press the "Start Game" button and shoot things, just make it simple. Branching out instead of staying discreet and focused is nice, but it won't get you too many customers or fans.

ARMORED CORE AND MECHWARRIOR FTW!!

NEED MO\\
Mech Games

I agree...Mechwarrior is one of the best games but really...Mechwarrior 4 was the reason that Mechwarrior died. (if you can ignore the horrid graphics play the older mechwarrior games...They are so much better!)

Biggest problem right now in mech games is lack of depth. Too many of the new mech games lack this...And games like exteel (which could have been friggen awesome) feels too much like a fps then mech combat.

If you want something that's inbetween mechwarrior and gundam extremes look into activision's heavy gear. Game that begs for some modding but I think it's a good representation of what a mech game should be like. It has customization depth (though armor could use a little more), plenty of weapons without too much complication to them but enough to keep you interested =D, and a good plot! (very important).

As much as I'd like to see Mechwarrior 5 (done correctly), I'd also like to see just as much heavy gear 3...Maybe we should start a petition?

-reply by Kiki

Replying to iGuest
Kiki is right there HeavyGear 1 not 2 was the best in multiplayer gameplay. There were limitations to building, but with what could be done in the gear builder there were awesome possibilities.
As for modding HeavyGear the code is too old to deal with. Game programming has come an awful long way since 1997. I wish Heavy Gear would come up as abandonware then I could share it. If you want to learn more about this great game visit us at http://www.Oldtimesclan.Net . We are the last few that still play.

-reply by MournBlade