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Generic late 2000s high-sci-fi garbage. Where every single mech in the entire game looks like it walked off the same production line on the same planet using the same tech. Ugh.
The question I'd like to raise is, are we EVER at any point going to see a revision in mech design? Maybe hire on a second mechanical designer? (Hopefully someone who cares for design and not just 'do what looks cool') Or even have the current designer go back and fix some of his worse offenders?
I'm going to throw out an example here. My former favourite mech, the crab. The crab has been my favourite mech since the mid 90s. I simply LOVE the design.
The massive main body, with thick armored plates lining it. Covering the exposed underside. This picture is actually a bad example, I had one of the metal figurines as a kid, and it had a really cool underbelly and double crab claws. Anyways, what i'd like to point out is the proportions. Massive carapace. Long, dangly arms that could easily extend to the ground. Sleek, swept body. Giving it an almost aquatic look. Streamlined, if you will. With all the communications equipment on the top, like a submarine. Overall, very stout. Squat. Ready to withstand a nuclear blast. Words cannot express my love for this mech.
Now, with its introduction to mechwarrior online. I thought to myself. "No matter how bad it looks, I'll still use it as my main mech. Its my favourite, I can't not play it."
That was before i saw.... This.
What the hell happened? Its almost completely unrecognizable. In-fact, if this was in a movie, it'd just look like a vague ripoff of an old battletech design. Not a redesign of the crab, featured in a mechwarrior title. Where do I even start?
The first thing that jumps out, is obviously the proportions. The chassis is tiny, the legs are MASSIVE and the claws look like it was deformed at birth. What even are those claws?? Was the artist trying to mimic real-life crab claws, but gave up halfway through? Why are the arms connecting it so short? Whats happening???
Ever since I started playing mechwarrior online in the beta stage, I always fantasized about the crab being in the game. In my mind, It'd be short and stout. But long in the nose. To compensate for being such a large target, It'd be the only mech in game with no cockpit weak-point. As we're aware, the crab has an eternal cockpit. Now, stay with me on this.
How FREAKING cool would this be?? As the match is starting, and your mech is powered down. You have 3 black screens. A direct forward one, And one on the right and left of it. As the power kicks in, the monitors fire up. Maybe even flashing a 'Cosara Weaponries' logo as they turn on. And distorting momentarily as you take a hit.
Okay, okay. Yeah, too much work for the dev team. I know. But okay, just make them screens, and have them always turned on. Just have them act exactly like windows.
But no. Instead, we get another dime-a-dozen humanoid mech, that was given forward facing inverse legs and ungodly arms last minute. Thanks PGI.
Too bad we can't find a cool middle ground between the original design, and the generic "it has to look exactly like every single other mech in game" design mechwarrior online needs for whatever reason.
Here's a cool example!
Short, thin legged. Prominent claws, with a very cool, yet practical redesign. Making them more crab-like than the original, but not deformed and stillbirth-y like the one we got. A shortened, but still long main chassis. Under-slung laser hardpoint at the front, while still retaining the interior canopy. Wow, It looks great! I wonder who designed this??
The same guy who did the final in-game art?
...What the hell happened Alex? Why? If you, or anyone on the dev team find this. Please. Just ask yourselves. WHY.
Sincerely, someone who is so dissatisfied with a single robot design in a video game, he entirely stopped playing said video game.
