I gotta agree with everyone saying that Hawken is a "Mech FPS", and to those who wonder why we draw those conclusions while praising the faster pacing... the faster pacing is the givaway. We only need to watch the trailers to figure that out, just the way the vehicles move and behave in combat tell us all we need to know about how you control them. Instant-respond controls, and no (or very little) inertia. I mean the Hardsuits from Blacklight are more sim-y AND BLACKLIGHT IS ACTUALLY AN FPS.
Now, that 'Mech' qualifier in "Mech FPS' actually means something... but so does the FPS part. It wont be a sim. Do you walk forward, or do you actually set your throttle? Are you just strafing or actually moving 'forward' in one direction and aiming in another? They may seem like subtle differences but it really changes the feel and pace of the game. While playing Counterstrike may make you better at Call of Duty, playing Hawken isnt going to make you better at MWO, in fact maybe the opposite.
MWO and MWLL captured some very important parts about mech sims that the other games are foregoing (including our own MechAssault!); you're not infantry, you're a tank. You dont explode in three to five hits. You need to plot out your movements and actions ahead of time. Weapon reload is something that happens after every shot, and not after thirty. FPSs require reflexes. Sims require foresight.
Mechs arent LEGOS, you dont throw any arm onto any torso onto any legs and get a functional unit. For those treating that 'lack of customizability' as a pure negative- that's a very subjective view. Part of the Sim charm is being able to identify a unit in the field and know all of it's capabilities, or at least have a very good idea, immediately. That's part of battlefield awareness.You're not piloting a custom mech of your own design, you're piloting another vehicle off a factory line that has made hundreds of others just like it. Maybe slap a decal and a paint job on it, but that's all you get. If you're piloting your own chassis into battle, that isnt a sim.
Spurn either gameplay type, but MWO and Hawken really are different play styles. For better or for worse MWO is a slow, plodding, deliberate slugfest. Hawken is a reflex-based, hyper-paced shooter where the better position and the faster trigger wins. Both games require a very high situational awareness and much teamwork, but those two needs are met in very different ways. As much as you may cry otherwise... Hawken really will be like ALL the other FPSs on the market (which appeals to some), and MWO will always be a more obscure, harder-to-access game because of Battletech's Continuity Lockout (which also appeals to some). If a good blend between FPS and Sim is what you're actually looking for, neither Hawken nor MWO are likely for you. In fact, Heavy gear is probably as close as you're going to get.
TL;DR: They're two completely different game genres, with their own merits and demerits, but those two different genres are Sim (MWO) and FPS (Hawken), and you'd be fooling yourself claiming otherwise. Everyone getting their panties in a bunch over people (justifiably) calling Hawken an FPS... why cant you just enjoy the game despite it's genre, is it a stigma or something? What's wrong with FPSs? If you enjoy Hawken you enjoy an FPS. Is that a crime?
Edited by Steel Fox, 20 August 2012 - 12:03 AM.