34 replies to this topic

[Immitem]

Stormwolf, on 06 September 2012 - 02:14 AM, said:

I'll give you a comparison here:

BattleTech/MechWarrior = Durian
Mechassault = Shoe

Yeah not very comparable given that they do two completely separate things.

[Exilyth]

Lava cannons.

'Nuff said.

[Dymitry]

OP, first things first, Mechassaults were really really good games, no discussion on that, graphics, gameplay and soundtracks perfectly nailed. I cannot remember the plot for the love of myself, some Jhiadist ********, but hey, there is only one Clan invasion.

My story with them: I (huge MW2 fan) reluctantly bought a used copy of the first one when it was the only game that I could find of the ones with the savegame on memory card glitch that allowed the installation of a custom rom on the first XBOX.
I never found the time/need to mod the xbox, so I had it sitting for a bit. I did not want to play a BT game for the frigging xbox. One day, maybe I was drunk? I decided to give it a try.
After 2 hours of rants, I throughoutly enjoyed it, so much that I bought the second one nearly at launch. They were good fun, especially in multiplayer/split screen.
And, to be clear, I am one that would enjoy having all the weapons in MWO to shoot in 10 seconds turns.
The thing is, while it could have been good for a change, (think of the DOA beach volleyball thing), those were the last 2 BT games we saw.
If you sum that up to the fact that MS had already taken very big "artistic" licenses in respect to canon and classic BT stuff during the development of MW4/Mercs (again, very good games on their own), while also moving from a simulation-oriented series to a much more arcade oriented ones, the MSGS strategy for the franchise looked very defined, and it left us the bitter impression that MS wanted to pursue the casual gaming direction.
Needless to say a it was as much dreaded as it was obviously wrong as history has proven, and my educated guess is that they realized that they were alienating the existing fan base from one side, but they were not able to get new one without hurting themselves in some way, so they stalled.

On top of that, sum quite a few youngsters that had in the 4/Mercs their first MW experience, are grown up in the WE PLAY ON 2000£ PCX PAYED FOR BY DADDY, CONZOLES SUXX era, and therefore thought that MW4 were very L33t and MA were for ..."nOObs" I guess its the word. (Although whoever played on PopTarting4 and both MAs on multiplayer will probably tell you that MA was generally more balanced and fun)
Even if 10 years have passed, that imprinting is very hard to overcome. Look on how many fanbois even out here are in their late 20.

Hope that clarifies it a bit more.

[Dymitry]

Ah, and by the way, the only MA thing that I would like in MWO is the soundtrack.

[bikerbass77]

I think the root of the issue, as mentioned previously, is the fact that it did away with everything that makes battletech and mechwarrior great with the exception of the setting. What is left is a mindless shooter. Watching the video of the gameplay posted earlier left me with no doubt as to why a battletech or mechwarrior fan would hate this game.

The skill of customising your mech's load-out is gone. This in itself is a big part of what makes the mechwarrior series great (for me at least - I can spend hours trying to find the best load-out of any given mech). Also the fact is that it was on a console. This I believe was mostly down to a policy that Microsoft have had since the release of the original XBOX. Whenever they have games developers under their control, they generally do their level best to make titles XBOX exclusive. This happened with the fable series as well.

The speed of the mech's in the game is wrong as is the movement, based on experience of all the mechwarrior games released to date. This is to increase the action aspect as most console gamers are of the 'twitch' variety. Console games also lack any kind of complexity which is where this game completely falls away from the expectations of any fans of battletech or mechwarrior. I have to say, if I had a licence to produce a console game for the battletech IP I would look to make the game from the view of an infantry/light vehicle (possibly battle armour) character.

There is also the one biggest reason that there is to hate the MechAssault series. I am suprised no-one has mentioned it on this thread. This is that Mechwarrior 5 was cancelled to make way for MechAssault denying the series fans of the game that they really wanted.

[baconops]

It was good enough for just an xbox game IMO, no mech customization at all, but if it was not for that many people wouldn't be here playing MWO

[Haydin]

Exilyth, on 06 September 2012 - 03:45 AM, said:

Lava cannons.

'Nuff said.

To be fair the BT universe has some extraordinarily silly things, like mech-sized chainsaws, Orca-riding infantryman, Vibromaces, Mech-sized talons to improve the ability to kill someone by jumping on or kicking them, etc, etc. Or giant, physically impossible robots that do battle at ridiculously close ranges considering it's the year 3000 and the tech for weapons that do hit things miles/continents away does exist.

While I have a ton of gripes with Mechassault, a gun that somehow shoots lava at things is not terribly out of place.

[Mechteric]

MechAssault wasn't a terrible game, but it wasn't a great game. It was merely meh. Compare this with some of the great single player and multiplayer games to be had with the PC Mechwarrior games and its easy to see why the game is best cast aside as a failed experiment to try to make a Battletech game into something it wasn't meant to be.

[Odanan]

Razor Kotovsky, on 06 September 2012 - 12:31 AM, said:

Is this a troll?

It's not as bad as I imagined.
But seriously, getting ammo and "health" by walking over boxes in the ground... that's Quake, not Battletech.

[baconops]

Odanan, on 06 September 2012 - 06:19 AM, said:

It's not as bad as I imagined.
But seriously, getting ammo and "health" by walking over boxes in the ground... that's Quake, not Battletech.

agreed, but it was good for its time... and we all do have to remember, this is a console game we're talking about

[Imagine Dragons]

MA2's plot in a nutshell;

Jihadists try to conquer everything by spamming drone control assault mechs, but some random chick drops a jumpship on their plans.

also Atlai himself was summoned into world

Edited by XenomorphZZ, 06 September 2012 - 06:38 AM.

[baconops]

MA2? What is this console sourcery?! :B

[Badmrpopo]

Generally speaking, I am a diehard gamer across all platforms. While I do defer to PC titles in the long run, I do enjoy a good console game.

When it comes to Mechassault, let's face it... it was a Mechwarrior title only based upon face value. The arcade controls were too simple, and certainly not akin to the spirit of Mechwarrior. It was, however, a very enjoyable game to play... at least in my honest opinion.

Mechassault; was it really that bad? No.

Did it at least pay homage to the Mechwarrior heritage? Somewhat.

What it boils down to: Console vs PC once again as the root of all conflict.

Cheers!

[KANE06]

it seems everyone that hates on mechassault never played it, or they may of played it just a little. mechassault 2 was really good online, it wasnt that simple but you had stuff like wallwalking n a few other annoying little tricks, but the VTOL idea was very good for online play and the game was like unreal tornament for mechs, it was good. but really do you think you could have the many many controls for a mechwarrior game on a console controller? and believe me, mechassault 2 was one of the most tactical games on xbox.

why all the hate? i think theres quite a large group of guys that get way too into battletech and have a large metallic object firmly lodged between their buttocks.

good day and ill enjoy playing with you on MWO, ill show you a good console gamer.

[TheLastEnemy]

Honestly after playing the beta MechAssault looks like a joke. But I did love that game... so much that I was sad that I never could play online
In the second game the ability to switch between mechs and get in a tank was sweet.