Here are my takes about Hawken.
1. Basically feels like CoD or Unreal Tournament with mech skins. That for me is both good and bad. Good because it relies on a familiar framework for new players. I like pure Team Deathmatches, with respawns. I like a game that progresses playing with the same people again and again unless you or they choose to log off. I also like a game that lets choose the mechs for the match, as well as choose again a different mech when you respawn during a match.
Bad because it also competes with other FPS games more directly and won't catch to the market of people trying to avoid the tinge of FPS games. I got to say Hawken's Missile Base and Siege scenarios make much more sense than MWO's Assault and Conquest scenarios, and all the latter's capwarriors.
2. Okay, so it doesn't feel like a true simulator. Is that bad? But I won't call MWO a proper mech simulator at all because simply its mechs are too unrealistic and don't reflect real world usage of ballistics, missiles, technology and tonnage. Something as big as a Catapult weighs only 65 tons? A modern battletank weighs 65 tons and is much smaller. No auto aiming? Current real like anti aircraft defense systems like AEGIS do auto aim. A missile is supposed to be a one shot kill weapon, it should not take 40 or 60 of them to kill a mech. MWO itself is only a simulator for Battletech, not even potential mech technology. That's also both good and bad.
3. Hawken only uses a simple HP system like all FPS and RPGs do. MWO uses a more complicated system where parts have individual HPs, along with critical hit points. This allows for more gradual deterioration (losing arms, components, etc,.) but is harder to balance.
4. Hawken mechs are not really very configurable, although I do like its Optimization Point system, where you allot points for increased Offensive, Defensive or Movement attributes. If you want to emphasize Offense, it means less points for the other two. You can add various items to your mech to improve performance, and some of these items add to the tactical flavor, like bubble shields, radar emissions control. And turrets, yes, I like turrets. Those things can help you defend portions of the map.
However, being not very configurable like MWO means its also easier to balance, and avoid things that people often complain about in MWO like boating.
While not being that configurable in terms of weapons and so on, Hawken mechs are quite configurable in terms of appearance, as you can mix and match modular components like heads, torsos, arms, hips and legs to create your own Frankenmech, although it doesn't change your mech's basic attributes and upgrade tree. The modular construction is more similar to Armored Core and Chromehounds, but unlike these two, the modular skins are limited to one weight class only not interchangeable among different weight classes, so you don't mix parts of a Type A light mech with that of a Type B mech mech and a Type C heavy.
5. Yes, that infamous TV mech. Man it looks ugly. Kind of like Nissan Cube ugly, but it grows on you. It is deliberately tongue in cheek because the name of the mech is CR-T Recruit. CR-T, get it? The rest of the mech skins actually look good, kind of like BioShock steampunk good. Fred the TV as it is called, is its own taunt, when you see it dance after having blown your own shiny mech. And it does. This is the only free mech in the game, but for what its worth, it is competitive with every other mech in the game as has some of the best and most useful weapons.
I suspect the whole point of making it ugly is because, this mech alone is so competitive enough, that this is not an P2W game. The game wants you to change the appearance of the ugly mech, and those parts cost money. You change the appearance of Fred by using modular parts, which can only be bought with MC (Meteor Credits, which works the same way as MWO's MC). One thing I have to say about Hawken is that the things you want to pay for don't cost as much as MWO. I completely changed the appearance of my own Fred and added for some performance parts, for about roughly $5 in real world money.
6. In terms of mech classes, there are only Type A, B and C, which corresponds to Light, Medium and Heavy. All the stats of A class are the same, so are B and so are C. The mechs don't really differentiate each other in terms of HP and speed, except for the modular skin parts, the weapons (primarily the weapons), special ability and the leveling tree, which hands out special bonuses once each level is achieved (up to 25 levels). These include optimization points, and special bonuses to weapons like range and damage. This is probably why CR-T Recruit is competitive with all the other B class. Its HP and speed is no different from the others.
While the mechs don't really differentiate with each other in a very substantial way, it also makes them easier to balance. I suspect the C class Heavy Mech as a class needs a bit more love, but over all, the game seems well balanced, with most players choosing between the A and B class mechs.
7. You can acquire mechs through the EXP your earn or through the MC. All the mechs have the same price whether its A, B, or C. In terms of real world pricing, a mech would be like US$5, and you can buy all of the game's mechs for the price of two MWO hero assault mechs.
8. I got to say, I truly love these things in Hawken:
The Dirty Glass that makes you feel like you are in a cockpit. The glass gets progressively dirtier and cracked as the more damage you sustain, which is a good way of saying you need to heal yourself.
The Repair system that puts out a drone and lets you watch your mech being repaired on a 3rd party PoV. You can change the appearance of your repair drones by acquiring new models of repair drones with MC. Note, it doesn't make repairs faster, this is determined more with your optimization tables. But they are cute.
Turrets, bubble shields and cancelling radar emissions really help make the game more tactical.
Technicians. It's a special light mech that goes around repairing its teammates. It can fight on its own too.
9. I only entered the game just a few days ago, but I will say the game is pretty reliable. I have not seen any show stopper bugs like the anomalies you see in MWO like HUD bugs and so on. There are times my mech doesn't move but I won't blame that to lag but because I got crowded into a bunch of teammates. I kind of feel at this point, the graphics are better than MWO at this point, no texture bugs and so on. No disconnects and leechers either. I feel I am getting better FPS than I do with MWO using the same hardware on their game's default settings. There is a better tutorial system and overall the UI seems more polished than MWO at this point. Hopefully MWO comes out with UI 2.0 soon.
10. There are a few things both Hawken and MWO are similar. Similar tactics --- there is a constant voice in the cockpit that reminds you of the universal adage. Stay together, and you win. Work apart and you die. Its still all about teamwork. You can also do DFA (Death from Above) attacks. Game has three classes of players --- brawlers, snipers and tanks. And the tankers can be both brawlers and snipers too. Game is very fast. Imagine if MWO is fought mainly with light mechs and Cicadas and you get the picture. The main difference is instead of circling, you can be sidestepping (the distinguishing characteristic of an FPS).
Both have a similar flaw as well. Matchmaking needs to be better, as well as autobalancing. It needs a meaningful community warfare framework, like what Chromehounds achieved. Should note that Hawken is already ahead in implementing 20 and 24 (12 vs. 12) matches, as well as built in voice chat.
Edited by Anjian, 14 May 2013 - 09:49 PM.
5
laconic specter, on 15 December 2012 - 01:46 PM, said:
