MechAssault on Xbox Live... heavenly

[Asher]

Xbox Live launched today, MechAssault came out tuesday.

I picked up MechAssault for $49CDN(!!) at Futureshop (sale ends next Tuesday) (~$30 US for you yanks).

It's just so much fun on so many levels. The game is deceptively simple, with controls that nearly mimick Halo.

The environments are almost entirely destructable -- you can shoot at buildings and watch the glass shatter as you hit it, and if you shoot some rockets near the base it will eventually topple over, crushing people underneath it. You can shoot out bridges, you can cause avalanches in the winter levels (complete with full snow effects), you can shoot out ice, etc. They're all vital to tactics.

Not to mention managing heat and choosing which type of mech and which type of weapon to use.

Graphics: Absolutely gorgeous. Aliasing nearly nonexistant, sharp textures, GREAT effects, awesome model detail.

Sound: My subwoofer is definitely getting a workout. This game DEFINITELY uses Dolby Digital 5.1 as it is intended.

Gameplay: MechAssault started out as a singleplayer game. It's got a long, full-featured single player campaign mode complete with FMV.

But the heart of the game is multiplayer via Xbox Live.

I have literally experienced no lag with this game in about 7 hours of playing nearly nonstop today. You can use QuickMatch to quickly find a game and hook you up (<1 second) or OptiMatch to use filters and set game parameters, and it'll list you available games.

It keeps track of all of your games and your records. There is a Stats feature which shows the Top 100 players for every game mode in MechAssault, and also shows your rank (I'm 952 right now for "Destruction" -- I started off at 6800 and worked my way up today).

There's a bunch of different game modes: Destruction (FFA, essentially), Team Destruction, "Not It", etc -- and modes like "Capture The Flag" and "Domination" are going to be made available via free download [along with more maps].

It's amazing how cool the game is with voice communication. It's very vital in Team Destruction so the teams can coordinate, but it's just fun as hell to be able to talk to the other players in the game as if they were sitting next to you. It makes it a much more personal and social experience.

Anyway I'm rambling. This game is just awesome.

If you have an Xbox and are vaguely interested in taking it online, get Xbox Live. If you get Xbox Live, you MUST get MechAssault.

[Asher]

Some misc screenshots (it looks a lot better in motion with the great animation and how much of everything is dynamic, from the snow to the lights):






(Yes, the building is about to topple in the last pic)

[BustaMike]

I played the multiplayer, and it was kind of boring. I bet the single player is pretty good though. Is there a co-op mode for XBox Live?

[Asher]

I don't know, I haven't touched the single player aside from the first mission.

Having too much fun with the multiplayer.

You bought Xbox Live and MechAssault today?

[Asher]

Quoth EGM/Gamers.com on MechAssault:

Call your phone company to get DSL. Call your cable company to get cable Internet access. Do whatever it takes to be ready for Xbox Live when it launches tomorrow. If there's a reason to get Microsoft's online console gaming service, MechAssault is it.

Best played with 7 other players, online multiplayer with MechAssault is fast and furious. The sense of the mechs' hugeness is conveyed mostly when they blow up or destroy a bridge or building. You just don't kill your opponent then go for his loot...you have to back off for a second or two or his explosion will hurt or kill you too. Enjoy standing on top of a building to get a better view of the action? Don't hang out there too long, for enemies will likely know they can hurt you by destroying the structure. Adding to the fun is the voice communication, because often when something amazing happens, it generates a very vocal reaction from all who are involved.

[Bkeela]

What exactly is XBox Live? Is it a program that allows you to go on-line? I assumed Xbox would have that capability by default.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Bkeela
What exactly is XBox Live? Is it a program that allows you to go on-line? I assumed Xbox would have that capability by default.

It's a service for Xbox. MS hosts huge datacenters around the world, the service is broadband-only. It comes with a voice headset, and every game must support voice communication in it. It also supports features like voice masking (make you sound like a kid, a kidnapper, balloon vendor, etc), friends list, you can invite friends to come play in your games, see who's online/offline, downloadable content, unique single ID across all games, statistics-tracking across all games, etc.

http://www.xbox.com/LIVE/xboxlive-tenreasons.htm