PAX East 2013: Hawken--Hands-on gameplay

IANT ROBOTS, MAN! Yes, giant robots. In the past we at PPR have been dazzled by Steel Battalion and its incredible controller, saddened by the loss of the Chromhounds Multiplayer servers on Xbox Live and revolted by the train-wreck travesty that is Steel Battalion: Heavy Armour on Kinect.

But some of those can cost serious money, and while Steel Battalion still holds the record for most in-depth mecha simulator (show me one other that delivers an experience so theoretically accurate), they actually require actual training with an honest to god manual that rivals some cars.

So what if there was a mech game from the perspective of Steel Battalion that was simple and quick enough for anyone to  play, with the fun factor and free-to-playness of Counterstrike minus the impossible-to-kill opponents that keep a player like me from progressing? Well, Hawken is your game, my friends, and it is already in open beta!

Hawken has you controlling the titular mecha in the future-dystopian world of Illal. Everything takes place in a match-based system, with the ability to customize your mech to your personal tastes. As you progress and get accustomed to the weapon loadout you’ve selected, they will power up and become uniquely yours as the personal experience you have with your machine mounts.

In my match, I was tasked with the annihilation of everyone I saw. Using one of a variety of pre-made mechanical death machines, I found the combat to be rather awesome. Though I died many times and came out of the match in 7th place, I was still able to kill more people than I was killed by. Not shabby, for a guy that sucks at online shooting games in general.

Again, Hawken also allows for quite a bit of customization which was accessible in this demo, but surely would have taken me way too long to get a true feel for it. But the pre-made units were still really fun to use. I usually took an up-close and personal approach, lobbing grenades and chain gun ammo onto my unsuspecting opponents at point blank range, but there are options that better accommodate missile lovers of snipers. I’ll be diving headlong into the customization when it comes down to playing for real. And, as is the case with many of these games, there are also many parts that will be available as a paid premium for those looking to trick-out their mechano-reaper with some fancier implements of death; though it‘s not necessarily required to get far, of course.

From a presentation standpoint, the mechanical design and artwork is tops and the sound effects are great, with satisfying weapon and machinery sounds. The only real problem I had was the texture render speed when selecting my machine, but this is a fairly common problem with many games of its ilk and it’s not severe by any stretch of the word.

With fast, fun, and clearly cost-effective action, if you’re into mech combat in any capacity, or you’re looking for a change of pace to your first-person-shooting landscape Hawken is your game. Be sure to sign up for the beta today!