Hands On Preview: Today's the day when I finally got a preview code of the most anticipated game that most of the players on my friends list on LIVE would kill for, the arrival of Mech Asault 2. To understand why I have looked forward to this game, more than Halo 2 is that Mech Assault 1 (MA1) was the first Live game I ever played and where most of names on my friends list originate from. Hail to the good ol' days, the days of the Not It Community. Unfortunately this code does not allow access to LIVE, not that anyone would be online to play considering the game hasn't been released yet. This preview is of my experience playing the single campaign mode. So, jump into your battle armour and jack the nearest mech because it's clobbering time!! 
Mech Assault 2 (MA2) picks up the story where the first one left off (well, nearly) and once again you are the Pilot who is accompanied by your boss and your technical wizard of a friend and that's about as much of the story I am going to tell you as I wouldn't want to spoil anything. How different could MA2 be from MA1? To start with, the graphics are a huge improvement over the original. The mechs look more polished and formidable with the scale adjusted to a human point of view unlike the mech's point of view in the first. What this means is that the mechs look massive and tower over your character when he is running around the city or any of the other environments (again, not saying much due to possible spoilers). Every environment is destructible with buildings that can crumble after being pounded by your mech to objects that fall apart when stomped on. 
The main difference in MA2 is the pilot. Do you remember the Elemental suits in MA1? Well, they are now called Battle Armour and they are more effective and essential than just being cannon fodder in the first game. The Battle Armour allows you to jack any mech that you might come across by jump jetting onto the mechs back and through a quick series of buttons you can override the machine and take control of it for your own personal path of destruction and mayhem. The other feature of the suit that was seen but not used in the first is the grappler hook. This simple piece of mechanics is used in conjunction with your jump jets when scaling tall buildings. You simply jump and punch your hand into the wall which than attaches you to the side of the building, allowing your jump jets to refuel before reactivating them and climbing higher. The second use of the grappler is to hook onto a VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing). These aircrafts not only allow you to hitch a ride over to a trouble spot but will on some occasions drop off urgent supplies, mechs and ground support vehicles. To aid you in the fight against the enemy, you have access to a wide range of mechs which include most of the original cast and several new. You can also drive a battle tank which packs a mean punch in the form of its cannon, as well as its trusty machine guns. 
As you can tell, I haven't mentioned anything about the multiplayer side of this game due to the fact that this was only preview code but from what I have heard, the Live side to this game is going to be special. The game is being released in the USA just after Christmas followed by the rest of Europe in January and in my opinion this is one game you should look out for. Preview By: Joe |
