Giant mech battles and anime characters are something that go hand-in-hand a little too well. Hardcore Mecha seeks to continue this wonderfully unity as it offers us a tale with characters struggling on all sides in desperate battles. Let's hop into our mechs and drop right into the battlefield as we discover if Hardcore Mecha can emerge victorious, or will it be blown to pieces and lost in the rubble.
We find ourselves a couple years in the future from now; mankind has expand to living off of Earth and new tools of war have been developed, full-bodied mechs with all sorts of capabilities. Tarethur is the main character and he comes off as pretty stoic but the group surrounding him help to elevate him. The mercenary group, Hardcore Defense, Tarethur is a part of consists of; Edgar an eager young mech pilot full of optimism and spunk, Morris the reserved captain, and the... voluptuous boss of the company, Nancy. There are a couple more additions to the outfit that help flesh out the group but I'll let you discover them for yourself.
Our group gets contracted to commence with a rescue operation of an intelligence operative code-named, A, from a terrorist group calling themselves, Steel Dawn. Tarethur drops down on Mars within a new mech named, Thunderbolt and begins his mission. It's here that we start to learn the ins and outs of operating Thunderbolt and thankfully there's nothing overly complex yet it's perfectly easy to master. Fairly soon after tearing through the enemy forces, Tarethur finds himself going against another mech pilot, but this guy really knows how to pilot his mech and really gives us a run for our money. This new found rival gets away and we're forced to give chase as they have our rescue target and are trying to move them.
Let's take a moment to talk about the gameplay for a hot minute as well as some other aspects of the game. Like mentioned before, piloting the mech is pretty simple yet feels nicely satisfying once you get into the groove of combat. Moving around even feels better with the boost you can do to jettison yourself across the battlefields and even into the air! As you complete missions and defeat enemy forces, you'll start to accumulate credits that can be used to buy upgrades for you mech. Most of these upgrades are useful like giving yourself more health or upping your primary weapon's damage. There are other upgrades that allow you to bring in extra items like turrets or small walls that will block incoming damage. Additional weapons can be acquired too but most will have to be found throughout the levels to find their blueprints first.
Gunplay isn't the only thing on offer either as we can have some good ol' close range punching. Melee has two separate buttons for melee which should be used interchangeably as there is a slight cool-down once you've used one set of melee skills. While it is very gratifying to use, just be careful as some enemy mechs that show up later on will punish you very hard for getting within their striking range. There are also ultimate skills that come a little later that feel just as strong as they should as they destroy regular enemies and take nice chunks out of a boss' health bar. And even more so, there are sections where you won't be piloting the mech which feel like a nice change of pace just as things are getting samey.
The game's look is actually something that never dips in quality either as it manages to maintain it's clean, sharp, and lively colors all the way through. The levels change in interesting ways with plenty of variance. For one chapter we'll be romping around on the red, industrial planet, the next we'll find ourselves zipping through a futuristic city, and another has us battling it out in a space you may not have expected at all. Hardcore Mecha does a great job of showing that a 2D game can look spectacular from the smallest detail like the fodder enemies you're burning through, and then to the bigger set-pieces and moments that you'll discover as you continue forward.
How the story shapes out does have give you some exciting moments as well as a couple turns you may not have been expecting. By far, I think you'll enjoy the rivalry between Tarethur and his hot-headed foe the most as his appearance starts to become something you look forward to. Possibly the only disappointing thing about the story is how some characters don't really feel like they get enough development. Some villains and I would even say our leading man could have used some more attention so that we might better attach ourselves to them and really feel that drive to defeat our foes.
Naturally though, let's talk about those achievements before we round this out. Overall the list doesn't have anything awful or time-consuming. The trickiest ones will likely be the ones involving not dying throughout an entire playthrough or getting through some levels without taking damage. Thankfully though, there is an easier difficulty we can play through because some of those levels can sneak in some easy ways to trip you up if you're not careful. It shouldn't take you too long to collect them all while still enjoying your time.
Hardcore Mecha does a great job from beginning to end and doesn't outstay it's welcome either as it's initial playthrough will take you about 5 hours. While the characters and story won't necessarily surprise you, the gameplay picks up the slack as Thunderbolt continues to get stronger and stronger as it has to with new threats emerging. Added with that, the ease of jumping back into past levels and being able to change your gear pretty frequently helps to keep the game feeling fresh. I would certainly say that Hardcore Mecha is worth getting into the mech for and can be a fun time for you if you, especially if you're looking for a good 2D game.
3.0