So explain to me again, why is my mech resistant to water?
This is not a bad game for several reasons. One, it combines the best of the West (clunky) and the East (agile) mechs, just like the Gamespot review mentioned. The soundtrack is great, it is catchy and by default, at the right volume. It's not drowning out the action but it's not too tiny as to you can't hear it. The buildings in the game, after enough has bombarded them, they will go down, nice destructible environment.
The argument can be made that this isn't a true mech game. The last mech game that I played was Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries, yep, back in the day when 200 MHz was a big deal. So compared to that, I can see why. In AC4, you can't customize your mech as much, for example, you can't add heatsinks and the HUD isn't extremely detailed. Missions are also longer, so when you complete a mission and survive, even if it's after countless tries, there's a feeling of great accomplishment. You also have access to different mechs in the early stages of the game, that opens up new avenues for you to fight, compared to you having to buy mechs yourself. Hardcore mech fans should take note of this, that it's much more arcade like.
The graphics on this game is blurry. To me that means the graphics suck, but supposedly it plays into how the world has deteriorated after countless wars. Even if this was the case, the set the mood, the graphics were still a letdown for me. The missions in the game is very short, almost like a series of quick-missions stringed together. You can see the damage that you've done, but after a minute it disappears.
All in all, good arcade-like fun (something you can jump into right away without too much work), but if you're big on story-lines, graphics, or realism, then you're better off passing up this one.