E3 2002MechAssault impressions

MechAssault was fully playable at Microsoft's E3 booth, and we were able to spend some time playing through one of the levels in the single-player campaign. While the game will be one of the first to support 2866521the Xbox Live service , Microsoft didn't have that particular game linked on the network. The E3 demo lets you select from two mechs, one of which is the well-known Battletech Mad Cat mech showcased in the PC MechWarrior games. After selecting the mech, you then go to a basic menu screen where you can decide which weapons you would like to use in combat.

The first thing you'll probably notice about MechAssault is its relatively simple controls--a major change from the keyboard-controlled MechWarrior PC games. Movement is controlled with the left analog stick, while aim is controlled with the right analog stick. Some mechs are capable of using jump packs, which can be turned on by pressing in on the right analog stick. Firing the mech's weapons is accomplished by using the right trigger, and you can cycle through each weapon using the B button. It's definitely a user-friendly control scheme, though it may take some time to get used to the movement of the mech and targeting.

In the process of getting acclimated to the targeting, you can test the destructible environments. Just about every building in MechAssault can be destroyed, and in some cases, you'll actually have to use this feature while attacking enemies such as infantry. It's worth noting that the location damage on the buildings looks incredibly realistic, especially when you shoot out glass--you can actually see the glass shatter.

Unfortunately, other parts of MechAssault don't look quite as good at the moment. The ground textures are incredibly blurry, and the surrounding landscape generally lacks color. The frame rate also had some serious issues--it would significantly stutter when multiple enemy mechs arrived on the scene. The camera posed a few problems as well because it would get trapped behind buildings and other objects. Of course, there's no reason to think that these problems won't be fixed before the game's final release.

Still, MechAssault is a fun game that's easy to control, and along with the multiplayer component, it should prove to be one of the better Xbox games released this year.