It seems strange to bring up a game like this at a time like now and yet, now seems like the perfect time for Heavy Gear
Heavy Gear is a Robot Simulation from Activision, the team that brought us MechWarrior 2. From now I'll admit that for me, and for anyone trying to pick up the game today, it's quite hard to get into, and control, especially in an era that relies so strongly on WASD. The game focuses on the mouse for turning the torso and upwards, while the legs are controlled with the arrow keys. This isn't necessarily a good thing, and I had to remap a number of controls to get it feeling as though I have control over my whereabouts - however, once you have control over you're controls, the game handles quite well.
You are a Gear, a mech type unit, deployed in open fields, and soon as you get control over the gear, you'll notice how much less moveable it is compared to a FPS, but also far more malleable than Mechs from MechWarrior. Missions usually consist of patrolling different outdoor areas, whether they're snowy, dusty and deserty, or grassy, and completing missions like blowing up bases, calling in Air-Strikes or defending areas for a certain time. The enemies aren't too smart, but when there are four or five gears on you're case you begin to get into some trouble.
The game consists of two game modes. The first is Story mode. This is the primary campaign where I had the bulk of my good fun and memories. Here, you take control of Senior Duelist Edward Scott, a soldier on the side of the Northern Guard. An endless and useless war ravages on between the Northern Guard and Southern Milicia, and this point returns a number of times during the story.
What makes the campaign so fun is it's incredibly interesting cinematics, that are filmed in full motion video, and truly captures the presence of war. The game's actors are surprisingly decent, and the characters are well fleshed out, bar maybe the main protagonist, who mainly appears to be the same hero in every story, however he's a great guy to root for. The story will be the main reason why one should continue through this campaign, as the plot just keeps turning and twisting, and surprises arise around every corner. Death, betrayal, misunderstanding, revenge, duty; these are all major themes during the game, and without spoiling too much, you'll be wondering by the end who the real bad guys are.
This story has taken me on some great memories in the past. This game has just so much in it, and makes you really want to fight, it makes you feel as if you have you're back against the wall and you're shooting at everyone around you. It's a great feeling, and not one FMV video is wasted - they all progress the storyline, and add to the drama.
The second campaign mode is Tour of Duty, which is more of an open Sandbox mode, where you can choose you're own faction (North or South), as well as choose you're regiment. Just as in the story mode, you can then progress to create you're Gear, and earn stars and medallions. You choose from one of the set General objective modes, and are then thrown into the game to complete the mission. You're stats are stored, and you then earn rewards and earnings. This mode seems rather tacked on, but a secondary game mode is nothing to complain about, as the story mode is more than enough to keep you going for the game's worth.
The games Gear creation mode is very fine. You can create a Gear with any combination of arms, legs, torso, head, and engine and all come with perks and flaws. Some feature great armour, but severely hinder you're speed. Engines can boost this up, but not without weight cost. You can take an in depth look at each part and choose seperate pieces of equipment such as Low-Light and infrared for the head piece, and armour reduction for the torso. You can then proceed to choose new weapons, missiles, and lasers, that can all be used for you're startling artillery. This can all be changed on the fly, and you can edit you're Gear between missions.
In game, based on you're Gear stats and you're enemies effectiveness, you can effectively fight in a whole different matter. You're rockets can do some mean damage quickly, but be sure to take aim first, as they fly fast, and you usually have a limited supply of them. With you're normal weapons, do you decide to aim for the torso, and destroy the Gear flat out, or do you go for the legs, practically killing the enemy, but are still considered a threat. The enemy can too hit you in the same ways, and it's astonishing the number of times you have to start a mission again because you have no legs.
This brings me to my next point. There are no save points. It's finish the mission, or start it again. Some of the missions can take quite a bit of time to finish, and you'll have to risk a lot to finish some, but it feels rewarding when you do, especially if it comes with a cinematic.
It appears that Heavy Gear couldn't get enough of their brilliant story, so much so they even decided to incorperate one into their Training campaign, and because of this factor alone, I'm going to discuss it. The four or five training missions are quite straight forward in their approach. They teach you the different important features in the game, without sacrificing immersion. The training days begin with you, Cadet, under the orders of a grim and angry Drill Instructor. She is you're superior however, so you never speak back to her. She has a grudge against you, for reasons unknown, and the other Trainee, Timmins, appears to be the Teacher's Pet.
Over the course of the training excersises you not only have to prove you yourself you can do it, but prove to the Instructor too how good you are. You'll have to race Timmins to Nav Points, Race Timmins to Targets, Race Timmins to Air Strike Points, and as a final stage, fight Timmins to a 10 hit-count. It's great fun. The Training Stage is more than just to teach you the gameplay, it extends the game too. By the time you're done you'll feel rewarded, satisfied, and ready to get down to some serious business. This is what Training Campaigns should be like.
The graphics are not much to look at in a time like now. They're still passable, but only barely. At the time however, they were excellent, and featured some of the best outdoor environments games could offer. The mountains sprawled across the landscape, the Gears looked cool, shuddered when they moved, and smoked and crippled when they're legs were blown off.
Heavy Gear is not for everyone. It's now, whether the developers intended it or not, a game made for people who can overlook problems, graphical glitches, and bugs, to see the wider picture of what a game should be like. As the title suggests, this is not a game to be messed with, and through the story mode, the training mode, and to a degree, Tour of Duty, it really shines through and proves that one can make a great Mech Simulation, and still doesn't start with the words "Mech Warrior."