By the pricking of my thumbs, a giant mech this way comes. Story? Oh, there's a story, but it's just the thin pickle atop this meaty topdown shooter sandwich. That's right, it's Mechanical Commando 2 from the gentle souls at Berzerk Studio, the game where you explore your softer side and work out your deep-seated emotional insecurities by rendering your enemies into a fine red paste. Wasn't that last week's Oprah... ?
Control your giant mech with the [arrow] or [WASD] keys, aiming and shooting with the mouse. Tap the [space] bar to use bigger firepower when available. You can pause the game by tapping [P], which will also let you see a map and review your objectives. Essentially, while you may be given basic objectives to complete in each mission, your main job is typically to reach the end of the level without exploding. Easier said than done when the enemies start showing up in bladed helicopters, tanks, giant death factories, and more. Just keep moving, and keep an eye on your health meter on the left side of the screen. In between missions, you can access the hangar, which lets you customise your mech. New upgrades unlock as your experience increases, and you can swap weapons and armor about as you please as long as you don't go over your weight limit.
You'll also occasionally be given optional side missions which, when completed successfully, grant you additional experience points. Sometimes you'll need to kill a certain number of enemies, defend a piece of territory, take out a structure, or rescue civilians. Which wouldn't be so bad if those civilians didn't tend to hang out in dense, hostile areas you're likely to spray with bullets. And then yell at you about it. Like that's your fault. What were they thinking, being so soft and full of tender vital organs in a war zone anyway?!
Analysis: Who amoung us hasn't dreamed of trampling down mainstreet in a giant suit of mechanised armor, your booming laughter echoing from the loudspeakers as you broadcast your demands to the panicked populace?... okay, so that doesn't actually happen in the game, but there's still something satisfying about the massive amounts of property damage going on in Mechanical Commando 2. It feels more fleshed out than the original, with better visuals, a better(ish) story, and more objectives. Levels are strictly linear as you stomp from one end to the other, but the first time the game let me ride around inside the giant boss death factory I'd just won the fight against I stopped caring. Where the first game was something fun but ultimately forgettable, the sequel has bulked up in all the right ways to feel more like a complete, if not entirely unique, experience.
In fact, the main problem I have is the lack of polish in the game's presentation. Spelling errors, typos, even those relating to the names of the central characters all litter the game. I also wish the graphics were a bit bigger, since once the ground starts turning, um, red, enemies are so tiny that they blend right into everything. In fact, everything is tiny. Is that a terrified civilian, or a moving target? When everything starts swarming the screen, it's impossible to tell. But the biggest offender by far is the achievement notification, which will obscure a chunk of the screen whenever it pops up, and, consequently, whatever enemies or fire might be heading your way. It's a minor annoyance at first, but downright dangerous when you're being swarmed by ridiculous numbers of foes.
Mechanical Commando 2 isn't the most refined of gaming experiences, but it is a hale and hearty example of its genre that should keep a shooter fan quite happy for a good chunk of time. Chances are the gameplay will probably feel familiar to you, especially if you've played a top-down shooter in the last year or so, but it's solid, fast-paced, and, most importantly, fun. So put on your space marine pants. It's time to buckle up and start blasting.
I like this game. But can anybody tell me how to tell which side missions I've already done? Thats the one thing that keeps bugging me. I've repeated a couple side missions because I forgot I had already did them (and didn't earn a ranking). But lots of fun.
Same complaint here as Maximus. Another one I have is that the map/objective shortcut key is O or P. Seriously, what kind of choice is that for a hotkey for a WASD + mouse game?
Unfortunately since I constantly check the map to see where the objectives are, that hotkey alone ruined the game for me...They could easily fix it if they let you rebind it or just add a minimap.
I finished it by playing off and on. I enjoyed the main mission story. Found the side missions a bit repetitive. Once I got to a certain level where I could combo a certain weapon and missile; I was able to fly through the rest of the game pretty easily.
I'll play the next one, but would definitely like the following:
- Minimap radar w/ mission objectives (make this a mech upgrade if you must)
- Clear indicator of what missions you've done
- More mech customization, let me have a different weapon on each arm and a couple other placement areas. Maybe multiple mech types (I remember the old first mechwarrior stuff)
Missions you've already done are circles roughly half the size.
Thanks xy!
Not a complaint, just a point... I generally tune in to flash games on a laptop or netbook with a touchpad, rather than a desktop with a mouse, and so I always just skip games that feature the keyboard/mouse combo. Just too frustrating.
This seems like a really nice concept, but I'm finding it lacking in some execution. It's annoying that the enemy can shoot through ('over') the thick walls but you can't at all. At least I haven't found any way. Still, not bad on the whole.
@Kangra The big gun upgrade you can get in the missile slot can shoot through walls.
I understand what to do to get a higher "time" star, but what do I do to get a higher "rank" star?
I think that this game needs more healing drops. I found that the difficulty in healing made game too defensive and slow-paced in nature combined with your tiny line of sight.
What is the recipe to get gold on the sidemissions?
I cleared the whole game, getting gold in all categories of the main missions, am about lvl 24 or something and are hitting the medal- hunt now.
Still after completing every sidemission, i get gold in Intel5, but not even bronce in Intel4 e.g.
What is this about? What do you need to fulfill to get that damn all-gold :).
Cheerz + Greetz
Vimez
Whats the point of having something like 10 different items but only one slot to use?
Same issue as with robokill 2...
Otherwise a pretty nice game!
Oh and what is it all about the "g.p.m.g." i can unlock? Has this something to do with the ( I do call it a bug) missing medal for having unlocked all the shoulder weapons, which i clearly have unlocked all of them?
There simply is no "g.p.m.g." to unlock, so i really dont know, what to do for it?
Currently i have 50 of 72 medals in ma pocket. Mebbe it has something to do with that case?
Cheerz + Greetz
Vimez
Well, this is how far i came:
- I earned every single gold.
- Wave 40 in the Survival
- I have every Medal now... exluding two of them:
I have NOT the medal for having all shoulder parts unlocked (which i have) and i have NOT the medal for having the "g.p.m.g. unlocked" whatever it is, cuz there is nothing more i can achieve currently, there i see no way of how to unlock this medal.
Im gonna check the game on kong.com to see, if there was a version trouble between the two different versions.
Cheerz + Greetz
Vimez
UPDATE:
Berzerk Studios have reacted towards the bug-posts fleeding into their mailaccount and fixed the following two medals:
- Shoulder pad medal is now working fine.
- The G.P.M.G. medal was reprogrammed into a "save 50 civilians" medal.
Now I wont apologise my upper answer onwards the linking towards other pages and the definit need it has had to achieve all ingame-Medals. I am convinced, that this is a bad manner, we dont need on games, that are for free and made for being played for free.
But in this special case now, I have to say:
BIG RESPECT TOWARDS BERZERK for fixing that asap!
Thx guyz! 5/5 now.
how do u get to the hanger?
I got stuck on the first level =\
After beating the boss, I got into it and drove around killing baddies. I got to a point where I can't continue in the boss vehicle, but there doesn't seem to be a way to get out! I guess you're supposed to let the baddies destroy your super tank? Or is there a self-destruct or eject button that I missed?
Pure,
Press SPACE to exit the boss tank (there's a message that flashes up when you first get in), and you can get out. Refer to the map for where to continue from there.
I'm liking it a little better now, but it still doesn't quite feel as polished as I'd like it.
Is it a known bug that nukes/ariel attacks only work if the enemy is visible when it drops?
This is making hardcore mode a bit frustrating.
im not sure if this works for all the side missions but slaughtering anything that is in your line of sight seems to be a good plan!
For the side missions: just... destroy... everything. Except for side missions 'destroy 4&5' it didn't work for me. For the others i got 3 stars.
And on hardcore mode: just use cluster homing missile. It always pwns!!!
i'm just assuming, but in order to get a medal in the time, does that just mean you have to do it faster? and how do you get higher rank medals? for instance, i only have one gold on the defense side missions...comments please?
Can anyone tell me how to get the Roadkiller Medal?
It says "Kill 25 enemy infantry units with the rails". The only thing I can think of that this means is running over infantry with a miniboss, and I tried that. Killed 50-something infantry in the first levelw and haven't got it.
Gn the process I discovered that you can squeeze through two gaps and get the miniboss all the way to the beginning of the level.
Also, is it just me or is the Hard Boiled Medal, "loose(sic) 500 lives in one level" totally obscene? It takes just over ten seconds to move, lose a life, click retry, wait for load, and click next a few times. So it would take an hour and a half of killing myself to get it. Uhhh... no thanks!
The rails are actually a type of legs found in the hangar
OK, thanks for telling me that. Also found out that when it says "loose 500 lives", what it means is "lose 500 HP". Which is easy to do:
- In a normal level like the beginning of level 2, get low health, then get many repair pick-ups, the lose some more health. Even easier with the item that gives you health when you kill someone.
- Same kind of thing would work in survival, provided you can survive long enough.
How do I get a hardcore device?
On side missions, you only earn noticeable stars on timed games; the less time you take, the higher your ranking, i.e. gold, silver, bronze. However, if the side mission is not timed you earn stars by destroying everything, If you destroy all the buildings and all the enemies before you do the main mission such as in the "Saving Civilians" missions, then you will get gold.
Hope this helped :)
GLITCH: On level 3 i had the hardcore device equipped and on the last boss i died but i still got the medal
It seems that different side missions have different things you have to do to get stars. For instance, Rescue missions give you gold stars for 100% enemies killed. Anybody figured out the others?
Fun, but the difficulty jumps Way too far between main levels. 5/10 for now.
Update