Mech Force V.3.77

Title		Mech Force V.3.77
Game Type	Combat Sim
Company		Ralph Reed (Shareware)
Players		1-Several
Compatibility	All
Submission	angus@angusm.demon.co.uk

Review
Now this is a tricky one. First impressions of this game are not great.
Okay, it`s a Mech game ........good, it`s Shareware .......okay, it`s a
2D hex based affair ......Eek!! Now, hold on, looks aren`t everything.
What we`ve got here, is a suite of programs, that combine to let you
create a Mech pilot, with his own outfit, his own Mech, and the ability
to amass wealth and experience. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the
term Mech, it`s used to describe a huge armoured fighting vehicle,
frequently of humanoid configuration, and with enough firepower to
seriously spoil pretty much anyone`s day.
Because of the way the experience points work, you`ll start off by
stumbling around the arena, sometimes actually falling over, and
generally missing whatever you try to shoot at. Obviously this changes
as you acquire more experience, and choose which skills to develop. One
of the most cunning elements of the game is the way heat is generated,
and the effect it has. You will generate heat by doing just about
anything. Not just firing weapons and being hit, but even by moving
around. As you get hotter your Mech becomes less effective, and your
accuracy decreases. Eventually your Mech will shut down, and you`ll have
to wait until the heat has dissipated before you`re effective again,
assuming of course, nobody decides to take advantage of your down time and
give you a good kicking.
The gameplay does not work in real time. This means that while your about
to swivel left to bring an enemy into your sights, for instance, you`ll
suddenly run of time, and it`ll be your opponents turn to trigger that
full salvo of long range missiles .....in your direction.
Being quite interested in warfare myself, one of my favourite aspects of
the game is the Factory, where it is possible to design your own Mechs,
and if you can afford it, buy them. This is fascinating because you`re
faced with the classic armoured fighting vehicle compromise of where your
priorities lie. Firepower, Armour or Mobility? Obviously each one effects
the other two, so you can have great fun tweaking vehicles to your
particular requirements, and then trialling them in actual combat. The
detail goes right down to how much armour you wish to assign to almost
every part of your Mech, back or front, so you can really let yourself go.
I haven`t got anything bad to say about the game, it`s clearly not going
to be everybodys cup of drinking chocolate, but what the game attempts to
do, it succeeds at extremely well. I must admit, I`d of loved the Amiga to
get a 3D realtime interpretation of this game, maybe one day. Until then
however, we can comfort ourselves with the satifaction generated by having
an Auto Cannon 10 hit the mark, and blowing the enemy`s head clean off!

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