Mech Havoc

If you watched the store page video that's what you get. It's a competent twin-stick vehicle shooter. There is nothing [i]special[/i] or [i]revolutionary[/i] here but there really doesn't need to be. Sometimes all something needs to be is a good example of its genre without any frills, and Mech Havoc is that.

I bounced off the demo a long time ago, but having finally jumped into the full Early Access game it's a much richer and more entertaining game than the early stages suggest, once you've moved a little further into the tech tree and been granted access to less linear maps which really undersell the game's potential. It becomes genuinely exciting and challenging once large numbers of tough enemies are being inserted from multiple directions into complex urban spaces deeper into the game. While less visually detailed, this game provides a far more tactically satisfying urban combat simulation than Brigador with a way more engaging experience of playing tiny exo-size mechs or ultra light small vehicles to maximise your income multiplier and make the sneakiest hit-and-relocate attacks while cutting through building interiors and walls - and far more of a sense of immense scale when running a huge, grindingly slow up-armoured tank or massive artillery mech. The ability to call in drones, turrets and artillery strikes from various tech trees really enhances the experience, as you can manipulate the enemy AI with timed distractions, delay and split up formations as they chase you through bottlenecks canyons or complex city-blocks, and it's generally just exciting and consistently satisfying to play between the constant flow of new toys to unlock and the sense of progression as your upgrades simultaneously give you bigger and nastier machines, but also make your smaller, weaker, older options far more viable through module modifications and new equipment to massively up-gun and up-armour even the earliest machines. Making use of those distractions I mentioned above also allows the larger enemies to be flanked, to focus fire on disabling and destroying specific components, taking away their most dangerous weapons and slowing them down, shredding armour, before retreating back to safety to gain distance again while your call-ins recharge. This combination of piecemeal destruction of exceptionally dangerous, huge enemies and distracting support abilities allows for exactly the kind of clever hit-and-run tactical play games like Brigador and most other mech-themed shooters entirely lack. Having mentioned Brigador as a comparison; give Mech Havoc your support, both in terms of buying it during EA and sharing it with others - this kind of tactical top-down/isometric/long third person mecha/tank shooter is a great genre that fell out of favour for a long time, but the most prominent example on the market until relatively recently is a game made by people with the most disgusting worldviews, and who campaign online in support of neonazi political parties. Help shift the focus away from Brigador, onto a skilled developer who isn't actively working to hurt others and make the world a worse place.