The Heavy Gear brand has existed for almost twenty years, including role-playing games, WarGames, card games, and various licenses, but has until now been unusually little exploited in the field of video games, with just two releases signed Activision dating back to the end of the last millennium. The mechs created initially by Canadian Publisher Dream Pod 9 are, however, returning to action in digital format, thanks to the effort of the indie team Stompy Bot Productions, which is working on a free to play project based on user support.
At the 2013 Game Developers Conference, Heavy Gear Assault was present in the form of a minimal demo and clearly “extracted” from a version far behind in development, but useful to show off something concrete. The attraction of the station set up by Stompy Bot Productions in the GDC Play section, then, was also in the fact that they were the only ones in the whole fair to be able to touch a demo made through Unreal Engine 4. The team composed of veterans of the industry (people who worked on Mechwarrior 2 , Heavy Gear 2, Far Cry, Crysis, Mortal Kombat, Stranglehold, Splinter Cell) has failed a breath the world record absolute, given that a few days before, at PAX East, there was a playable demo of the Daylight, but it was a first interesting. As well as impressive is the fact that the first to give a taste of next-gen are two team indie.
From a graphic point of view, how much evidence of Heavy Gear Assault does not precisely cry out to the miracle, indeed. But the end, probably, was just to show something concrete and offer a first impact with the game. The title of Stompy Bot will be an action and fighting game between mech within arene, based on sports fighting concept, which mixes gladiatorial arene and an organization on the style of the American professional championships. Try to imagine a NASCAR competition and you will have some idea of the look that we can expect: as far as possible from the “war” aesthetics of a Hawken, in short, in favor of a colorful look, with mech from the colors related to their “stable” and sponsors stuck a little’ everywhere.
The idea is to try a different approach to mech’s game. The gameplay will revolve around a league of battles between robots and the need to increase their popularity more and more (not only by winning but by winning “well”), to get better sponsors, earn more money and gain access to the most prestigious leagues. Everything will be included in a system that is based not only on the action in the arena, but also on the management management, with among other things the possibility of influencing the conditions and rules of the match, betting on the outcome or put the available sizes on this or that opponent, to direct the behavior of the disputants.
The combat phases will rest on a fairly classic control system, with legs and torso of the mech to handle as separate entities, Tank style, and a fluidity of movement from fast-paced action game (in this, however, Heavy Gear Assault can remember Hawken). The various mechs will enjoy different types of upgrades, firearms and close combat, removable wheels to move faster, etc. There will also be a system of economic damage on the various parts of the body, with the possibility of putting out of use the management of the movement.
The project, as mentioned, and as evidenced by the fundraising still far from the target, is far behind, and the demo tested at GDC was a taste. More than that, they intrigue the concept and the intention to create an articulate superstructure, with all possible types of arenas and match (capture the flag, etc.. ) that we can expect. It will play a fundamental role online multiplayer, as befits a title designed for distribution free to play. The economic model provides purchases related to the aesthetic component โ not essential, but still useful in order to create mech from the impact, and then eye-catching to increase your own popularity โ and are there also subscriptions dedicated for users who want access to funzionalutร “pro” as the use of dedicated servers and the creation of arenas custom. Hopefully, by the end of the year is expected to start the closed beta, followed by an open beta in 2014. So there is still a lot to wait for. And hope.