Nintendo Switch – Mecha Storm #174

Anyone remember Custom Robo????

2018062616561100-0E7530A3D1D9AA95709F1F586E40BD10

Mecha Storm – Nintendo Switch – Released: 5/25/18 – $19.99

Short Review (Review copy provided by ENP Games)

While this game is no Custom Robo… it does take what seems to be a lot of influence. During my time with Mecha Storm, it felt as though it was a forgotten Custom Robo game minus some aspects. Mecha Storm is a build your own robot beat em up game with a very odd opening, which is identical to the trailer. Not sure who over there is in charge of that but it is different. The game has a focus on defeating hordes of enemies while using 3 robots that can be swapped out on the fly. Between missions you will upgrade, customize, or change robots and items. While all robots are different the items you receive and parts you receive will be robot specific. This creates a smaller range of options but there are so many options it won’t really matter. The biggest flaw is how some of the “boss” enemies can easily be defeated by dodging and attacking twice… or by picking a long range robot and sniping them from a distance. If you decide to try and fight them with great combos or a real sense of fighting, you will die over and over again. While Mecha Storm isn’t a fantastic game, it does keep me interesting for a long time, the battling is fun most of the time, and the customizing each robot is high… after you unlock everything. Mecha Storm could be a fun experience if it was fleshed out more in the gameplay department but still presents a fun experience. I would give it, an 8 out of 10!

This icon is pretty great:

2018062616561500-57B4628D2267231D57E0FC1078C0596D

Story

I can’t believe this game has a serious story… the trailer and opening are identical but once you boot up the game. You are slammed with walls of text explaining everything until you are dropped into your character. At its core though, the game is based on you trying to survive a war. Two opposite forces are in disagreement on how to deal with this war, the Space Federation believes that invasions would be better while the Liberal Union seek peace through communication. It was until a war broke out that these two forces were able to decide what would be best. At the peak of this crisis though a third unknown group joined the fight, the Gauss Forces. Banning together the Space Federation and Liberal Union joined forces to take out the Gauss Forces. You control one of these soldiers as a last ditch effort to end the war.

Gameplay

As stated in the short review, this game is much like Custom Robo. A game series that I do hold close and wish would get another entry but this will do for now. This game’s focus is small corridor maps that force you to fight several waves of enemies before fighting a “boss”. While these “bosses” are somewhat of a threat you will find that they are the worse early on in the game. When you are limited to close combat and very low damage, they will tear you apart if they hit you. Small enemies pose no threat as any weapon you choose will do enough damage to kill within several hits. Once you face your first big enemy though they will easily two or three shot you. This is why the opening is the hardest as you only have one Mech and do little damage. Once you pass these areas is when things get fun, having multiple Mechs and weapons is the best part. Customizing mechs with either swords or guns make fights more interesting. I found that having long range weapons were the best to blast through the game but picking a sword based item made the game feel like God of War. I did mention that the game feels like Custom Robo but the main difference is no flight combat. It feels like Custom Robo but doesn’t have as much polish or range of weapons or specials.

Personal Experience

I spent way too much time on this game… I think it was more so a sense of nostalgia as the cheesy story pulled me in and the gameplay reminded me of old. I found myself sticking to items that made me have one close ranged mech, one tanky mech, and another long range mech. This was great for me since I would use the close range mech for the smaller items, switch to the tanky mech for heavy enemies, and then use the long range mech for enemies that I couldn’t just tank through. The bosses gave the most trouble since most of their attacks will take between 1/4 to 1/2 your health. If I decided to go close combat it was a dance of attack once or twice then dodge. Repeat until the boss was defeated.

Final Thoughts

Mecha Storm is an interesting game as it doesn’t have the charm or the sense of scale as a big budget title but they did what they could. Some items are worth using while others felt useless, the vast amount of items made it worth trying different things. I would have loved to see something more like Custom Robo but what developers made is a nice little title for the price. Mecha Storm is a good starting point for a series I hope is further expanded. Even if the story stays the same it would be nice to see a new war that focused on flight as well. I would give this game, an 8 out of 10! I spent a ton of time thinking about this game between reviews and glad that it even exists even if most people will likely pass it by.

My Gameplay Footage:

Will upload when I get back from vacation!

Trailer: