Are there any playable mecha or mech games?

Either for PC or 360.

And I don't care if it's Jap style Gundams or w/e or western mechs.

The only thing I could see was Hawken but that doesn't come out for a while.

 

Vaarna_Aarne rant incoming.

Play Mechwarrior III.

 

Ahem.

The first thing to know when it comes to mecha games is that the MechWarrior series is bullshit, it's basically "baby's first mecha game" as it lacks any complexity and skill factor. There's a specific game and two series you should focus on:

Heavy Gear 2. This is old, and pretty hard to get working properly on modern PCs, but goddamn it's still one of the best mecha games made. HG2 takes a more realistic approach to mecha combat, with the Gears being relatively small and their primary asset being mobility and flexibility (Gears can discard and pick up hand weapons). Damage is either something that won't be an immediate concern due to being too small to penetrate the armor, or absolutely necessary to avoid due to penetrating hits making short work of a Gear. One particular aspect that the game still excels at is the sheer variety of weapons and systems you can set up Gears with, it's still the only one with things like Guided Mortars and ECM Hand Grenades.

Then there's the Armored Core series, the present day flagship of mecha simulation. In terms of customization and number of internal mechanics at works (an example is that Armored Core series factors recoil and mecha mass when firing weapons), it's unparalled (in Armored Core, you don't select stock mecha, you build mecha from ground-up, from frame to generator to radar to weapons). Current gen has been very good for the series too, with two of its best entries. Armored Core series is heavily skill-based and hardcore in its approach to gameplay, with several extremely hard missions (though they've leveled things out a bit in this generation, with Normal difficulty NOT requiring VS AI cheese-builds or godlike skills).

Armored Core For Answer (second-latest entry) is the best Super Robot simulator. Instead of the usual 100-200 kmph mostly ground-based combat, For Answer goes fully airborne, with most mecha having the option of permanent flight (previously not usual due to power output constraints) and the standard fighting speed being dodging in 800-1000 kmph bursts, and several single player missions involve the player. As usual, the customization and mechanical depth is great, with a huge variety of weapons (this entry being the machine gun/gatling gun dream-zone) and system properties to consider. The game also now has multiple free Regulations (mechanics patches) that change the game rules, with one of them being the infamous Infinite Energy patch (energy output constraints were usually the standard limitation for Core effectiveness).

Armored Core V is the latest entry in the series, and switches back to a more Real Robot style. In V, Cores don't fly at all, they can only jump and hover using their boosters for aerial action, but now Cores can leap off and up buildings and terrain for gaining vertical height. Another big new change is that Active Radar is gone, and all Cores have to make-do with a Radar Mode (mode disables weapons) which is used in conjunction with Sensor Probes that the Cores can launch to gain data beyond LoS in Radar Mode (the probes come in several types, such as mortar-like Probes that stick to a surface and have the largest sensor power). Damage system has also been revised, with the usual hit point oriented system replaced with a damage resistance oriented system. In V, all damage is either Chemical (explosives), Kinetic (bullets, sabot) or Thermal (energy weapons). The big idea of the system is that you can specialize in a certain type, effectively becoming almots invulnerable against it, while leaving the other two your Core's Achilles' heels; or you can average everything and have no strengths but no weaknesses either, or any combination thereof you can do with the parts available. The AI Cores also make extensive use of this system.

For size reference, the Cores in AVfA are around 7-10 stories tall, while the ones in V are around half that.


One thing that you shouldn't forget either is that Konami is releasing HD Collection of their Zone of the Enders series. Specifically, the point of interest is that this means a HD version of ZoE: Second Runner, which was one of the most fun games in the PS2 era. These aren't simulators mind you, but straight up action games where you just fly with a godlike mecha destroying hordes of puny mecha while enjoying Konami-style storyfaggotry (acquired, fine taste of delicious and shameless cheese done with love and care).



...

However, none of these is THE ultimate mecha game of all time. There is simply no contest against this one:

 

Fire up DOSBox and run Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri.


More of a powered armour simulator than straight mecha game, but you still have loads of stuff like subsystem damage, jumpjets, remote camera drones, built-in zoom, IR, awe inspiring firepower, destructible terrain, field repairs and so on.

You know what? It was made by Looking Glass - that's all you need to know.



Oh, KKK++, obviously.

 

You forgot to mention that weapons range is limited to 200 metres and the AI can't detect you from beyond that range, while even the PnP version had basic guns with a 800m range.

 

Actually weapons range DOES extend beyond that, you just need to use the correct fucking weapons (the AI can also detect you from further away depending from game mode). In fact, the range extends FAR beyond 200 meters.

 

Except that it can't. I was firing at AI gears and turrets from 200 metres and there was completely no reaction.

Also, what correct weapons? So, an auto-cannon isn't a correct weapon for firing beyond 200m? So much for realism.

 

Is earthsiege any good?

 

Campaign enemies function differently and depending on mission. Turrets have a detection and firing range between 200-275 meters, and their detection is affected by your radar profile. Though I guess this is a good part to mention that the mecha genre has never had good AI on a tactical scale (in fact, majority of genres don't).

The auto-cannon is a short-range assault weapon in HG2, not a goddamn sniper rifle. If you want to shoot from farther away, you use something like sniper laser cannon or rail gun.

Never played it, just saw the ad flier that came with my Half-Life box back in the day.

 

You didn't specify which genres you want so I guess it doesn't matter to you.

I can recommend the Front mission games. Turn-based tactical RPGs. Jagged Alliance/X-COM of console games IMO.

Not PC/XBOX games but they can be played perfectly fine with emulators.

FM 1 - SNES
FM 2, 3 - PS1
FM 4, 5 - PS2

 

Seconded, Front Mission are excellent turn-based tactical squad games. FM1 has a pretty good fan translation for SNES emulators too.

 

Mechwarrior 3
Mechwarrior 2
Mechwarrior 2, Ghost Bear's legacy


Or you can sign up for the beta for mechwarrior online. It's pretty good stomping, although I'm really not a fan of cryengine motion blur when you turn quickly.

 

Front Mission DS is a remake of the 1st game which includes new content, so if you want to emulate try that one as well.

 

Mechwarrior 3.

It's the same auto-cannon that has 800m range in the PnP game. And with stabilisation and augmented vision of a mecha, 800m is already a short range.

 

I liked Mechwarrior 4, which I didn't expect at all. Check it out.

 

Played Front Mission 3 and it was shit.

The different character abilities fire randomly, very randomly, meaning there is no meaningful strategy to anything you do. You could play out the worst possible tactical moves and still win the mission if the "right" abilities fired at the right time, or you could lose the same level even if you played brilliantly but the abilities didn't fire.

And the story was shit (epic, but shit), and the NPCs were dicks.

 

There's a F2P Mechwarrior game coming out sometime in the next 6 months (or maybe year, I forget, but I think they can't be that far away from release).
I've seen some videos and I'm honestly not sure if I should be impressed or not. I'm not really a mech game type player, I've never really played them, so my opinion on them is basically void so I won't bother.
I have heard two mech game players say that the F2P mechwarrior game looks pretty exciting, though.

 

Also, DON'T play MechWarrior. As an entire series, it's overrated, mediocre popamole that requires zero skill, has limited customization, limited mechanics, bad art direction and is monumentally boring to play without multiplayer co-op. Play better mech games instead. There isn't a single MechWarrior game that's worthwhile for the mecha genre. The only hope that series has of ever having a decent game is if MekTek ever finishes MekPak 4 with gameplay overhaul.

Yea, and going by PnP battlemechs should be capable of melee attacks and climbing. Retarded argument is retarded, only the in-game context matters for gameplay.

 

SHOGO

 

Not really, Front Mission 3 is easy if you understand how the mechanics works. If you have a decent mech with a rocket launcher and equip everyone with shields, you have won half of the battle. It's still the "worst" game of the series (Front Mission 4 is average 'cause you can't skip the combat cinematics). Also, I liked how unintentionally grim the story was, no-one of the main characters are heroes, in fact, the protagonist is a bloody psychopath.

 

FM3 has the worst skill system of them all, yeah. I remember in the other FM games I've played (1 and 5) you actually learn skills for XP/Skill points when you level up and get to choose which ones to use when attacking (although some proc randomly as well IIRC). In FM3 not only are all the skills random (I think you can change their activation chance/rate somehow but I'm not sure) but they are also acquired randomly, instead of being learned when leveling up.

 

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/anyone-know-a-good-mech-game.27978/

 

Mechwarrior: living legends mod for Crysis, you can still get crysis for cheap from the ongoing steam sale.

 

Also, DON'T play japcrap. As a genre, japanese mecha games are overrated, mediocre popamole that require zero skill, have retarded cuscenes, obscure mechanics, horrible art direction and are monumentally boring to play unless you're a degenerate weaboo faggot.

See how the argument works both ways?

 

The skills activate when certain circumstances are meet (look over for a skill guide on gamefaqs, the game only provides you with obtuse hints that are too vague to be useful). You also can increase their activation rate if you equip specific CPUs and putting the same skill on your skill list multiple times (although to do that you'll need the skill to activate more than once). Also: Rate of fire 1>>>>>>>>Everything else except Hoshun Mk112' s skills.