Override: Mech City Brawl Closed Beta Preview – Destroy All Robots

I’ve always had a special affinity for anything giant monster related; from Godzilla films to games like Rampage, if there was a giant creature in it I was down to clown. So you can understand my frustration when the genre died before it could ever blossom properly, and my piqued interest at the announcement of Override: Mech City Brawl. The game just concluded its first closed beta and I got a chance to square up with other players during the weekend.

Override: Mech City Brawl
Developer: The Balance Inc
Platform: PC, PS4, and Xbox One

_Mech City Brawl is a party game in a similar vein to something like War of the Monsters where you have twelve robots to choose from and do battle with. Each robot has their own distinct look from the very clear Godzilla homage, to a luchador fish called Pescado. This translates to their animations as well with some really smooth looking movements. Speaking of movement, I do wish the characters had a bit more weight behind them

Control wise, the game follows Tekken rules by having a specific button for left and right punches and kicks. You can even charge up a specific limb to unleash a devastating attack that looks just as cool as the rocket punch did in Pacific Rim. Each limb also has a special attack you can unleash like a straight up lariat or suplex from Pescado. This all works well enough, if it wasn’t for the annoying stamina bar that feels like it fills up far too quickly. I understand it’s there to stop you from spamming your attacks, but from I played no character could really hit fast enough to do so and if your attack knocks your opponent to the ground they have some brief invulnerability until they get up. The game in its current form is also a bit finicky with lock-on erratically turning on and off, which considering how quickly some of the mechs can move around can be quite frustrating when it makes the camera go wild.

In an element that feels like it’s pulling from a game like Super Smash Bros, there are special weapons that’ll drop during a match that could give you that edge you need. This is where the game’s aesthetic sort of falls apart with many of the weapons just clashing horribly with the giant monster theme. You’ve got some appropriately silly things like giant katanas and hammers, but then there’s your generic shotgun or flamethrower. You would think there’d be weapons inspired by kaiju films like maybe an oxygen destroyer grenade or a gun that shot King Ghidorah’s signature gravity beams. Lots of the weapons need some heavy balance work as well, with a fight for me being basically guaranteed to go in my favor if my opponent picked up something I knew would just hinder them. The game is also severely lacking in one of the most integral elements of the genre: being able to pick up a piece of the environment and chuck it. You’re walking around smashing buildings, but I want to be able to pick one up and hit a guy with it.

Now while the beta was simply relegated to 1v1 online versus and local play, it did tease features for the final release such as a campaign, higher versus player counts, a campaign, a page to customize your mechs (skins) and what might be the most interesting mode: a co-op mode where you and your team each control a specific limb on a mech and have to basically Voltron it up in a fight.

There’s a lot of polish work that needs to be done on the game before its December launch, mainly in regards to monster responsiveness, netcode and the game’s menus, but Override: Mech City Brawl shows that there’s potential for a new (good) mecha game.