There are two schools of giant robot games. There’s the kind where you’re a giant, plodding hulk, relentlessly walking forward and smashing everything in your path. (Go read my Mechwarrior 5 review for that! SELF PROMOTION!). DAEMON X MACHINA comes from the second school, where driving a giant robot is all about kickflipping off buildings while wailing on your electric guitar and shooting at least 18 different kinds of guns while feeling bad about your dead father.
DAEMON x MACHINA
Developer: Marvelous Inc.
Price: $60 USD
Platform: PC (reviewed), Nintendo Switch
MonsterVine was supplied with Steam code for review
Spencer doesn’t let me talk about anime because that’s his beat, but it’s pretty anime. In fact, think of it kind of like an Anime Warframe if you want to get your head around the combat and the use of space. Your mech–yeah it has its own actual name, it’s a giant robot, it’s a mech, come at me FASA–has jet thrusters that send it soaring through the air or sliding in every direction across the ground like you’re skateboarding while dishing out fire from assault rifles or swinging your katana. (Of course you have a katana). Enemy tanks and gun turrets lurk on the ground while enemy flyers and mechs circle the skies. The bosses are Shadow of the Colossus huge. There’s a great use of vertical space. Jumping off buildings, throwing light posts and vehicles, and otherwise going hog wild make very good use of the Unreal Engine.
Character creation is pleasingly detailed. I made a dude with sunburn-red skin with a handlebar mustache, a bright pink Elvis pompadour, and black lipstick. Five out of five character creator. I named my new son Beavis.
Beavis is a mercenary, blah blah blah, something something, somehow mercenaries keep world peace by Reclaiming…honestly, look, this is one of those games where the story tries to seem important but I tuned out because there were too many words. You’re clearly supposed to care and the legion of mercenaries you will be meeting run the gamut from HONORABLE SAMURAI to bouncy girl to goth girl obsessed with death to cheerful guy to seasoned veteran and they all want to give exposition.
The game also desperately wants you to watch cutscenes even when you’re just trying to ollie off a building. Fortunately, the voice acting is pretty decent and the writing isn’t too bad. Most other mercenaries are happy to have you around, which seems weird. You’d think the competition would be more intense.
It’s also a very simple game. DAEMON X MACHINA knows what it’s about. You get a briefing, you go do a mission, you get money and loot, you maybe unlock something in the base. That’s it. That’s the whole game. Whether that’s bad or not is up to you. The missions are all pretty much the same. There’s no space opera-esque sweeping story that engrosses you. You fly a giant fighting robot. That’s what you do.
Fortunately, the combat is a lot of fun. I’m one of those PC dorks but this game is best enjoyed in front of a giant TV with the sound cranked up and the neighbors complaining. It feels like an arcade game. On that note, while theoretically possible to navigate with keyboard and mouse, you’re going to want a gamepad. The menus don’t seem to register the mouse, leaving you to navigate with keyboard shortcuts. Or buy a gamepad.
As for the loot, customization and tweaking your loadout is a surprisingly big part of an otherwise chill game. You can carry a ton of different weapons, from swords and shields to giant bazookas. While you can pick up gear in the missions, you can also grab objects and vehicles to use as impromptu weapons. So you can use A STEEL CHAIR OH MY GOD DO YOU BELIEVE THAT but it’s a Buick. And if you pick a less than ideal loadout, you can usually improvise your way through the mission with what you pick up and the occasional flying Buick. Most importantly, you can give your mech a garish color scheme, unlock decals and paint patterns, and otherwise make it match your particular terrible aesthetic.
The downsides: The mission areas aren’t that big and a lot of times you feel like you’re just getting going then…oh, it’s over. The HUD is a goddamn nightmare. You do get a tutorial on the very basics but there’s 10,000 indicators and displays and none of them are really intuitive. I still don’t know what half the symbols mean.
There’s multiplayer where you can do co-op, versus, and ranked play. The “ongoing play” element/gimmick is Exploration Missions, where you and other players explore a maze-like underground facility. Fight and beat the bosses and you’ll win cool loot that varies randomly. As expected, your experience depends on who you pair up (or get stuck) with. It would be a lot of fun with friends that knew what they were doing, but I don’t have friends. SO. ALONE.
This is a fine game, the kind of thing that gets overlooked in major release season. It’s not a world-beating AAA release, but it’s got giant robots shooting guns, decent customization, a fun anime style, and giant robots shooting guns. I focus on the important parts.
The Final Word
Arcade-style giant fighting robot action overcomes repetitive missions and a sometimes-nightmarish HUD.
– MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good
