Paradoxically, it would appear that Kinect's mantra "you are the controller" works best with the subtitle "and it's a really big, complicated one". Our first extended play session with From Software's mech shooter reveals that it's just as ludicrously overdone as the original Steel Battalion, but replaces that game's famously elaborate £200 interface with a more forgiving, but no less detailed, motion-controlled alternative.
Like Mass Effect 3, it mixes Kinect and normal controls to far more interesting effect than relying solely on either. The basics of moving and shooting are mapped on to the controller. Everything else is done by flailing around in the cab view. There are buttons to press, levers to pull and chains to yank, and swiping from side to side reveals a three-man team who you've got to motivate through the power of waving.
The beach itself isn't massive, but the mech is so confining that you don't have the chance to feel hemmed in by the environment. You've got to hook your Xbox controller forward to switch between peering through the visor and firing or sitting back in the cab to reach your buddies or the controls. The former is fine for basic firing (until the glass is obscured by blood and damage) but the latter is essential for adjusting speed, venting smoke from the cabin and accessing the periscope for long-range attacks - all accessed using Kinect-powered levers.
It's also where you'll need to be for distinctly hands-on team building. We already knew that scared team-mates would try to escape, but we didn't expect the consequences to be so strong. We managed to haul our gunner down and issue a few inexplicably morale-boosting punches to the face - but were delighted to discover that if you don't do it in time, they'll be cut in half by incoming fire and all you'll pull back are the legs. Which then sit in the cab with you as you struggle with greatly reduced weapon-reload times.
Even those who stay inside are at risk, and can only be saved by your mighty power of gesticulation. Holes can be blown in the side of the mech which leave them open to enemy fire - at one point an enemy reached in and attempted to shoot the navigator, requiring us to slay him pew-pew style with an automatically-drawn pistol - and if you dawdle then people will toss grenades through the hatch which must be thrown back.
Its lasting appeal will owe much to the variety of the missions. One city-set run simply used the buildings as an excuse for unexciting corridor shooting; the desert march culminated in an attack on an oasis that felt much more open. We're hoping for more of the latter, or you'll feel less like pilot of a mighty war machine and more like someone playing CoD as designed by Rosemary Conley. The other concern is how well it can reproduce the cramped camaraderie of sharing a tin box with three men without tipping over into genuine cabin fever. Regardless, it's clear that Heavy Armor is a grand and glorious oddity in the proud tradition of the original, and the Kinect game we're most looking forward to this year.
The Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor demo is now available. Let us know your thoughts.
1 comments so far...
sonicmark on 24 May '12 said:
From the initial trailers, it looked rather spectacular, but it worries me that the finished product will be rather watered down or too frustrating for gamers.