Hawken: An upcoming mech-based, multiplayer shooter

The mech genre's been in a bit of a lull lately. Although we have From Software's Armored Core 5 and Double Fine's Trenched on the horizon, I haven't been really exicted to pilot a 50-ton war machine since From's 2008 Armored Core: For Answer. Still, that's in the third-person, fast-paced camp. I haven't stepped into the cockpit and really felt the weight of these bipedal monstrosities since FASA Studio's MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries back in 2002 (now available for free!).

Along comes Hawken from indie-developer Adhesive Games. The reveal trailer above looks reminiscent of Double Helix's Front Mission Evolved (which disappointed on many accounts) with its speed of combat but has much more interesting level design -- even if Hawken appears a lilttle rough around the edges at this point.

And since the game will be a PC release first (the developers hope to eventually port to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360), I'm hoping to see the traditional client/server list from which to join battles. Automatching in Evolved (and in general), for example, is entirely inadequate.

[via DasReviews]

Tags: Front Mission Evolved, Armored Core 5, Trenched, Hawken, Armored Core: For Answer, MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries

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Demian Linn

March 10, 2011

Wow. This looks insane! I can't imagine what kind of rig you'd need to run it and have it look like that, but I can't wait until this is done.

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Jonathan Oyama

This makes me think of those robots in the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, based on how fast they move. I'm still waiting for the day when someone makes a robot that looks like Eva-01 and can rip apart other robots with its hands.

That's probably never going to happen. Still, I'd like to play as robots that run like humans. This one looks promising.

Rob Savillo

It's built with UDK, so I don't think it will stress systems too much. But the level of detail is just incredible.

Dan "Shoe" Hsu

I'm not a huge mech guy/fan, but I can get behind this art style. I could probably just sit there and watch someone play for hours.

I agree, Dan. I read an observation elsewhere that the style reflects Ghost in the Shell. I think the comparison is apt.

Nick Nordstrom

I like the music. I'm not a big fan of mech games -- I think the last game in which I played as a giant robot was Zone of the Enders -- but this looks cool.