It has been a little while since I attempted to play a tower defence style game, and being a big fan of Pacific Rim, I was all onboard as soon as I saw the latest from Doble Punch Games and JanduSoft. Mechs V Kaijus promises to bring exactly the action that is shown on the tin.
With us being the last line of defence between the ravening hordes of Kaiju and the soft and squishy civilian population, can we turn the tide? Can we survive, and more importantly, can the world? Well, there’s only one way to find out – FIGHT!
The narrative found in Mechs V Kaijus is pretty simple, and extremely familiar if you have watched the aforementioned movie. Kaiju have appeared on the surface of the earth, the regular military are powerless, and so it falls to us, in our big stompy mech suits, to man the wall and stem the flood of monsters. Luckily, we seem to be working on a piece rate when it comes to murdering monsters, as every kaiju we kill gives us money. This money can then buy extra fortifications and help us kill faster, earning more money and so on and so forth. Anyways, it is a simple story – stay alive, and make the Kaiju not alive.
Presentation of the game is very well done, actually. The graphics are almost pixel art in style, and the design of not only the mechs we use, but the Kaiju themselves and the defences we can deploy are all excellent. The levels are presented in a side-on format, with the wall we need to protect on the left, some no-mans land where we can build defences, and then finally the Kaiju approaching from the right. The monsters are a varied bunch, from tiny little worm like things, through annoying flying bugs to giant armoured spiders, to finally the Titans of the game, which take a serious amount of firepower to put down. And complementing that is the sound – the explosions of gunfire and squealing of Kaiju are all good to listen to. All in all, there is nothing to complain about here.
How about the gameplay though, is it a different story there? Well, at risk of minor spoilers, nope. In fact, everything is rosy in the garden here too.
The gameplay has a simple loop, as outlined above, but the way that Mechs V Kaijus plays out gives that magical “Just one more go” appeal; and it brings that in spades. Obviously, the way that the game works is classic tower defence, and if you’ve played one before, you’ll know what to expect.
Mechs V Kaijus allows you to build in a Defense Menu as it is called, and this basically slows down time as you choose what defences to place where. As you leave that element of the game, the shields and towers you selected slam into place instantly, and this keeps the pace high, as no pesky building time is required. There is a massive selection of things that you can research to add to the battlefield, but as we begin, we are limited to walls. These walls can be placed and upgraded as we earn money by killing Kaiju, and a strong defence is vital if we are to keep the Kaiju away.
But a little bit of helpful advice if I may. You see, I did my usual with this kind of game, and just jumped straight in. While I won the first couple of missions, I got battered on the third. Turns out that playing the tutorial is a really good idea, as I discovered that not only can you take one of the mechs under your control, but you can also get off the wall and go for a stomp about.
Finding out that it’s possible to shoot Kaiju directly, instead of relying on the defences is a game changer. So much so that Mechs V Kaijus opens up from that point.
And open up it really does. After every mission, we are awarded research points and currency, and these can be spent in the hub to make us better, stronger and faster. Well, maybe not the last one. We can research new weapons and defences, allowing us to place such delights as grinders and air defence towers on the battlefield (the air defence is a godsend, as the little flying bugs bypass your walls and attack the base directly). All of these new additions can also be upgraded, and a bank of fully upgraded grinders is a formidable barrier to any Kaiju who dares get near. In addition, we can also spend money to upgrade our mechs, giving them extra ammo, more firepower and better armour to make shooting Kaiju even more fun.
There are a good amount of levels to go at, and best of all, each level has three different modes to try. They also have three difficulty levels in place as well. Taking an early level, Placid Lake, as an example, we can do the story mission, then enjoy an onslaught type mission where there are more Kaiju than usual, and finally have the chance to take on a Titan Kaiju, in addition to all its mates. The latter is a real challenge on “easy” mode, and nigh on impossible if you ramp things up. The difficulty as a whole builds pretty quickly, and I have found myself playing the earlier levels again and again in order to grind out the necessary resources to get better gear.
Grinding isn’t a problem though, especially not when Mechs V Kaijus is so much fun and the end results are awesome. It’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed a tower defence game this much whilst the addition of some shoot ‘em up elements feels like a delicious icing on an already delicious cake. The armies of Kaiju get huge, and with the defences we build throwing bullets and missiles everywhere, the game stays rock solid throughout; never glitching or slowing down.
All in all, if you want to play a tower defence style game, Mechs V Kaijus is one of the best for a while. It is hard – there are no two ways about it – but upgrading things and continuing the fight works extremely well.
