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MechAssault 2 has been improved in pretty much every way over the original and the result is a game that is as fun playing by yourself as it is when you play online. Multiplayer is still the focus, but the single player campaign is also very well done. MechAssault 2 is a well rounded package that fans of the original or gamers looking for a new shooter fix will really enjoy.

MechAssault Basics

The basic premise behind the MechAssault games is that you are the pilot of a hulking mech that is bristling with weapons and it is up to you to blow up pretty much anything and everything you see.

The gameplay is similar to other third-person shooters, but MechAssault is cooler because it has giant robots. There are a bunch of different mechs in several sizes and weapon loadouts and some of them have unique abilities such as jump jets or special shields. Weapons include energy blasts and rockets among other things and you can also collect power ups that upgrade your weapons. In addition to blowing up enemy mechs and tanks, you can take out all of the buildings in the game as well as a lot of the natural terrain. Basically, you cruise around in your pimped out mech and blow stuff up. That is a pretty simple description, but that is why the MechAssault games are successful: They are fast and simple and fun.

New Stuff

Some new features make their debut in MechAssault 2 and they really kick the gameplay up a notch. The biggest change is that you can now get out of your mech and get into a different one. In the original you simply picked a mech and had to stick with it. Not anymore. There is also a tank and a plane you can pilot if you want.

Another big change is the addition of the battle armor. The battle armor is human-sized and not very heavily armed, but it has the ability to hijack other mechs. You simply grab onto an enemy mech and a hacking sequence starts where you press buttons that flash onscreen and if you are successful the enemy pilot is ejected and the mech crumples to the ground. You can then exit your battle armor and jump into the fallen mech and be on your way in some considerably more powerful hardware. These new additions to the gameplay make MA2 bigger and more interesting than the original and were definitely the right direction to go in.

Single Player

The single player campaign in MechAssault 2 follows the adventures of your character, the MechWarrior, as he travels around the galaxy fighting evildoers and righting wrongs using the galvanized fist of his mech. You and your companions (because even tough guys in giant metal suits need friends) eventually come across a powerful data core and are thrust into a conflict with a cult known as the Word of Blake.

You travel to a handful of different planets as you track down the data cores and you get to pilot a bunch of different mechs in a lot of different environments. Even though you are still doing basically the same thing as in the original MechAssault, which is traveling from point A to point B and destroying everything in your path, the single player game is bigger and more fun simply because you have more to do. Being able to swap mechs when yours is getting low on health or driving a tank or plane add an extra layer of depth to the game that is a lot of fun. The game also does a good job of building up conflicts with enemy mechs and the bosses and it gives the game an epic feel that you can't help but get caught up in. This is a huge improvement over the original and almost worth the price of admission on its own.

Multiplayer

Single player is great, but the real attraction in MechAssault 2 is the multiplayer modes. You can play multiplayer in splitscreen, system link, and on Xbox Live with up to 12 people and the experience ranks right up there among the best multiplayer shooters on the Xbox. You can play standard deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, last man standing, last team standing, not it (where only one player can score and the other players try to kill them to become "it"), check it (capture and defend checkpoints), snatch it (where you find specific items and take them to your base), and a base war mode where you defend your generator against attack. The game plays very smoothly online and lag isn't much of an issue.

You can also play a co-op mode offline called grinder where you and a friend go up against a never ending stream of enemies and you have to see how long you can last. You have a bunch of mechs available to use and you can switch whenever you want. It is fun, no denying that, but a real co-op mode following the single-player campaign would have been sweet. It isn't a huge issue, but it is something to add to the wishlist for MechAssault 3.