Now this was a game that came out of nowhere. Mechstermination Force is the newest game from indie developer Bertil Hörberg, creator of Gunman Clive (one of the best games of the 3ds/WiiU and also on Switch), and his studio Hörberg Productions. In Mechstermination Force our objective is simple, destroy the mechs that treaten to destroy humankind and I must say that the game is super fun.
Mechstermination Force is a boss rush kind of game where instead of running through a stage full of enemies, you start with the main course from the get go. I must say that I was impressed with the level of detail in each boss fight, especially the first one I laughed when all of my comrades died before getting to the first mech ( It actually made me remember the spot the main character meme),.
I feel that the way the gameplay is set about hitting a especific spot to destroy the Mech is a really good design choice. For example you can shoot and damage certain points and doing so will not damage the Mech itself (but it grants you cash), but it allows a change in the attack pattern of the Mech. This makes it easier to get to the red glowing point and here is where the gameplay changes since the red point is immune to weapon damage. You can shoot all you want at it and nothing is going to happen, so this is where the melee attack enters the fray. The melee attack is the only way to damage those red cores and after hitting that core you are pushed away by the mech and must work your way back to hit the core.
Depending on the character you chose, the weapon can change. Some are interesting like a huge baseball bat or a massive wrench, and you can see that some of the humor seen in Gunman Clive is here. I really like this change of pace since its not just mindlessly shooting the mech until it blows up. Instead you need to work for that victory and try to analize the paterns each mech has, and ultimately destroy the menace.
There are Fourteen Mechs to destroy and I like how varied they feel. For instance, the Centipede like Mech or the one that you fight while climbing a building. They are really fun and pose a good challenge with them being hard but fair to go against. The controls are well don as expected from Gunman Clive’s creator and each action and movement feels solid. While I was not a fan of holding down a button to crouch, after getting used to it I was blowing up mech pieces here and there.
On your base of operations, there are several things to do. For instance. you can go to the shop and get some of the shop keeper’s personal stash to help you out in your battle. These include purchasable health upgrades, and weapons and this is something to keep in mind while blasting Mechs. There is also the Virtual Training Centre X2, which is an Arcade machine that you can go to and replay previous battles in order to earn cash. Depending on how fast you beat them, you can get a star rating up to three.
I like how the game looks and plays, and how the NPC’s who interact with you usually have some fun things to say. Its nice that they are not just there for show, with some even telling you how they got injured and how they are “sorry” they are not able to help you.
The four characters to choose from play and feel the same, albeit with some variations on weapons used on melee attacks, but they are fun to use nonetheless. A neat bonus was that if you own the Gunman Clive HD collection you can play as Clive. Playing in co-op mode is twice as fun and it made me remember the good old day playing Contra with a friend of mine. The music is also good so you might guess that I recommend this game.
Bottom Line Mechstermination Force is a fun boss rush game, I honestly had high expectations because of Gunman Clive, and I was not disappointed. I cannot recommend the game enough, as its fun and offers tons to do.
A Review Code was provided for this review.