Mechstermination Force

Genre: Action-Platformer

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Mechstermination Force is an Action-Platformer released on Nintendo Switch in 2019, later being ported to other platforms. This is a game that combines the massive volleys of gunfire you would find in a game like Contra with the giant monstrous enemies of something like Shadow of the Colossus, all in one big boss rush where each massive mech you fight is like one big level unto itself.

Graphically, there’s nothing special going on here beyond the inventive and elaborate designs of the giant mechs themselves, which are quite creative and usually consist of many different individual components. Beyond this, the game uses 3D visuals with a bright, colorful aesthetic, energetic but forgettable music, and cartoony laser and explosion noises (as well as your chosen hero’s grunts when hit, which you’ll be hearing a lot.

When it comes to the gameplay, there are parts of this game I really like, and parts that I really don’t. On the plus side, the “boss rush” nature of this game is really well done, with each of the battles a multi-step process that involves a different sort of strategy, and so much creativity went into each of these levels.

On the other hand, this game is extraordinarily difficult, and I feel like a large part of that difficulty is the player’s character being sluggish and the controls being slow to respond to actions. In a game with a high level of difficulty, you really need the controls and movement to be absolutely precise, and they simply aren’t here, and I died countless times because my character responded far more slowly than I did. Later on, a new wall grab move added to this frustration, as the game seemed to be really selective about when it would actually work properly.

In the end, I absolutely love some of the ideas present in Mechstermination Force, and would have loved to see this game get more time put into its controls and movement to ensure that players could fight the high difficulty they faced with precision and pure skill. Sadly, far too often this isn’t the case, and the result is frustration.

tl;dr – Mechstermination Force is an Action-Platformer that has players fighting one giant hulking mech after another like one big boss rush mode, and where each of those bosses is a level unto itself. It’s a wonderful concept, but it’s hobbled by a combination of a high difficulty level and sluggish and at times unresponsive controls.

Grade: C+

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