Welcome to my review for Hawken
Developed by: Reloaded Games
Published by: 505 Games
Release Date: 1st July 2016
Price: Free to Play
With Hawken being released at the start of the month many of you are asking the question is it really worth the download and time to play? Seeing as it's a free game many adopt the concept 'If its free why not download it, free gamerscore and free game to play'. However there is more to it than you think, Hawken is a mech based game relying solely on the weapons, type of mech and maneuvering around the maps.
The objective of the game is simply based on the game modes you play from simple death matches to controlling certain points to build up your points to victory. However the game modes offered are not very varied and offer little in challenging matches. Working as a team is key and varying your mech to support each other is important to winning matches, where I found most the matches I won were from the annihilation of the opposition because they were split up and weaker alone.
Then we have the performance of the game itself, it runs really well with matches being fast paced and action packed, however being focused with online features only there are the odd occasions when some players look like they are not moving when in fact their connection is so weak they are unable to do anything until their connection returns and when you try and hit them it just goes straight through them. The downside are the servers are quite bad at times and that all games even bot games are run through a server making this game impossible to be played offline.
Graphics: At first glance and at a distance the worlds feel real and looks real, however when looking closer the snow looks pixilated, the metal layered to look real and most of the ground feels painted on rather than a effectively textured world. These little things always get overlooked on such games due to so much happening at once nobody has time to take in the smaller details.
Music/FX: Music is intense and make the whole experience of mech warfare feel real, with the effects being on point and making the whole experience of gunfire past your mech or bouncing off the chassis feel ever so real. Also each level has its own unique effects making each level unique and mysterious at the start of the match, but gets overlooked once the carnage begins.
Gameplay: Fast paced dangerous and fun it offers a destructive game of mech v mech and gives you the chance to fight it out in a heap of metal and pile of lead. Maps are very large and can be easy to get lost on them even a 6v6 seems too little for these maps and feel the maps are too big for the game. I do not enjoy playing the game at all and see it as more of a chore to complete it. If you are looking for a bit of mech battling at entry level this is the game for you, however if you looking for a full decent game I would suggest looking elsewhere.
Longevity: There isn't much content on the game to make this game very long with only training and multiplayer games being the only games you can play. The game modes are team deathmatch, co-op team deathmatch, siege, deathmatch, missile assult and co-op bot destruction. You also have the option to explore the maps on your own and work out your strategies if you so wish. In my opinion this game misses two important features campaign and challenge mode as like titanfall many complained that there was no campaign available and how it was only online games.
Achievements: The achievements are not very imaginative with very little being put into them, they are easy to complete and can be done with a friend with no need to play in a busy server. In my opinion I would use this as a quick 1000g and be done with it.
Overall: I feel this game offers very little for enjoyment and wouldn't be of much worth to many people despite it being free. If you are looking 100% the achievements on this game, I recommend having a friend and doing on an empty server making it easy and quicker to get it out of the way. The game feels incomplete and glad it's free as it would be terrible as a paid game. The team behind this obviously had no fresh ideas to bring, so used titanfalls concept to make a machine game that offers very little to the gamer.
I have awarded Hawken 2.5 stars as it is an okay multiplayer first person shooter that lacks imagination and has awful servers.
2.5