AirMech

Overview

AirMech is a free-to-play real-time strategy action game from Carbon Games, heavily inspired by the Genesis classic Herzog Zwei. It debuted as a multiplatform app in Google's Chrome App Store in April 2012. It was later made available for Steam, first through inclusion in two Indie Royale bundles in May and June of 2012. Then beta access became available to purchasers of the AirMech Beta Bundle through Steam. As Steam's Early Access program was launched, Airmech became part of that program, the game is currently available for free with microtransactions, and an optional AirMech Prime purchase that'll unlock all the AirMech classes in the game.

Gameplay

In the game, players have direct control over a flying craft that can turn into a robot. When in jet form, units (such as tanks, bikes, soldiers, and so on) can be picked up and flown around the battlefield. Soldier units appear as MOBA-style creeps out of the players main base and make a beeline for the nearest neutral or enemy-controlled facility. Taking over other buildings on the battlefield (by having the soldiers enter the stations) gives you a forward spawn point for units as well as a place to heal your robojet. The end goal in the main mode is to push your enemies off the map by taking over their main position.

Some items can be purchased with in-game currency (known as "kudos") or diamonds, which are acquired via microtransaction purchases. Customizable options include additional units, bonuses that help you earn kudos or experience points more quickly, cosmetic skins for your main unit, and pilots that confer various postive and negative traits, such as faster build speeds or slowly movement. Some items are deliberately overpowered and can only be used when playing against AI opposition.

Loadouts

Before beginning a game players must select an AirMech, a Pilot, an Item, and eight units to bring with them into the match. These eight units are the only units the player will be able to produce for that round. Eight basic units are provided by default, with many more available to purchase with either kudos or diamonds.

More units are expected to be added to the game as it grows, though all will have trade-offs to maintain balance. The idea is that gaining access to new units gives you different units than other players, not necessarily better units. For instance, a more powerful version of the stock Longhorn tank, the Goliath, has better stats all around but costs more money in-game and takes longer to build.

Quests

A number of quests are available, and their progress is kept automatically. These include killing a certain number of units in one match or being on the winning side of an online match. These quests must be redeemed by going to the quests page as you finish each one.

Game Modes

There are several modes, most of which allow up to 3 players on a team (for up to 6 human players in an online PvP match).

PvP

This mode pits human players against each other in teams of 1, 2, or 3 on any of the maps. The goal of this mode is to destroy the other team's fortress while defending your own. Outposts, creeps, and manually built units are all found in this mode. This is how most matches are structured.

If a player drops out mid-game, the AI takes control of their AirMech. Both kudos and experience can be gained by both the winners and losers.

COOP

This mode is similar to PvP, except that all human players play on one team, and AI opponents populate the other team. Again, kudos and experience can be gained in this mode.

Solo

A solo match is an offline mode that pits the player with up to two AI teammates against up to three AI opponents. The teams do not necessarily have to be even in this mode. The rest of the match plays out the same as the PvP mode.

Kudos and experience can only be gained in this mode for the first 90 minutes of play each day. After 90 minutes of in-game time (spent actually playing a match) the player will no longer gain experience or kudos. Note that online matches such as PvP award kudos and experience for an indefinite amount of game time.

Warzone

In this mode, the player is placed on a custom survival-style map. Creeps will begin to spawn at the edges of the maps and attempt to destroy your structures in larger and larger waves. The player's goal is usually to hold out as long as possible, earning more kudos and experience the longer they last. The creeps here can be different from the creeps in the other modes. In normal matches, creeps consist only of soldier units, and all other units have to be built and given orders by the player. Here, the creeps run the full gamut of available units.

Like Solo play, kudos and experience can only be gained in this mode for the first 6 hours of play each day.

Challenge

In this final mode, hand-designed challenges await the player and his or her companions. These are described as being more like puzzles than tests of brute skill with your AirMech.

Microtransactions

AirMech follows a free-to-play model. It can be found for free on the Chrome App store currently with a default set of units enabled. There are three types of currency that can be used to unlock new units, pilots, AirMechs, and items. In addition these all require the player to reach a certain level by gaining experience, which can only be obtained by playing the game.

Kudos

Kudos are earned in-game based on whether your team won or not, how long the match lasted, what mode you were playing, etc. These can be accumulated indefinitely (assuming you are playing online, see above) and exchanged for the lion's share of the units, pilots, items and mechs availabe. A few things cannot be purchased with kudos. They include custom skins and enhanced version of units whose base version is available for purchase with kudos.

Note that as of this writing individual PvP games net around 100-300 kudos and take about 15-20 minutes to play. Most things go for almost 3,000 kudos, so this is a fairly grind-intensive way to unlock new units.

Diamonds

Diamonds are purchased with cash and can be redeemed for units, AirMechs, pilots, items or even boosts in the amount of experience or kudos gained each round. They can be purchased in a variety of amounts and follow the familiar model for such in-game currencies.

Buying diamonds grants you VIP status for a set period of time. This VIP status increases the amount of kudos you gain by 50%.

Cash

After receiving feedback from the community, the developers admitted they only implemented the diamonds system because that was how every other free-to-play model out there did it. They then acquiesced to the fans and added a direct "purchase with cash" option for things that would otherwise only have a diamonds option. These payments are made individually, so diamonds remain as a way to have a set of funds in-game with which to purchase multiple things without having to navigate multiple transactions. Diamonds also offer discounts when bought in bulk.

Soundtrack

AirMech's soundtrack was composed by the influential EBM band Front Line Assembly. The music was released separately on CD and as download, and included an promotional code for unlocking the band members as playable characters and a new skin for the A-10 Warthog mech.

PC System Requirements

Minimum:

• OS:Windows XP
• Processor:Pentium 4
• Memory:2 GB RAM
• Graphics:8800 GT
• DirectX®:9.0c
• Hard Drive:100 MB HD space
• Sound:Yes
• Other Requirements:Broadband Internet connection
• Additional:System specs are temporary, gathering more data.

Recommended:

• OS:Windows 7
• Processor:Core 2 Duo
• Memory:4 GB RAM
• Graphics:8800 GT
• DirectX®:9.0c
• Hard Drive:200 MB HD space
• Sound:Yes
• Other Requirements:Broadband Internet connection
• Additional:System specs are temporary, gathering more data.