Hawken is out now on PS4

I figured this should be it's own thread since Hawken came out on PS4 recently.

I kind of like it. I'm told it's heavily downgraded from the PC version, as you can't actually customize anything about the mechs aside from microtransaction camo and colors. Also the frame rate is something fierce. It's very fluid and reactive but then the frame rate dips and it looks bad.

Also the mech they give you from the PS+ bundle seems to be OP and most of the people I've run into are using it. The rockets can lock on from a pretty decent distance and this mech has an ability that increases damage for a short amount of time. So you kill other mechs, even the big tanky ones, pretty fast.

Not that there's much to spend it on, but you seem to gain currency pretty fast as well. I was a bit worried at how expensive some of the mechs can be, but it seems like you can just buy those after 2 or 3 good games. I think I got like 6k in one game for example. So the money rolls in.

Anyone else check it out? It seems neat aside from the massive downgrade in what you can customize, and also the frame rate.

If you do check it out, I recommend going into the options and pulling the FOV out as far as you can. At the default setting it feels very claustrophobic.

Oh hey I wanted to give this a try. I like robots and I like not paying for stuff when I don't have to.

It's been so many years now, probably should at least try this thing for once.

Could this be the reason the framerate is so bad? If so, that's kind of dumb of the developers. If you don't pull your FOV back, you're going to be at a disadvantage when enemies can see you at the edge of their screen, but you can't see them. If you do pull it back, perhaps that's the thing that's making the framerate so bad.

I think this is why most console games don't allow FOV adjustments, which makes sense. It's nice to have when the game still works, but it's much better to have everyone playing on the same page.

@spaceinsomniac: No idea. But the frame rate was terrible before I changed it too.

I gave it a shot and boy this was not meant to be played on consoles or it's just not ready yet. Pretty bad first experience as I only had time to play one match but I don't really see myself going back for more.

The framerate was probably sub 20FPS for the entire match. I haven't played a game this jittery in a while. The game itself is kinda ehhhh middle of the road. I didn't particularly feel like I was in a mech, it felt more like a slow moving FPS. The arena I fought in was a bunch of corridors with the same "future space plates" texture laid on top of it all which gave off the vibe of fighting in a giant scrapyard. Maybe thats what it was supposed to be.

I dunno, between the framerate being complete trash and the gameplay itself not really being anything to write home about I don't really see myself ever going back to it.

I remember this game being really fantastic when it launched on steam, but everything I've heard about the console version is making me think I'd be better off sticking to the pc version, even if it has fewer players/more cheaters.

Not to mention that since all my mechs don't carry over, I really don't feel like grinding until I get the ones I liked again.

Boy are the EU servers full of russians with little children who leave their mic on the whole match. Also most matches have had un bearable lag on the eu servers. I switched to the us servers and latency wise its been going way better. Actual preformance still isnt too hot though. Sad to hear its stripped down, I've had a lot of fun with it so far besides the issues. That siege mode is pretty cool, digging how effective teamwork seems.

This is one of the complaints a lot of people had with Hawken back when it was first launching on PC. It seems like the way to go if you want a F2P Mech game right now is to hope you have a PC that can run MechWarrior Online.

@sdoots: I think being able to move your torso independently of your movement would go a long way in making it feel like a mech but I also understand thats just not the type of robot game they were making.

I played 4 matches and enjoyed it quite a bit but the frame rate is bad and the game is just ugly as hell. Hopefully it gets patched real soon because I'd like to play more of it. Which is crazy for me to say because I hate most F2P games because you have to grind like hell to get new characters/weapons/etc. In those 4 matches, I was able to get enough money to buy a new mech and I got first place in the 3rd match.

Played this game wayyyy back when it went into open beta and every mech had higher maximum health. Loved that it had more in common with Armored Core in that it was more arcade-y with some elements of customization. Left when I couldn't cope with the health nerf. Came back when I heard it was coming to consoles to see if anything changed for the better. Nief seems pretty broke right now. Theoretically the counter-play is there within the sharpshooter/reaper/scout but right now it's going to steamroll most of the community in CR-Ts/Assaults/Berserkers who just started and have trouble closing the distance. I play the Xbox One version where the Charge exists and it doesn't seem that bad since it has to get close to do its dirty work. The Nief can just sit back and just spam seeker missiles all day at range while occasionally popping its turbo mode ability for MORE MISSILES FASTER.

The most broken mech in the game is the G2-Brawler. They gave it the build where it can get up to 60 health/sec regen between its turret mode with passive regen and the repair orb spawner it has. With 950 health and remaining reasonably fast for a C-class it can just tank all day while approaching its target to blow them up or just use its insane health regen to its advantage and heal tank through damage like a champ.

I'll probably check it out. I didn't play it much when it first came out on PC.

This game needs to either be a lot prettier or run a lot more smoothly. I guess they were having difficulty picking one, so they opted for neither.