Quick Look: Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor

The writing in this game is terrible.

This should be the next Breaking Brad.

Kinect is an amazing bit of kit, the only problem with it is, there's no game developer out there that knows what to do with it

DIAMOND CUTTER!

Another negative Quick Look, you don't even need to watch, Brad lays it out in his first sentence for us. Fantastic.

Hey, guys....this is a Kinect Game. You go into a Kinect Game knowing this fact....a person wouldn't purchase this unless they actually wanted to use the janky mutant gadget called Kinect. So you can't be negative about the fact it uses Kinect, it says right on the front Kinect Game....

So that out of the way....Brad admits that after practice, he actually got better at it, and it wasn't so bad now. Oh really? You mean you had to get good at the video-game, and as a result it played better? Outstanding. So if you don't play like shit, get good at the game, it plays well. Got it.

Everything seemed fine, it looked and played like your typical Kinect game. It seemed they tried to be pretty innovative with the hand gestures and what exactly you could control with it. I can imagine once you "get good" at it, it would be, at least, a decent kinect mech game to keep you busy a few hours.

I hate kinect, so I certainly wouldn't go near it. But if Kinect is your kinda thing....and you like Mechs....this doesn't seem like complete garbage.

@Chris2KLee: SELF HIGH FIVE.

@FreedomTown said:

Another negative Quick Look, you don't even need to watch, Brad lays it out in his first sentence for us. Fantastic.

Hey, guys....this is a Kinect Game. You go into a Kinect Game knowing this fact....a person wouldn't purchase this unless they actually wanted to use the janky mutant gadget called Kinect. So you can't be negative about the fact it uses Kinect, it says right on the front Kinect Game....

So that out of the way....Brad admits that after practice, he actually got better at it, and it wasn't so bad now. Oh really? You mean you had to get good at the video-game, and as a result it played better? Outstanding. So if you don't play like shit, get good at the game, it plays well. Got it.

Everything seemed fine, it looked and played like your typical Kinect game. It seemed they tried to be pretty innovative with the hand gestures and what exactly you could control with it. I can imagine once you "get good" at it, it would be, at least, a decent kinect mech game to keep you busy a few hours.

I hate kinect, so I certainly wouldn't go near it. But if Kinect is your kinda thing....and you like Mechs....this doesn't seem like complete garbage.

Exactly, it plays well for him after all this practice, see?

@thomasonfa: Im think@thomasonfa said:

It seemed like a good idea at the time. I will get this game on a price drop just because I agree with the princlple of the game.

I know right! ugh this could have been so AWESOME....... dammit

@FreedomTown said:

So that out of the way....Brad admits that after practice, he actually got better at it, and it wasn't so bad now. Oh really? You mean you had to get good at the video-game, and as a result it played better? Outstanding. So if you don't play like shit, get good at the game, it plays well. Got it.

There's a pretty significant difference between practicing game mechanics and "practicing" using a controller with loose analog sticks and buttons that stick, which as far as I can tell is a better metaphor for this game then "don't play like shit"

@BPRJCTX said:

@Irishranger said:

People can defend Kinect until the end of time, that's their prerogative.

Personally, my facts are this: this was the game that was going to convince me to get a Kinect if it was well done.

Seeing this, Kinect is officially off my radar. I'll never buy one or think about it again.

To top it off, I agree with an earlier poster, I too would have gotten this game if it had been controller only.

If you wanted to get one, you probably still will...

Will it be a Kinect or Kinect 2?

Probably a Kinect 2 since it should do what this one was aiming to do, and hopefully go a little beyond just that.

Ummm....no...I won't. Please don't put words in my mouth. My disgust goes beyond Kinect and into motion controls in general. In my opinion they have been a failed experiment that have had billions of dollars poured into their development. Dollars that could have been sent in another direction.

What that direction could have been, I don't know, but it could have progressed the industry much more substantially than forcing us to wave our arms around to do less interactive things than we've been doing for the past thirty years.

Moving on...

Ummm....no...I won't. Please don't put words in my mouth. My disgust goes beyond Kinect and into motion controls in general. In my opinion they have been a failed experiment that have had billions of dollars poured into their development. Dollars that could have been sent in another direction.

What that direction could have been, I don't know, but it could have progressed the industry much more substantially than forcing us to wave our arms around to do less interactive things than we've been doing for the past thirty years.

Moving on...

I trust Brad's opinion, but for some reason, after watching this, I want to play it.

A.) Steel Battalion was probably not the franchise to make Kinect more hardcore-friendly with. Controls aside, I don't think those two (or most gamers) would get excited about punishingly detailed mech simulation. Steel Battalion is kinda the Arma of mech games.

B.) This quicklook features a lot of Brad decision making. I can't think of a mech game out there where standing stock still or blindly charging an artillery-spewing brickhouse of a walking tank *wouldn't* result in untimely death. The controls look super-frustrating, and the situation looks hectic, but left on the thumbstick strafes you left. Use it!

Why is there not an overlay of Brad in the corner? Does the new office not have space for such a thing?

Edit: Ah, he appeared. I was thinking greenscreened, but whatever.

@Vortextk said:

@Irishranger said:

Ummm....no...I won't. Please don't put words in my mouth. My disgust goes beyond Kinect and into motion controls in general. In my opinion they have been a failed experiment that have had billions of dollars poured into their development. Dollars that could have been sent in another direction.

What that direction could have been, I don't know, but it could have progressed the industry much more substantially than forcing us to wave our arms around to do less interactive things than we've been doing for the past thirty years.

Moving on...

Blah blah blah, learn more from mistakes than failures, and I'm not joking about this. People just invented the playstation 3 and xbox 360 out of mid air, no early technological advancements over 30 years or anything like that. Everything comes out perfect the first time it was ever done, always. Game is shit, hardware is questionable at the moment, atari looks like shit to me too though...so...?

And as we all know, the best way to insert yourself into a discussion is through condescension, so good job on that front.

You're still missing my point though, I don't care if the hardware or software gets better through future iterations, I just don't think motion controls are the future of gaming, or have any place in gaming. They are a gimmick just like 3D and virtual reality and when a half-assed piece of technology like Kinect sells 15 million units, it tells CEOs that we as gamers will buy anything. That upsets me.

I am one of the people who criticize creativity because they want it to get better, and the Kinect and Move are two perfect examples of how creativity is being stifled in this industry. They are nothing but "me-too" products hoping to capitalize on the Wii's semi-success. In the meantime, some young ingenue could be sitting in the bowels of Microsoft or Sony having already thought of the next mind-blowing leap in gaming interaction, but can't get any of the executives to listen to his idea because it ostensibly "won't make as much money as the Wii."

But now I'm getting into the business world of gaming, which is a whole other mess.

Nice talking to you.

@Irishranger: I can't agree more !

Man. The dialogue in this game is awful.

Yet another release proving the old anthem that looks aren't everything! I would stick to EarthSiege, Mechwarrior 2 & 3, and also Spectre VR! LOL

One of the top disappointments of the year.

Rerelease this in VR you cowards.