Looking for a mech combat game to play while waiting for Titanfall 2? Hawken will be available for PS4 as soon as next week, and it seems like it could be fun.

But is it pay-to-win? Wikipedia had this to say:

Hawken generates revenue from in-game purchases using credits that have been purchased by the player. These credits can be purchased in packages, ranging from $5 to $100. Once purchased, the player can spend these credits to unlock weapons or items early, to apply XP or HC (Hawken credits) boosters which doubles the amount generated, or can be used to unlock in-game cosmetics, and avatars.

The game avoids the "pay-to-win" scenario by implementing a "pay-to-not-grind" type system, and balance that favours and relies more on player skill instead of game mechanics. The only aspect of the game that cannot be unlocked without paying money are the cosmetics—i.e. player avatars and mech appearances. In addition, it's not necessarily needed to unlock all items and weapons to excel in the game; player skill and previous experience in FPS games are largely responsible for winning. Positioning, team strategy, timing, aim, and implementing a forward-thinking approach are crucial for surviving and defeating the enemy.

Sounds alright to me. For those who have played the PC game lately, what should new players expect?

I think it's a pretty solid mech shooter, unlike stuff like MechWarrior Online it's not particularly sim-like, I guess the titans in Titanfall are a decent comparison, as there's a similar thing with boosting and abilities going on. I've enjoyed my time with the PC version over the years.

Let's hope it sees some success on PS4, this game is essentially dead on PC and has been for awhile.

This looked all right back in the day. I'll at least give it a download. Still holding out hope Marvel Heroes or whatever it was called makes its way to consoles too.

I'll give it a shot assuming Blood and Wine and Zero Time Dilemma don't melt all my time and memories of this thread, thanks for making it either way.

I'll try it I like mechs.

Sweet. Been interested in this game in the past, glad to be able to check it out now.

I find it fascinating how that game even Free to Play on PC never got an audience. It not a bad game, it actually plays more like a twitch based shooter then Mech Warrior. The cosmetic items and different mech drops and buy items never really did click with gamers. I hope it finds a new life with PS4 audience.

I take offense to that.

I had a lot of fun playing Hawken in beta but I never played when the game was released. I think it does mech combat really well and I enjoyed that aspect of it more than Titanfall. In Hawken the different mech types actually feel very different with movement speed and armour whereas Titanfall they all kind of blended together for me.

Depends on the grind and the starting weapons, really. For example, most Call of Duty games could be changed to take 100 hours of gameplay to unlock all the perks and weapons, be sold as "pay-to-win" / "pay-to-not-grind" games, and still be accurately described that way. Your success in those games normally comes from skill and map knowledge, not weapons and perks. Usually, some of the best weapons in those games are unlocked from the start.

If it's the same case with Hawken, I can definitely see agreeing with the idea that it isn't a pay-to-win game.

I think this is an issue that many free-to-play games run into. I believe I remember Jeff on an old Bombcast saying once that his band sold more CDs at full price than they did for 5 dollars. They didn't just make more money, people actually bought more CDs when the offer presented to them was for "a real CD from a real band, priced just like you'd find in stores" and not "some value priced CD from a band that apparently needs to sell their music at a discount."

It's about actual value vs perceived value, and perceived value can be a real bitch.