It feels like every year, PAX East features a game with Advance Wars vibes, and Mech Tech fills the role this year.
Its visual aesthetic is indeed meant to mirror the ironic strategy game, but the gameplay is something completely different. Instead of solely being a turn-based strategy game, Mech Tech borrows from strategy games, deck builders, and twin stick shooters.
Combat features two separate aspects running simultaneously. You’ll control a hero character in a mech and control them like a twin-stick shooter. At the same time, someone inside your team’s tank back at base will be working with a deck of cards. When available, they’ll perform various tactical attacks.
While that’s a lot of different systems working together, everything flows together seamlessly. The twin-stick hero shooter isn’t overshadowing the strategy aspect of the game, or vice versa. Everything goes together hand-in-hand extraordinarily well.
Mech Tech feels like a modern version of Advance Wars
This is something that became doubly apparent to me, given the fact that during my hands-on time with Mech Tech at PAX East, I was in a 1v2 battle. It was me and a CPU teammate versus two human opponents, which meant I was essentially handling both tasks myself. Instead of feeling overwhelmed or overburdened, I found myself falling into a nice rhythm and flow. The same can be said for my two human opponents; they found themselves in a nice back-and-forth where the two worked together, especially when the person in the mech needed to jump into the tank and heal.
What’s nice is that this gameplay gimmick works in both single-player and co-operative experiences. You’re not missing out on anything based on how you play and will always get to enjoy everything Mech Tech has to offer. Perhaps this is why it’s stood out more than past Advance Wars-esque games. Far too often, I’ve seen a developer look to deliver a modern take on the iconic Game Boy Advance franchise, only to miss the mark. Perhaps it’s because they’re trying too hard to stay true to Advance Wars’ roots rather than being innovative, which Mech Tech is most certainly doing.
It’s a decision that I feel like will pay off in the long run. Mech Tech is an absolute blast to play and scratches so many itches in my brain that the more I think about it, the more impressed I am. For whatever reason, Nintendo has felt content to let the Advance Wars IP sit dormant, aside from the re-release of the classic games a few years ago. Mech Tech proves that a natural step forward for the franchise would feel right at home with modern mechanics. I’m excited to see how it turns out.
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