HARDCORE MECHA
Go ahead punk. Mech my day!
Think the title of this anime-infused 2D action platformer sounds like a Saturday morning kids’ TV show? Rest easy: that’s the vibe it’s going for. Placing you in the shoes of an elite mercenary able to pilot the eponymous Hardcore Mecha, the act of boosting, shooting, and gut-punching your way through hordes of cyber-enemies never ceases to be satisfying – and it’s made all the more epic by an inherently charming SD art style. 1
This is the perfect example of an indie shoot-’em-up that knows not to bite off more than it can chew, delivering all the punchiness and kineticism of, say, Dragonball via its cutscenes2 before letting you loose across a fun, and often challenging, eightpart campaign. Hardcore Mecha isn’t short on ideas either, introducing mechanical challenges at least once per chapter. One area, for instance, takes place with your guy on foot, tasking you to sneak past guards
(or kill them quietly) before culminating in a Power-Rangers-style mech-vs-mech battle.
What could feel monotonous after a while doesn’t, largely due to the ability to upgrade and level up your Mecha in between stages. Want to sacrifice your aim assist for the ability to start with a repair device? Do it.
It’s surprising just how tailorable Hardcore Mecha is, with additional weapons, melee abilities, and enemy-devastating ‘Ultimate Skills’ all there to be slotted in. Such customisation even translates to Hardcore Mecha’s multiplayer mode, where you can duke it out with another person’s mech either locally or online. The result is an incredibly robust package, and the ultimate small-scale homage to robot anime. Aaron Potter