M.A.S.S. Builder , Action Mecha with Great Customization and Little Else

Disclosure: This game copy was bought by the reviewer.

Eight missions, up to Tier 3 of upgrades, a decent variety of individual parts to swap out for visual cosmetics, and several colors to paint those parts with. At the moment, the game overs a good concept to show off the customization aspects in both the mech's combat systems upgrades, the visual components that range from arms, joints, and weapons, and the method of obtaining new parts. Unfortunately, the combat is extremely basic with melee being tied to smashing the left mouse button (plus charging), two ranged types (single shot, auto) for both mechanical and energy based, and the use of missiles. Essentially, combat boils down to locking on and holding the fire button with movement. It gets repetitive fast and has no method of evolving past it. I am all for mindless hack and slash titles like the Musou series, but without a variety of melee deviations it offers nothing solid.

Multiplayer is also absent from the game right now, but every mission is possible on Very Hard difficulty by yourself. The need to grind will also be very minimal at the moment due to the hard stop at the Tier 3 point on the tech trees. Visually the game looks great, sound effects could use more variation (especially the hit feedback on enemies), and the performance hasn't dipped past the 50 FPS range even with the later missions' high enemy count. I recommend holding off on this one for the time being.