Developer: FuturLab Limited
Publisher: FuturLab Limited
Platform: PS4 (PS VR)
Tested on: PS4 (PS VR)
Mini-Mech Mayhem – Review
Strategy games on a table-like area have been done before, however, there aren’t that many out there that also include cute futuristic robots. Mini-Mech Mayhem is a new strategy game that does actually have cute little mechs and is set in the future! In the game, you will work together with your mech buddy to outsmart your opponents and grab the victory. Mini-Mech Mayhem was developed and published by FuturLab Limited. We got a chance to review the game and have our own adorable robot buddy.
Story
There is no story in Mini-Mech Mayhem. You’re playing against opponents in a table-top like fashion, just for fun. An audience does always come to watch and cheer you on as if you are playing in a competition.
Graphics
Mini-Mech Mayhem looks futuristic and adorable. Everything in the game is nice and colorful. You have a little fighter mech who you can customize yourself. At the start, there are only a few things you can pick between but as you play, you will unlock more. Your mech buddy is well designed with different animations. The mechs their walking animations are one of the more amusing ones. You are actually a robot, who looks just like the other robots in the world that you are in. You are able to customize yourself with wigs, hats, and clothing. Just like your mini mech, you will only have a few items to pick from but are able to unlock more as you play the game.
The area around the table you play on always stays the same. Only when you play with multiple people you might have a different view because you are on another side of the table. The only environment is nicely designed, with lovely clean details. There are quite a lot of decorations making it not feel empty at all. Your table is really well designed, as it looks like a really expansive futuristic gaming table. Each player has their own screens in the table where they can input commands.
Sound
The music in Mini-Mech Mayhem is very upbeat. When the Mechs start their turns a more exciting track begins playing. There is not a whole lot of track variation present in the game. Sound effects are mostly included for your mech buddy. The attacks and special moves all have a nice sound effect. There is no voice acting present, whatever talking there is, is replaced by cute little sounds.
Gameplay
Mini-Mech Mayhem is an action game where you work together with your little Mech to gain victory. You are able to play with bots, strangers or friends online. The game is played mostly on the table in front of you making it similar to a tabletop game. As you start the game, you can first customize yourself and your mech as mentioned above It is quite funny to customize your mech as it gives adorable reactions.
Mini-Mech Mayhem is best played with the PS Move which will give you hands in-game. If you pull the trigger on the controller softly, you will point your pointer finger, giving you the ability to press things or do finger guns. If you press the trigger harder, you will stick up your thumb, making you able to do thumbs up or thumbs down, whichever fits. This feature is quite fun to play around with, certainly in combination with the facial expressions you can select.
As you start the game, you get presented with the tutorial, which has 10 parts. Each of those 10 parts explains a certain move your buddy or you can do. When you want even more information about how to use a feature, you could play the bonus levels from the 10 tutorials. Each part has 3 bonus levels, which explains how you can strategically use what you just learned.
Your mini buddy can do two things; shoot or move. Both can only be done twice during a single round, with each round requiring you to do 3 actions. So even if you don’t think you can hit anyone, you will have to shoot at least once. The goal of the game is to get the most victory points. These points can be gotten by either collecting the gold coin by ending on its tile or killing another mech. Each mech has 3 hit points, however, you can still kill a healthy mech by pushing it into a trap. Pushing is simply done by moving against a mech. So, if a little buddy is standing next to a trap and you move onto his spot in the direction of the trap, then you will push him into it.
You’re able to move in 4 directions for a max of 6 tiles. Shooting can be done in 8 directions, and the shot keeps going until it hits a mech or a wall. You can also add what you want to shoot at, with shooting at the torso being the default one. If you shoot at one of the legs, the mech will change his move one tick to the direction of the leg you shot. So, if that mech was moving straight and you shot it in the right leg, it now moves to the right. If you shoot in one of the arms, the mech will shoot one tick to the direction of the arm you shot, granted if it was even going to shoot. Shooting a mech in the head will cause it to be pushed back one tile. This feature adds even more to the strategy aspect of the game which is really nice.
Even though Mini-Mech Mayhem is recommended to play with the PS Move controllers, it sometimes seems to have a little bit of an issue with detecting them. Like one of your hands suddenly going invisible and moving far away from you. Your hands disappearing after readjusting the screen also sometimes happens.
Conclusion
Mini-Mech Mayhem is a fun game where you control your adorable little mech. It is amusing to play alone against bots and strangers but it’s even more enjoyable when you play together with friends. Your friends would need a PS VR though, which not everybody has. Playing the game alone is fun for a while, but you might get a little bit tired of it since it’s always the same environment and the same table. It’s a bit like a board game, great to play but not over and over on the same day. Mini-Mech Mayhem is actually a great game to play with younger people, they do however have to be over 12 to use the VR. If you like strategy and tabletop games, then maybe give Mini-Mech Mayhem a try.
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