Developer RocketPunch Games’ tough-as-nails action platformer Hardcore Mecha is an absolute blast to play on Nintendo Switch. Combat is fast-paced, challenging, but gloriously satisfying at all times, and players will revel in unlocking new weapons to destroy their enemies with. Other than a few minor framerate issues when things get hectic, Hardcore Mecha winds up being a beautiful port to the Nintendo Switch.
Hardcore Mecha puts players in the shoes of a Gundam-esque mech pilot mercenary named Tarethur whose team has been given a mission from the military to rescue one of their lieutenants from a Mars-based terrorist organization called Steel Dawn. What begins as a simple mission escalates wildly out of control, and Tarethur finds himself locked in a planet-wide conflict between the military and Steel Dawn. The story mostly lifts ideas from mech-based anime, but that doesn’t matter much as it presents more opportunities to just blow things up in a fun manner as a result.
Combat is absolutely exhilarating in Hardcore Mecha, but can also be confusing. Tarethur’s personal mecha is outfitted with a frankly ridiculous amount of weaponry that can be a little daunting to keep track of in the early moments of the game. Players can control their main firearm with one button, their secondary with another, two melee attacks with two more buttons, but then can also use special gadgets with the right stick as well as change the primary weapon with the directional buttons. It really is a lot to process, but it does give players a lot of choices when facing off against foes.
Once players grow accustomed to all of their different weapons things really pick up. It is relatively simple to quickly swap weapons during a fight or go straight from a melee combo to firing a few rounds into a rival mech’s face. On top of that Hardcore Mecha also gives players the ability to evade or block damage with the Joy-Con triggers which makes for a great way to negate damage and attack while an enemy’s defenses are dropped.
By far the best parts of Hardcore Mecha are the amount of variety in missions and bosses. Each mission takes players to a brand new location or gives them a new way to traverse the environment. A later mission in the game transforms things into scenes reminiscent of an Enter The Gungeon-like bullet-hell shooter as Tarethur hurtles through space towards an enemy ship. Hardcore Mecha boss battles are terrific and will prioritize different abilities or strategies from the player, forcing dodges, blocks, or seeking out large weak points on the boss’ body.
Once the main campaign is over in Hardcore Mecha there is still quite a bit to do, with Simulation mode in particular a lot of fun. This functions as a wave-based mode where players will be forced to kill an infinite amount of enemies until they die. The upside to this mode is that players are able to unlock different mech suits as well as new upgrades to improve their abilities. The online multiplayer also offers additional mechs and upgrades, but the multiplayer lobbies were very underpopulated during the course of this review.
Other than difficulties getting into an online game, the biggest issue with Hardcore Mecha on Switch is frame rate drops. These occur very rarely, but when they do it can be pretty debilitating. It seems that whenever there are too many enemies or projectiles on the screen at once, the game isn’t able to process it. This causes some pretty massive stutters as the frame rate drops down to single digits. It typically only lasts for a couple of seconds, but in a game like Hardcore Mecha that can mean life or death.
Despite the occasional frame rate issues, Hardcore Mecha is a joy to play. Shooting and flying around the different levels feels incredibly smooth and responsive. Every enemy in the game presents its own individual threat, so players will need to be smart and responsive if they want to survive. Hardcore Mecha is an excellent option for any gamer who wants a challenging but rewarding experience.
Hardcore Mecha is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PC. A Nintendo Switch code was provided for the purposes of this review.
