The Weight of Steel Battalion

There are times when an ambitious vision acts as a counterweight to apparent problems. Kinect recognition is imprecise and occasionally frustrating in Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor, but it's difficult not to admire everything else From Software accomplishes because it uses motion. Kinect facilitates an unexpected new angle in Steel Battalion. This is a much more involving mech shooter than expected, and it probably wouldn't be this kind of personal experience using only a control pad. The simple breakdown of how Steel Battalion plays is this: the controller enables aiming, shooting, and moving, while everything else relies on your body. Looking through your cockpit window and slaughtering soldiers is the core of what makes playing as a giant, walking tank fun, of course, but the way Kinect engages you outside of combat is the most interesting thing here. You'll regularly need to pull out of combat to address unexpected problems inside your mech. In the middle of a smokin' hot desert you'll need to find water for the men and women reloading your shells, gunning from the top, or filling you in on the current situation. Climbing out of the tank to loot a corpse's canteen, or giving up your own, earns goodwill from the crew. It's clear Capcom wants you to become an intimate group, and it's easy to like the people you're with when they comment on you as a commander and shoot the breeze with each other. Naturally, this all serves a greater purpose: When Steel Battalion decides it's time for your friends to die, you're supposed to care. When a character dies in Heavy Armor, they're gone forever. If you don't occasionally come out of combat to address the status of everyone crammed in the cockpit with you, they can be killed. Evil infantry may punch a hole in your hull and try to stab the person giving mission details. If you can't get a shot off in time and she dies, and you'll have to improvise your next move with a corpse in the corner. Enemies aren't the only threat to your crew. The pressure of battle in a near-future world war may cause them to crack and try to escape the mech. Pull them down, slap 'em around, and they may come to their senses. Take too long to bring them back to reality and they'll bite the dust. Steel Battalion gives you cues when you should be aware of these events, but it's exclusively verbal. There are no noticeable gold icons or text pop-ups to warn you when someone's in danger. You need to pay attention. If you don't, that blood is on your hands. How Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor turns out as an action game is up in the air, both because of it doesn't recognize arm movements like it should, and because it's a straightforward corridor shooter. Its greatest success could be the near-physical interactions with humanized characters you'll care about. Even a disappointing game can be an interesting, inspirational step forward.