Solving the above question pretty rapidly: no, this ain’t a new MechWarrior. First, the robots in War World don’t appear to be that large when looking at the environment too. Second, the whole User Interface is a lot more accessible and the overall gameplay feels fast. This is already shown when you just start up the game, you’ll arrive in a standard main menu with traditional online shooter options; (Team) Deathmatch, a Custom game and Arcade (a game mode that is the closest to something that can be described as a ‘campaign’ or some kind of regulated sequence of multiple maps). Making modifications to your robot before each battle is straight-forward and not too extensive either. There are three types of mechs, the possibility to enhance your two robot arms separately with lasers or machine guns, put a rocket launcher/mortars on your back and equip shields and thrusters. There is also the option to change colours and such but all things considered this ‘equipping’ part doesn’t take more than one minute or so once you’ve seen all of the accessories, so you’ll be right into the action.

And that action can definitely be called very reasonable entertainment, the fights in the beginning feel more like you’re shooting on big, moving sandbags but once you up the difficulty degree or advance to a next map in Arcade mode you’ll notice you’re gonna need more than just one fire button to keep your robot alive. The subtitle of the game certainly doesn’t refer to commandos you can give to other robots or such but it points out the fact that you have to utilise all of your robot’s possibilities in the most efficient way. Shields come in handy since they deflect all damage but you can’t shoot when they’re activated. And when your energy runs out the recharging takes quite a while. If you get into trouble then there is still a fast way out when using the thrusters (if you opted to buy them that is), they give you a speed or jump boost. Even at long range no-one is safe because then everyone starts using mortars and especially rockets. Each mech has also clear pro’s and con’s. Light robots are fast but also fragile, the heavier types can take more damage but can barely jump over an ant as a manner of speaking.

The artificial intelligence knows how to strafe and to activate shields of their own (although I have yet to see them activate their own thrusters) and most importantly; they will hit you a lot too. In the Arcade/Custom mode there is the occasional dropship that tries to be cool, shoot your ass off with machine guns and while doing so it also brings more enemies into the arena. Such ‘events’ should occur more often (I surely hope it for the full version) since no-one has ever complained about a little bit more variation than just shooting at other robots right?

A true action game should offer enough graphical splendour in order to remain interesting. You won’t find a real next-generation engine in War World but it offers plenty explosions and colourful laser rays that it won’t become monotonous soon. The maps in our version were somewhat limited in terms of size but they were stuffed with enough static objects to take cover behind. Sound isn’t really remarkable, more functional actually. Like when a shield will give you a hint cue when it’s low on energy. To keep things fun, the enemy is able to hear this warning too. The only real irritating element in the sound department is the announcer at the beginning of a match. He speaks with a rather stiff and… alright, real 'robot-like' voice, but not in the sense that it fits this sci-fi setting. A little bit more testosterone would be welcome.