Gamespot As you become more accustomed to your fickle machines (both the Kinect and the VT), you can mitigate the control flaws. Microsoft has confirmed that Demon’s Souls developer, From Software, is developing the next game in Capcom’s Steel Battalion franchise. War, inside and out - Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor provides a combination of first-person shooter (FPS) controller gameplay with immersive gameplay elements that only Kinect can provide. While in the VT, basic movement, aiming, and weapon firing are controlled with a standard controller, using standard shooter controls. Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor tries to recapture the complexity of the series' famous custom controller with Microsoft's Kinect, but it turns out your body is a crappy way to control a tank. In 2002 Capcom released Steel Battalion for the Xbox, a mech game so complex it was bundled for $200 with a massive proprietary controller. OXM tried their best to cover for the fact the controls are just plain crap. In 2002 Capcom released Steel Battalion for the Xbox, a mech game so complex it was bundled for $US200 with a massive proprietary controller. By combining the Xbox 360 controller with Microsoft's motion-sensing Kinect peripheral, Capcom has created a game that is technically just as expensive as the original and less reliable to boot. Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor is the newest entry in the Steel Battalion series, developed by From Software and published by Capcom.The game uses a combination of the standard Xbox 360 controller and the Kinect to simulate the original games controller. As you become more accustomed to your fickle machines (both the Kinect and the VT), you can mitigate the control flaws. Seeing a teammate bleed to death next to you, and then be absent for the rest of the extensive campaign, really drives home how tough the battle is and makes you want to keep their replacement safe. But even with precision and practice, you can never avoid every problem. I think it’s telling that this article and the one about Bing search being brought to XBox via Kinect appear right next to each other on the home page of Kotaku. I think the low review scores are incredibly irresponsible. August 16, 2011, 2:31 PM. I bought it today, so far I’m really happy with it (though I need a bigger TV to do it justice). If we so much as flinched on our couch, the game asked us to re-calibrate the Kinect sensor, and in the heat of battle we had constant issues both at home and in the office with accidentally closing the viewport hatch when we were trying to simply look out the view panel. Summary: Capcom's incredibly realistic action game Steel Battalion comes to Xbox 360, with Kinect motion control to … As we've unfortunately come to expect from most Kinect titles, the motion controls are terrible. The whole game has a WWII-like atmosphere, with most battles involving almost exclusively heavy-armor battles. Steel Battalion Heavy Armor. I really hope it is the former and not the latter (though I can imagine there being pressure to write for an “official” magazine). }. On the other end of the spectrum, sometimes one gesture can be mistaken for another. Top Rated Seller Top Rated Seller. Steel Battalion Heavy Armor is in development exclusively for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. Released worldwide in June 2012, it is a sequel to both Steel Battalion and Steel Battalion: Line of Contact on the Xbox. Micro-soft really have to cut it loses on Kinnect and for God’s sake dont bundle it with the the next Xbox. If your missile loader is hit with a wayward bullet or your second-in-command is stabbed through a hole in the hull, it's more than just a temporary inconvenience that requires you to pay more attention to the map or your missile stockpile. A completely new sequel, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor, developed by FromSoftware, was announced at 2010's Tokyo Game Show, and uses the Kinect in lieu of the specialized controller … Developed by From Software, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor is a Kinect game that tries to move away from the repetitive mini-games and gives the seasoned gamer a more adult orientated experience with this unique control system for the XBox 360. Plenty of war-focused games try to build a brotherhood, but in most cases, that involves shooting through waves of enemies with light A.I. Steel Battalion Heavy Armor is one of the new hardcore games for the Xbox 360 which makes the daring design decision of using the Kinect motion-sensing gesture controls in addition to … •When cleaning the STEEL BATTALION controller, make sure you turn the power off beforehand. Thought that Offical Xbox Magazine review seemed a little positive compared to the rest. Seeing a teammate bleed to death next to you, and then be absent for the rest of the extensive campaign, really drives home how tough the battle is and makes you want to keep their replacement safe. Because, in what is likely an attempt to simulate the guttural force of having your VT get rocked by a missile, you’ll be reset to the cockpit view every time you’re hit, meaning you’ll have to scramble just to get back into a viewing angle where you can counterattack before you’re killed. The Steel Battalion series has something of a history when it comes to unusual input methods - the original shipped with a $200 controller peripheral designed to imitate the cockpit of a mech - so in some ways it seems totally natural that a modern-day version would utilize what in many ways is the most advanced control method ever created: Kinect. Sign up now for access to Blasphemous, SNK Arcade Classics, and more. S p o n s o r e d. Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor review. Gameplay Controller Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor is played entirely from a first person perspective. Sure. It is the year 2083, 63 years after the "Datacide", a catastrophic event in which the world's supply of computer technology is destroyed by a silicon-eating microbe in 2020. Set in 2082, the game depicts a world devoid of computers, where superpowers struggle for dominance. Steel Battalion Heavy Armor uses a hybrid control scheme where moving, aiming and firing a Vertical Tank's main artillery is done with a standard Xbox 360 controller. First announced at TGS last year, the Kinect-based Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor is finally revealed in its first trailer. Yes, I wish to receive exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions from our partners. And in Child of Eden, your swipes, pushes and claps opened up a beautiful, hallucinatory mindscape that grew ever more trippy and lush. if (typeof siteads.queue !== 'undefined') { But I didn't experience all or even most of what the game had to offer and, as such, would be really reluctant to make any sweeping judgments about those elements. Do not put anything on it or place it on an unstable shelf. Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor - Xbox 360. Besides, the control problems I encountered were so pervasive, so detrimental, that I firmly believe there is no amount of visual, musical or narrative mastery that could make this an experience I could in any way recommend. Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor. Summary: Utilizing a combination of Kinect and the regular Xbox 360 controller, Steel Battalion Heavy Armor thrusts players into the role of Sgt Powers, a veteran VT Pilot who is the only one who can change the course of war. Read full article. Steel Battalion Heavy Armor expertly combines Microsoft’s Kinect with regular Xbox 360 controls to deliver a highly immersive war experience. It’s cheezy, but so are most US ww2 films. Many aspects of your mech need to be micromanaged, and while a few are a bit too extraneous — opening the vent to prevent smoke asphyxiation shouldn’t be up to the guy steering the mech, we say — you’ll have the shorthand down within the first campaign. The game uses a combination of the standard Xbox 360 controller and the Kinect for gameplay. Fortunately, once you get the hang of the controls, you won’t have to battle with that particular aspect of the game’s hardcore difficulty. The idea of piloting a bi-pedal mech by sitting on your couch and actually pulling this lever and shutting that hatch is extremely appealing, and the sense of accomplishment and joy at beating a single mission is greater than any game I've played for some time. It didn’t sell particularly well, but Capcom didn’t let them stop them from creating a sequel that will probably sell worse. Polygon It's impossible for me to begin to critique Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor's level design, graphics, story, etc., because at its most fundamental level, this product simply does not work and is the worst implementation of Kinect controls I've ever experienced. Microsoft need to man up and admit that they released it to market way to early for consumer use. You’ll still make a few goofs — that bank panel is tough to manage when smoke is obscuring your vision — and don’t expect Kinect to offer the same level of foolproof fidelity as controller-based movement and shooting. So, after you’ve “grabbed” the handle on the viewport shutter, it’s very hard to let go without closing it first. In 2002 Capcom released Steel Battalion for the Xbox, a mech game so complex it was bundled for $200 with a massive proprietary controller. Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor takes that silliness and makes the player feel like the butt of a joke. I’ve played around a lot with the Kinect (both gaming and deving) so I think that makes a difference, just knowing what the Kinect is likely to respond to. I don’t know why the style/story is getting raged on so much, it’s not on par with Braid/Ico/Deus Ex etc, but I’d put it on par with the average shooter, except you get a bit more attached since you’re “hanging out” so much. Official Xbox Magazine While we weren't surprised by Heavy Armor's hardcore difficulty or having to get used to its controls, what did shock us is how the game creates an intense bond with our squadmates. Privacy Policy. If we so much as flinched on our couch, the game asked us to re-calibrate the Kinect sensor, and in the heat of battle we had constant issues both at home and in the office with accidentally closing the viewport hatch when we were trying to simply look out the view panel. Graphics: Steel Battalion's graphics are bizarrely beautiful. The player controlled character spends most of the time inside a Vertical Tank, though there are some sequences outside the VT. The game doesn’t have “hardcore difficulty”, the controls are completely fucked which makes the game unplayable. Moreover, many missions are made far more difficult by vague objectives — particularly troubling because roughly one mission per campaign will fail to give you vital information, or worse, will give you misinformation about your objective. How does the new control scheme hold up? Why did we constantly have to keep doing that? Despite the horrendously bad dialogue, your crew of misfits and foul mouthed soldiers are genuinely likeable. I can’t imagine that they would have a job left if they told their readers that the Kinect is the steaming pile of hot ass garbage that everyone else knows it is. Buy It Now. In one you’ve got a potentially interesting game being ruined by forcing motion controls onto it, and then in the other you’ve got functionality that nobody needed or asked for being pushed into the dashboard while actual quality games like Fez are buried deep. Despite the problems, however, Heavy Armor is a very difficult game to hate. Down periscope. Now you can get the top stories from Kotaku delivered to your inbox. Steel Battalion was more famed for its controller than it was for its detailed, if dry, take on mech combat. Other elements are decent, too. With The Gunstringer, it was turning your gestures into the vengeance of a bad-tempered, undead cowboy puppet. Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor control scheme combines Xbox 360 controller and Kinect. Even if you’ve successfully performed an action dozens of times, it might not work the next time. • Always turn the Xbox console off before removing the STEEL BATTALION controller. Heavy armour, on the other hand, really builds up your attachment to fellow members of Bravo team by sticking your lively four-person crew in a space no bigger than a port-a-potty, and making their survival almost as much a priority as the rig’s.