Mechs & Mercs: Black Talons
- January 9, 2015
- Camel 101
Get on SteamIn Mechs & Mercs: Black Talons, command your own mercenary company and decide which Contracts to accept as you navigate a complex political landscape. Fight battles in turn-based combat, utilizing a variety of mechs, vehicles, and infantry units. Manage your resources, expand your territory, and ensure the survival of your company in this challenging war simulation.
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Reviews
- The game features a compelling story about a planet resisting an invading army, with a variety of factions and memorable campaign missions.
- Unit progression and skill trees add depth to gameplay, making it important to keep squads alive and rewarding players for their tactical decisions.
- The tactical gameplay is engaging, requiring careful planning and strategy rather than just rushing units into battle.
- Pathfinding issues and unresponsive AI lead to frustrating gameplay, with units sometimes ignoring orders or moving inappropriately.
- The game suffers from repetitive side missions and a slow pace, which may not appeal to players looking for fast-paced action.
- Numerous bugs and design flaws, such as the lack of mid-mission saves and unbalanced unit effectiveness, detract from the overall experience.
- story61 mentions
- 5 % positive mentions
- 84 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The story revolves around a planet's resistance against an invading army, featuring a campaign with elaborate missions and opportunities for secondary objectives across different factions. While the narrative has potential and offers strategic depth, many players find the mission structure repetitive and the pacing slow, leading to a lack of engagement. Additionally, issues such as bugs, balance problems, and a lack of meaningful character development detract from the overall storytelling experience.
“The story is about a planet resisting against an invading army.”
“Story-wise, this game seemed to be rather interesting; playing as a mercenary, you're here to help and get paid, working alongside other factions to gain approval.”
“The campaign is nice, letting me choose which allies I want by performing the missions proposed by different factions.”
“The story is non-existent.”
“The missions are so incredibly boring I didn't even know what they were; instead, I was just trying to capture and kill everything on the map just to stay engaged long enough to see if things got better; spoiler: they don't, and it's just a long ride on a rollercoaster that stays completely level.”
“I wanted to know more about the game universe, but clicking around on the strategic map only tells you the planet name and whether there's a mission.”
- gameplay26 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 62 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The gameplay has been criticized for its broken mechanics, numerous bugs, and lack of balance, leading to a frustrating experience. While some players appreciate the strategic elements and real-time combat, many find the gameplay repetitive, dull, and poorly executed, with issues stemming from AI and interface problems. Overall, the game shows potential but fails to deliver a satisfying experience due to its unrefined mechanics and lack of depth.
“Nice visuals and fluid gameplay are pros.”
“A lot of tactical gameplay with squad leveling.”
“The real-time gameplay works out really well, and thankfully there's no base building, which means that everything is purely focused on combat.”
“Broken mechanics, lots of bugs, and the devs abandoned it soon after launch.”
“Uses frustrating combat mechanics that don't seem to make any sense: apparently identical encounters can be won easily or be a total bloodbath, seemingly at random.”
“I'd give this game a 4/10, the mechanics are broken, and the gameplay is just so dull and boring, not to mention the environments are as bland as the gameplay.”
- graphics16 mentions
- 44 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the nice visuals, compelling settings, and decent artwork, particularly in cutscenes. However, many users note that the graphics feel outdated or lackluster, especially in the early missions, and while they are acceptable for an indie title, they do not significantly enhance the overall gameplay experience. Overall, the graphics are seen as a blend of impressive design and dated elements, leading to a mediocre reception.
“Nice graphics with a cyberpunkish mood.”
“A compelling setting, decent artwork, cool cutscenes.”
“The graphics are excellent for what it is; menus and between mission planning and upgrading are very well implemented.”
“The graphics are old school.”
“Graphics could use some improvement.”
“Overall it's an impressively designed game with some rather dated graphics and a couple glaring issues.”
- music4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -25 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally considered standard and not exceptional, but it effectively maintains the mood. Some players find it overly loud, while others are indifferent to its quality, focusing more on other aspects of the game.
“The music is quite standard game music, but I'm alright with that.”
“The graphics aren't that bad, but I usually don't care about that.”
“Music is not excellent, but it keeps the mood.”
“Music is way too loud.”
“Music is quite standard game music, but I'm alright with that.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect tedious, as it often involves overwhelming enemy AI with limited resources while juggling additional objectives, such as protecting civilians or engineers. The imbalance in spawn pads exacerbates the frustration, making the gameplay feel unnecessarily complicated and repetitive.
“It's mostly just blasting enemies with as many units as you can while damaged sections tediously run away to healing pads.”
“While this seems simple, it's often made tediously impossible by giving the player 1 spawn pad and the enemy AI 6 or 7 per level, then forcing the player to also manage some other tedious tasks like 'evacuate the civilians' or 'don't lose your engineers' at the same time.”
- stability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game's stability is generally acceptable for an indie title of its scale, though players report experiencing bugs during missions that detract from the overall gameplay experience.
“Not bad for an indie game of this scale, but unfortunately it has pretty bland gameplay and buggy missions.”
“The game crashes frequently, making it hard to enjoy any of the content.”
“I encountered numerous glitches that disrupted my experience and made it frustrating to progress.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players appreciate the emotional depth of the game, feeling a strong connection to their role as a leader of a formidable mercenary unit, which enhances their overall immersion and investment in the narrative.
“It was a nice little touch that I liked; it made me feel like I was actually the leader of a mercenary unit that was super badass and not just in charge of some ragtag force made up of the bottom of the barrel.”
