10 Best Mech Games

Chromehounds for the Xbox 360 easily makes it onto our list of the 10 Best Mech Games. Not only does it allow you to customize your metal behemoth, but it also adds an element of stealth to the gameplay by providing you with multiple objectives during each mission. The online portion of Chromehounds was where this title really shined. It was a lot of fun capturing different sections of the map and claiming it for your own. It was like Risk, but with giant robots.

For many console gamers, the original Armored Core was genesis for mech games. With the graphics of the PS1, it blew away many an avid gamer who had never experienced the joy of the 3rd dimension. The gameplay was tight, fun, and it was always satisfying seeing another mech go up in a cloud of smoke. There is a reason that this title spawned a whole series of very successful games. While they might have improved upon the formula, it had to start somewhere.

Steel Battalion, no not THAT Steel Battalion, was a revelation for PC mech games. Featuring a ridiculous add on that effectively doubled the size of your computer area, you were able to pilot a mech with unprecedented realism. Well, as real as you can get with giant robots. Sadly though, the more recent incarnation of this title that utilized the Kinect was an utter disaster. If you want to play a Steel Battalion game, you’d best skip the most recent and head back to the classic.

Virtual On was AWESOME. Back when you actually saw the person you were talking trash to, the arcades had some fantastic two-player games like Virtual On. Sit down next to your opponent, pick your mech, and blast the crap out of each other. It was a quarter eater for good reason -- because it was fun as hell to play.

You know what a developer decided a mech game needed? A plot with a crazy cult that conquered a planet. Mech Assault not only has huge robots, but crazy cultists and an interesting story and setting. Oh, did we mention that it was one of the best reasons to have Xbox Live? The real icing on this mech game was the solid multiplayer, and Mech Assault was one of the best on the original Xbox.

Metal Wolf Chaos may be the most berserk mech game in a genre full of giant robotic exoskeletons. You play as the President of the United States and don a robo suit to stop a coup by the Vice President. In true video game fashion, everything explodes and the dialogue is so over-the-top that has left camp way behind. To put it into perspective, the President, in his mech suit, gets blown out of the oval office to fight invading troops and screams “Let’s party!” For being absolutely ridiculous, Metal Wolf Chaos makes it onto our list of the 10 Best Mech Games.

If you’re looking for more story to go with your robot action, you’d best check out Zone of the Enders: 2nd Runner. The game features all star contributors like Hideo Kojima and has to be one of the most well rounded mech games in the genre. Its unique style makes it stand out from the crowd. It also has some of the best action and tightest controls you’re gonna find in a mech game. If you’ve already played this and are a fan, you can expect a sequel in the future. Now that Kojima is finished with Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, he stated that he might be heading back to Zone of the Enders. We can all hope that he does.

Hawken is one of the most successful mech titles in video game history. It is also one of the newest and most award winning. It takes full advantage of modern hardware to deliver a gorgeous multiplayer experience not seen in a mech game for a long while. The developers have such an engaging setting on their hands that a graphic novel was written and the video game has even been optioned for a film adaptation. Let’s hope it remains untarnished by Hollywood and we get even more Hawken action.

It may be a bit older, but Armored Core 2 sits high on our list for good reason. It was a decent leap in gameplay and storytelling from the original, and remains a classic to this day. You don a mech suit in order to save the inhabitants of a terraformed Mars as rival factions fight over what remains of the government after a coup. This was also the introduction of Extension weapons to the series which allowed you to be even more deadly in your Armored Core.

Mech Warrior 4 has everything you could want from a mech game. It has a great story, wild setting, insane robot suit action, and lots of missions where you save the day and blow up the bad guy. But it has even more. A couple choices you make in the main campaign actually affect the outcome of your playthrough. Also, there are a number of multiplayer modes from death match to escort where you have to take out the rival team’s VIP. It makes for fantastic competition. For being a well rounded mech game that has something for everyone to love, Mech Warrior 4 makes it to the top of our list of the 10 Best Mech Games.