Override: Mech City Brawl lets 4 players pilot a mech together

Even though their fights level cities, there’s something good and pure about gigantic robots battering the oil out of each other. Override: Mech City Brawl promises nothing but that, with 12 behemoths duking it out across cities all over the world and, from the looks of it, the moon. The mech-smashing will commence next week, and you can watch the launch trailer above.

Along with a single-player campaign, you’ll be able to smack around other players in multiplayer brawls, but it’s the party co-op that’s piqued my interest. Up to four players can team up to pilot one mech, with each responsible for a different part, just like Megazord or Voltron. If the TV shows and movies have taught us anything, however, it’s that learning how to pilot a mech with your mates is really tricky, and we won’t have the benefit of a training montage where we can face our fears and, with the support of our friends, overcome them. How will it even be possible?

Lamentably, that mode wasn’t available when T.J. Hafer played for his Override: Mech City Brawl preview, but he did punch a lot of mechs in the regular PvP modes. It’s a bit simple and slow, he said, but he was fond of the giant scrappers.

The stars of Override are its dozen robotic contenders, each sporting a very distinct style and silhouette, tons of personality, and a suite of unique special moves. I especially liked Shifu, a spindly, metallic kung fu master who kind of reminds me of Phong from the classic '90s CGI cartoon Reboot and dishes out lightning-quick strikes with far greater force than his slender chassis would suggest. There’s also Metageckon, a lumbering reptilian bot who can roll up into a ball and wreak havoc across the map, and Setesh, an Egyptian-inspired giant who hits like a jetliner.

Mechs can be customised, too. Between brawls, you can tinker with them in the garage. You can change accessories and skins to create new styles, so it sounds largely cosmetic. Obviously, you want your mechs to look their best when they’re rolling around Tokyo, stomping all over San Francisco and punching pyramids in Egypt.

Override: Mech City Brawl is due out on December 4.

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.