Well, with the advent of the 100 ton mechs, the piloting community has been clamouring for new equipment to put into them, and this on the surface looks like a doozy.
Now, right off the bat we need to get the price out of the way. This is such a limited piece of kit that its only available through mystery Vortex crates, meaning for the measly cost of 60 Niodes, you might... perhaps... potentially... possibly be lucky enough to get one. Or a smidge under 50 Niodes if you go for the triple crate deal.
The thing is for a 100 ton mech, there just isn't a great deal of choice. Predictive Analysis rigs leave you vulnerable to laser and missile fire for all their targeting bonuses and Synaptic Boost interfaces slow you already slow mech down to a pace normally associated with glaciers, processing of income tax refunds or waiting for Scotsmen to buy a round of drinks.
To get anything comparable, you need to be looking at fitting it onto a slightly lighter mech... something that can take a Haptic Interface or M-hole which gives you a reasonable indicator of price as both of those systems come in around the 50 niode sweet spot.
So, worth it if you got the triple crate deal, a bit of a jip if you only bought a single.
So what do you get for you hard won currency? Well, gone are the implant connectors and mind interface units, instead you get a pair of sturdy handles and lots of buttons with styling by Nintari... how quaint! Saying that, the feel is very good and with a little practice you soon get the hang of leading fire on your target which aids in accuracy a lot, and without that direct brain link there is no chance of feedback frying your noggin.
A side effect of doing away with the nuerals is that you can go from relying on an automatic gearbox back to a manual, which gives it that extra kick of speed and acceleration. And those handles, especially when you are wired on hatorade and adrenaline, transfer every muscle spasm down to the chassis, giving your gait just that little bit more unpredictability for a dodge boost.
Sounds brilliant? But why oh why , bearing in mind the cost of the damn thing, couldn't we have had a proper gear stick instead of this stupid flappy-paddle thing? You could have even put a skull knob on it!
And for the love of your deity of choice, don't press the button with the green triangle
on it, as all you get is the words "SAVING GAME..." plastered across your heads up display and the cockpit auto eject sequence will initiate!
And as for the built in sound effect system? Why do I need to hear "chobbachobbachobbachobba" every time I set my mech in motion?
And who in the Galaxy is this PACK MAN bloke anyway?
Submitted by David McCallum # 701548