Mech Platoon
Encyclopedia
Mech Platoon is a real-time strategy
video game developed and published by Kemco
. It was the first real-time strategy game released on the Game Boy Advance
platform, and was released in Europe
on November 30, 2001 and in North America
on January 3, 2002.
Mech Platoon follows real-time strategy gaming standards, and is in the vein of other games such as StarCraft
and Command & Conquer
. The player assumes the role of an army commander for one of three in-game nations, and must battle on five planets each with multiple missions. In a battle, the player utilizes resources on a battlefield to build a base and attempt to overrun their opponent with "Mechs", the units featured in the game. There are three different types of resources found in the game: Energy Sand, Material Rock, and Laser Crystal. Resources are used to purchase units, and lower-grade resources such as sand can be used to buy more expensive resources such as rock and crystal.
Due to Game Boy Advance hardware limitations, there is a 30-unit maximum per stage and no fog of war
. There are twenty standard mechs that are unlocked throughout the game to use during battles, but each of these are customizable with different variants. Each mech also has its own attributes
, ranging from differing hit points to varying levels of attacks.
in November 2001.
and Game Rankings
respectively.
GameSpot
lauded Mech Platoon for its graphics and standard real-time strategy conventions on a portable system, writing, "Mech Platoon compromises nothing compared with stalwart veterans like Starcraft or Command & Conquer." GameSpy
praised the game for its level selection and detailed graphics. GamePro
noted, "[Mech Platoon] boasts lots of nifty features and a few annoying flaws that keep it from beating up on its bigger PC cousins."
Criticism generally focused on the game's sound and the problems with a portable real-time strategy game. GameSpot noted, "[the game's audio] is composed of mostly ear-wrenching midi music with a smattering of crisp digitized sound effects." GameSpy compared Mech Platoon unfavorably against turn-based strategy games on the Game Boy Advance, such as Nintendo
's Advance Wars
.
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
video game developed and published by Kemco
KEMCO
, sometimes referred to as Kotobuki System Co., Ltd., is a Japanese video game developer and publisher established in 1984 as a subsidiary of Kotobuki Engineering & Manufacturing Co., Ltd, located in: Seika, Japan....
. It was the first real-time strategy game released on the Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
platform, and was released in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
on November 30, 2001 and in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
on January 3, 2002.
Gameplay
StarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
and Command & Conquer
Command & Conquer
Command & Conquer, abbreviated to C&C and also known as Tiberian Dawn, is a 1995 real-time strategy computer game developed by Westwood Studios for MS-DOS and published by Virgin Interactive. It was the first of twelve games to date to be released under the Command & Conquer label, including a...
. The player assumes the role of an army commander for one of three in-game nations, and must battle on five planets each with multiple missions. In a battle, the player utilizes resources on a battlefield to build a base and attempt to overrun their opponent with "Mechs", the units featured in the game. There are three different types of resources found in the game: Energy Sand, Material Rock, and Laser Crystal. Resources are used to purchase units, and lower-grade resources such as sand can be used to buy more expensive resources such as rock and crystal.
Due to Game Boy Advance hardware limitations, there is a 30-unit maximum per stage and no fog of war
Fog of war
The fog of war is a term used to describe the uncertainty in situation awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an engagement, operation, or campaign...
. There are twenty standard mechs that are unlocked throughout the game to use during battles, but each of these are customizable with different variants. Each mech also has its own attributes
Attribute (role-playing games)
An attribute is a piece of data that describes to what extent a fictional character in a role-playing game possesses a specific natural, in-born characteristic common to all characters in the game. That piece of data is usually an abstract number or, in some cases, a set of dice...
, ranging from differing hit points to varying levels of attacks.
Development
The game was first displayed to the public at E3 2001, where critics were impressed by the game's graphics but noted problems with unit path finding. A later build was shown at the European Computer Trade ShowEuropean Computer Trade Show
The European Computer Trade Show, commonly known as ECTS, was an annual trade show for the European computer and video game industry, which first ran in 1988, with the last event occurring in 2004....
in November 2001.
Reception
Overall, Mech Platoon was well received by critics; the game received a 77% and a 75% ratings on review aggregate websites MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
and Game Rankings
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
respectively.
GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
lauded Mech Platoon for its graphics and standard real-time strategy conventions on a portable system, writing, "Mech Platoon compromises nothing compared with stalwart veterans like Starcraft or Command & Conquer." GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
praised the game for its level selection and detailed graphics. GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
noted, "[Mech Platoon] boasts lots of nifty features and a few annoying flaws that keep it from beating up on its bigger PC cousins."
Criticism generally focused on the game's sound and the problems with a portable real-time strategy game. GameSpot noted, "[the game's audio] is composed of mostly ear-wrenching midi music with a smattering of crisp digitized sound effects." GameSpy compared Mech Platoon unfavorably against turn-based strategy games on the Game Boy Advance, such as Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's Advance Wars
Advance Wars
Advance Wars, known in Japan as is a turn-based tactics video game developed for the Game Boy Advance by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. It was released in North America on September 10, 2001, but put on hold in Japan and Europe due to the following day's terrorist attacks in the USA...
.
External links
- Mech Platoon at GameFAQsGameFAQsGameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff "CJayC" Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by CBS Interactive. The site has a database of video game information, cheat codes, reviews, game saves,...
- Mech Platoon at MobyGamesMobyGames-Platforms not yet included:- Further reading :* Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media; 2 edition , ISBN 0-07-223172-6...