Just when I thought I was out of the game, they pull me back in. This is of course a lie. I haven’t stopped playing strategic autobattler Mechabellum since I started playing around the release of version 1.0 in September. I was just starting to master the proper balance between each of the units in the card house when, bam, the developers of Game River dropped a Jenga block on it. This is also a hidden block. I didn’t even see it coming.
Update 1.1the fresh unit is the Phantom Ray, which Game River describes as “a medium-sized, high-powered aircraft that is adept at hitting enemies at close range with high-damage missiles.” It is a mid-tier plane that costs 50 to unlock and 200 to put into service, and you get three pieces per unit. As for the default technology, you have unlocked range and fire rate, as well as oil drop. The main attraction here is the stealth buff, which by default cloaks the Phantom Ray until it attacks. When this happens, everything will get a nice 40% damage bonus.
As for how they work, I’ll have to ask Graham to give me the rest of the day to test them out. For research purposes. And the rest of the patch? I’ve spent most of my game writing career doing everything I can to avoid the phrase “but that’s not all!”, but since I’ve already cheated on Mechabellum so much that I resemble a frothy game show host gesturing to a selection of fantastic prices, I think it’s time .
But that’s not all! This patch also introduces various balance changes for units such as the Sandworm, Arclight, and my favorite Mustang. The latter is now better at intercepting missiles, and since the Mustang row was already quite adept at making Stormcaller spammers cry, this sounds great. Storm Summoners themselves now hit slightly harder, but have a longer attack interval. Several bug fixes were also made, most notably an issue that prevented sticky oil outside the shield from igniting and sticky oil inside the shield from igniting. And a brand fresh tumble dryer!
Mechabellum wasn’t on our review list, but I’ve been slowly getting around to doing a full review in my downtime because I think it deserves one. If nothing else, it very solidly earned a spot on my personal GOTY list. I highly recommend giving this a look if you’ve ever been curious about competitive RTS but lack the reflex skills to make a more conventional choice. Or time, honestly: you can become competent at it very quickly. Of course, not as good as me.