You have two joysticks; the one on the right has weapon control and lock on functions. Moving it around moves your aiming crosshairs and allows you to target things. The left joystick is used for turning the VT and on it is a thumbstick that allows you to move your torso. Moving is handled by the three foot-pedals, one for acceleration, one for brake, and one for side jumping. You also have a 5-speed transmission, an eject button (with plastic flip-up cover), a radio dial, metal toggle switches, and buttons for washing your windshield, night vision and many many more functions.
The control is pretty tricky. Given that your torso, guns and body can all do different things, you will have to adjust frequently. Some weird orientations can come up and the two status monitors (besides your viewport) come in handy when trying to figure out where the hell you are. Part of this complaint is related a bit to the viewport, it is somewhat small, but at the same time, gives the nice cozy feeling of being inside a tank. This might not be the best game to play on a small TV, of course, if that’s all you have, you probably don’t have the budget to buy this game anyway.
The gameplay is pretty typical team-based mech battles. You’ll have the normal set of missions to complete, and you are able to request new VTs by spending supply points that you gain in battle. Learning to work with your teammates effectively is critical to success, especially in the later levels. This means you’ll be flipping your radio dial all while trying to move your VT around and blow shit up.
As you move on, things get more complicated with teammates to lead, as well as supply ships to refresh you. The later missions can be infuriatingly difficult, which adds an element of replay value to the game.
The game is realistic from beginning to end. Obviously the first aspect of this is the mega controller that the game comes with. But from there you’ll find many more things. If you are going to fast and you try to turn, your VT will tip over and fall and slide for hundreds of feet. Ejecting is a rather important aspect of the game (dying can be painful). You even have a washer for your windshield!
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