Cosmic Break: Simple Fun Mech PvP
By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor) OnRPG Journalist
Cosmic Break is a game that is a lot different than the general MMO’s I have played. This MMO Third Person Shooter published by Cyberstep is a game that has been out for quite some time now and is finally open for English players that enjoy bazookas, laser beams and other fancy weapons. Have you ever been a big fan of Gundam or any other tv series involving Robots and mech? Cosmic Break seems designed just to suck in players with this kind of a background. I have always been a big fan of Robots fighting it out like real machines, and I decided to try my luck with Cosmic Break.
When the player is ready to make their first character you get the choice between three unions: BRD, WIZ, and DOS; when you join one of these you will automatically play for them and earn points for their name. The game has some surprisingly deep lore behind it, even including some animated Youtube videos that are worth checking out, though they are a bit morbid. After researching each union in detail I decided to go with DOS. Based on the gameplay mechanics, the union system is vital not only for helping to build up the community but also creating back stories of fierce rivalries between each union. After speaking to the DOS leader and receiving a few starter bots I was ready to engage in my first battle!
Your mech is controlled by the default keys WASD and you have to use your mouse to look around and aim at your enemies. Luckily the game also has an auto target system that will help you around if your opponent is constantly strafing. You can also dash by double tapping one of the movement keys, and each mech unit is also able to fly for a short period of time. Your left and right weapon are controlled by your left and right mouse buttons respectively. The player is able to use three robots in a match; if one of them gets blown up you can hop on one of your backups while your primary bot slowly regenerates health over time.
The bots come in a variety of specializations, each carrying strengths and weaknesses.The four Robot types are:
Land Type – This type of Robot is superior on the ground as the name already suggests. They use their speed to avoid incoming attacks and come in handy for breaking through a strong defensive line composed of multiple beam attacks.
Air Type – The Air type of robot is superior in the air. Unlike others this type of robot can fly for a longer period of time than the others. They are also able to make good use of the beam type of weapons. They are however easily taken down by bombs and missiles.
Artillery Type – These type of robots specialize themselves in heavy firepower. They are able to use different long range weapons like missiles and are also able to use bombs. Without constant pressure from Land robots, they can usually systematically tear the opposing team apart in rapid succession.
Support Type – This type of robot is a useful asset to any team. This unit is able to repair and support her allies in battle and some of them are also equipped with a radar. They round out their portfolio with a series of status effect abilities to lower the effectiveness of their foes. However all this utility comes at the price of a heavy hit to their damage, so try to avoid the front lines of any conflict and never engage the enemy by yourself.
The robots also have different sizes that allow each individual robot to be customized with a different set of parts. Bots are classified by size so you will have to find properly sized weapons and armor before equipping them as upgrades to a bot. Unfortunately I was too excited to hop straight into my next match and wasted my initial pool of cash on mismatched parts so be sure to learn from my mistake.
After a couple of fights I realized that these upgradable parts play a huge factor in differentiating the strength between bots. The standard weapons are armor are terrible and make you feel quite vulnerable during your first couple of battles against more veteran players. Like me you might feel unwelcome when you’re not being that useful but it’s still a lot of fun to try out the arena for a while. For every player that doesn’t like to get a kick in the nuts for trying a new game, you can slowly build your gear up over time by running PvE missions for experience and cash. You can choose to play with others or go on a solo mode and deal with everything yourself. The choice is all yours, but I felt the PvE acted as more of a tutorial since the real core of this game is of course the arena.
Graphics
Cosmic Break is quite an old game and it blatantly shows when visiting the video settings. Unfortunately it isn’t possible to run any higher resolution than 800×600, which might turn of a few people. Like a saying I just read ‘A video game that looks good is impressive for a few months. A video game that plays well is impressive forever’ and that quote seriously suits this game.
The following computer requirements are asked of you when you want to play Cosmic Break:
CPU: Pentium 4 2.0GHz or higher
Memory: 1GB or higher
Videocard: VRAM 128MB or higher
DirectX 9.0c or more
800MB of open space
I think everyone is easily set to play this game without any trouble unless you are still living in the Stone Age. And even people that have a computer full of twigs and sticks is able to play this game just fine.
Conclusion
As I said in the intro, Cosmic Break lures in those die hard fans of mech battles and if you fit this criteria then you will be in for a good time. It might be hard to get into the game as a new player since you will have minimal impact in battle, but even when just supporting the more veteran players the game still brings a solid amount of fun. Since it isn’t the best looking game I do hope they spend some development time updating the graphics engine, as the gameplay itself has stood the test of time. There are very few titles in this genre to choose from, but I feel Cosmic Break still stands near the top and deserves a try if you’re shopping for that good ol’ mech experience.
