No, I don’t mean the band. And no, I don’t mean the poison. That’s Anthrax in both cases. However, it does take me back to the 1980s and 90s in the absolute best way possible. I was a big fan of Battletech/MechWarrior, but those games are clunky. Fun, but clunky. Antraxx is not clunky, even in its Alpha state. It’s got a ways to go yet, but it’s certainly on the right track. Think about customizable mechs, controller support, a post-apocalyptic world where factions/companies vie for control, but it’s designed with a pixel style SNES visual aesthetic. It’s beautiful. You can customize your mech with a vast variety of guns. Missiles, short range machine guns, lasers, you name it! From colors to guns to parts, you can do it all. You can go to the mech bay to change things up, or if you see an enemy with parts you are looking for, you can always obliterate them! I didn’t find many players in my few forays into the demo, everything about it made me happy. It’s an Isometric style of game, which was very popular in my day, and it’s inspired by some of my favorite games, like Front Mission. Basically, Antraxx is Front Mission but not turn-based. You get in there and mix it up with other players right away.
It doesn’t really seem to have a whole lot of story behind it, other than a series of stages, each with their own particular requirements, whether it’s conquering the points or just defending against a horde of foes. I think it’s interesting that you can swap factions as you please, but I do wonder if it’s going to have an effect on the game. After all, they say it’s going to have a very heavy lean towards cooperative play and having allies and such. So are you going to wait for a more economically viable situation, leave your faction and join another, betraying them at a critical point on a map? Now that is intrigue. It may not have a detailed story or campaign, but it’s got what I want: Backstabbing. Backstabbing with missiles no less. My stay with Antraxx was brief, due to lacking people to shoot, but I adore the look and feel of it. And it’s on Kickstarter! If you are a fan of the 80s/90s style of games/gameplay, mechs, explosions, and cool customization, you absolutely owe it to yourself to check out the demo, then hop immediately to Kickstarter and back this thing! I kept telling myself that I’d stop playing and go back to work.. but then I’d tab right back over and hunt for stuff to eradicate with my Mech.
