I got a chance to take a look at Blowfish Studios’s release of War Tech Fighters for the Nintendo Switch. I was very impressed with the initial look of the game, and I’ve been starving for some Mecha action ever since Deus Machina was announced. Let’s see if War Tech Fighters can quell my hunger a bit.
The story here is as basic as they come. The Hebos and Ares rebel colonies have joined forces in order to take on Zatros Empire. They will be using the greatest fighting machines ever created, the War Tech Fighters. These mechs are state of the art, and engineered for space combat. Can the rebels defeat the evil empire?
Graphically War Tech Fighters is very impressive. Every mech is very detailed and there are tons of customization options. Each piece will look slightly different and you can color your mech any way you like as well. The giant space battles look great too. Lots of enemy ships, nicely detailed space and close quarters combat between mechs looks amazing. I didn’t notice any frame dips in this on docked or in handheld mode. The text is pretty tiny in handheld mode, so I found it pretty difficult to read at times.
In the audio department the music here is OK, but it’s nothing that really stands out either. It’s more or less what you expect to find in a typical action title. Dramatic music during the menus and some light metal for combat. I think the sound effects are the standout here. The sounds of machine gun fire, missiles whizzing through the air and amazing explosions fill your ears as you play. This really immerses you in the combat and makes the experience much better overall.
One of the best things about War Tech Fighters is how easy it is to pick up and play. The controls are all really simple, but the game does offer a tutorial if needed. You use the two analog sticks to fly around space, the top triggers fire your weapons and the face buttons have various functions like moving your mech up and down. While it is fun to fly around space blasting your foes to bits, sometimes you just want to get up and personal. When another mech is in range you can press X for some close quarters combat. Here you can have a couple of attacks, a block button and of course you can dodge attacks. These fights end with an impressive finishing move that never gets old.
Another huge draw of this game is the level of customization. Not only can you color your mech in a variety of different ways but there are a plethora of parts at your disposal to create your war machine anyway you like. There are different heads, arms, legs, torsos, shields, swords and more. These piece will affect your attributes. Some may give you more speed while cutting down on your damage, while others may cost you speed and give you more defense. I had a good time mixing and matching parts for functionality and style.
Not all parts will be available to you at the start. Some you will have to purchase the previous generation of that part to unlock the improved versions. Others will need a certain level or a certain resource you will find during missions. You may need to meet certain requirements in research as well. This is another area in your base where you put the best minds in rebellion hard at work on solutions. When certain requirements are met you can kick this crew some cash and gain some permanent stat buffs. These can really help and if find yourself stuck on a mission, a little grinding of the previous one and spending the cash on research can help out a whole lot.
While I don’t think War Tech Fighters is a perfect game, it’s certainly not a bad one. The story here is very lacking, but I feel like the action makes up for this. Combat here is a pure joy. It’s fast paced and very fluid. Slaying a whole horde of baddies you’d been having trouble with after an upgrade is pretty satisfying as well. The load times are huge drawback to this one, and I don’t really know how much replay value there would be here once you completed all of the missions. Still, for the $19.99 price tag I think fans of mecha will find a lot to love here.
