Custom Mech Wars is the latest title for fans of the Japanese mecha and mecha assault genre. Developed by D3 Publishers, known for the Earth Defense Force series, the title sees players build specialized combat machines as part of the civilian-led Four Seven Squadron. While the title allows players to enjoy a B-movie-like narrative, Custom Mech Wars struggles to deliver a worthwhile experience due to repetition, poor graphics, and a number of frustrating gameplay issues that undermine the title’s core strengths. In a year that has already seen the release of mecha assault titles like Armored Core 6, these elements and their implementation make Custom Mech Wars seem like a relic of the past.

Custom Mech Wars follows a civilian pilot called Newby as he joins the Four Seven Squadron’s human-piloted G-Mech squadron. The squadron was developed in response to the impact of a giant comet on the Sun and an asteroid around Earth, which caused devastating natural disasters across the globe. This led to the abandonment of almost all major cities. Four Seven Squadron is tasked with protecting these cities as well as the countless command centers for Earth defense. A new threat soon emerges when a giant comet, codenamed “Asgard”, approaches Earth. The suddenness and absurdity of the “natural” disasters in

Custom Mech Wars is one of the most fascinating features of the title. In the title’s introductory mission alone, a comet triggers earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, causing the AI-equipped G-Mech to malfunction and go berserk. After defeating the rogue G-Mech, it’s revealed that the malfunction caused a zombie virus to spread throughout the defeated G-Mechs, bringing them back to life. Custom Mech Wars shines as a work that embraces the absurd; however, the novelty of this element is soon replaced by a number of glaring problems, especially when players control their own G-Mechs.

As the title suggests, the G-Mech is the star of the show in Custom Mech Wars, and fans can add as many (or as few) attachments to their own ‘Mechs as they progress through the story. Whether fans dream of creating a gigantic fighting machine with ten arms and twenty rifles, or a small, agile anime mech with two swords, Custom Mech Wars allows fans to collect, craft, and combine the parts needed to bring them to life in the title’s hangar and research facility. Players can create up to four interchangeable G-Mechs, which can be swapped out at will during each mission. As has become standard across the mech genre, the only thing limiting these designs is weight, as adding parts to a G-Mech changes its mobility and combat effectiveness. Additionally, players can customize their G-Mech’s HUD, adding various displays and radar elements to the view as they play.

Exploration and mobility elements in Custom Mech Wars mirror the player’s design, with specific combinations of G-Mech parts altering the player’s ability to navigate each battlefield appropriately, with varying effects. Notably, the title’s level design doesn’t allow for the full range of customization options, so the size and combination of a G-Mech’s legs can greatly affect its ability to complete a mission. A player’s G-Mech may be perfectly suited to an open battlefield, but completely unable to maneuver in an urban landscape, revealing a key combination of key issues in Custom Mech Wars.

Custom Mech Wars’ most obvious problem is the graphics and level design, which are underused at best and completely detrimental to gameplay at worst. Despite the B-movie quality of the story, Custom Mech Wars has no themes or in-engine cutscenes, and all dialogue and narrative explanations are presented only in text form with Japanese narration. These texts contain more than just a few spelling and grammatical errors. While only a minor nuisance in theory, these typos are further evidence of the overall lack of polish players experience throughout the game.

Custom Mech Wars’ missions are marred by poor graphics, with enemy G-Mechs, environments, and combat animations similar to those found in games from the early 2000s. Similarly, enemy variety is low, aside from a few truly inspired and highly unusual G-Mechs that appear in the endgame missions. Custom Mech Wars’ graphics make enemy encounters feel repetitive and unnecessary. In each level, players are dropped into a sandbox-style battlefield where waves of enemies appear out of nowhere. These battlefields range from flat, empty desert environments to dense cityscapes, with every level type sharing a quiet emptiness. The same four battlefields are used across Custom Mech Wars’ 40 story missions, with the only difference being whether the level is sunny or foggy that day. However, the true extent of the problem can only be explained by analyzing the title’s combat and mission objectives.

Custom Mech Wars’ combat gives players little guidance on how to deal with enemy combatants, which reinforces the title’s emphasis on customization. Each mission can be set to a different difficulty level, from Easy to Very Hard, allowing players to attempt each mission at the difficulty level they desire. However, the title encourages players to complete the missions on the highest difficulty level possible, which rewards them with access to all G-Mech parts they have earned by completing all previous difficulties. Custom Mech Wars warns players early on that playing on Easy may leave them stuck later in the game without having collected enough parts. Additionally, players earn a rank from S to D for completing each mission, which unlocks further rewards.

The combat itself is fairly simple, with the player using a separate button to fire each type of weapon. Whether they are an assault rifle or a 20, pressing the button to fire the G-Mech’s primary weapon will fire that type of weapon. The same applies to melee weapons, automatic weapons, and target acquisition weapons. During combat, the player can pick up special items that provide certain advantages for a limited time. Examples: “No Damage”, “Unlimited” Ammo, “Acceleration”, and “Boost Up”, which greatly affect combat. These items are crucial to the player’s success, as many play a direct role in replenishing ammo, albeit for a limited time.

Although Custom Mech Wars has many story missions, there is little variety in both combat and objectives. Regardless of the story’s major plot points or the narrative objective of each mission, each level in Custom Mech Wars pits the player against waves of enemies in open battle, with the same objective appearing three to four times per mission: “Destroy all enemies!” In early levels, the player must defeat dozens of enemies in a certain amount of time to find a way out. However, in each level after the tutorial, the player simply encounters more of these enemies who attack in the same way. Near the end of Custom Mech Wars’ 40 levels, the player must defeat hundreds of the title’s few enemy G-Mech types before time runs out.

Players’ G-Mechs can be equipped with a variety of parts and weapons, making taking down hundreds of enemies as easy as taking down a dozen. If players keep moving and avoid incoming projectiles, even the most fearsome enemies can be taken down with ease. Additionally, pilots can abandon their G-Mechs to activate diversionary turrets across the battlefield to keep enemies at bay. However, Custom Mech Wars’ myriad issues make certain combat scenarios extremely frustrating. First, any G-Mech, regardless of size or parts, can instantly come to a halt if it comes into contact with a highway overpass, street light, tree, rock, sidewalk, or a friendly G-Mech. Additionally, a single projectile can destroy the player’s G-Mech, forcing the player to flee on foot, summon another G-Mech, and get away before the enemy can fire on the inactive replacement.

A key element of the difficulty settings in Custom Mech Wars has to do with friendly fire, making allies a particular problem in combat. Even on the simplest setting, friendly fire damage is set by the title at 10% and applies in both directions. Players often lose progress to friendly fire, either through the loss of a G-Mech which impacts mission rank, or the death of an entire squadron due to repeated friendly fire. Players and allies can take damage from accidentally hitting a crossfire or simply bumping into each other while walking. In a title that requires the player to constantly accelerate or dodge, both will happen all the time.

Though not yet available at the time of review, the final version of Custom Mech Wars will include a multiplayer mode that allows players to complete the game’s missions alongside other players. Allied G-Mechs are present in all 40 levels of the story mode, but are not nearly as effective, so it stands to reason that this mode could solve some of the title’s biggest problems. Not only will communication skills give players a way to avoid friendly fire and conflict, but combat at higher difficulty levels could provide a fun challenge for teams of players looking to achieve an S-rank on all Very Hard levels. It remains to be seen whether the multiplayer mode will include its own missions. If so, this mode could prove to be one of the most appealing aspects of Custom Mech Wars’ repetitive gameplay loop.

Custom Mech Wars offers players who value a lengthy story mode a wide range of customization options to create the G-Mech of their dreams. With a B-movie feel, the title impresses with an underlying charm and silliness that proves refreshing in a genre filled with overly serious warfare elements. Unfortunately, once the appeal of Custom Mech Wars’ initial customization options and crazy story fades, players will have little reason to continue creating. With the promise of a multiplayer component in the final release, the title may offer something that a select few players will enjoy. However, as a single-player experience, Custom Mech Wars lacks the overall polish and gameplay elements to justify the time required by players who want to experience the full scope of the title’s concept.