[VR Game Review] Air Mech Command: The first MOBA for VR, and You're a Transforming Robot

I like MOBAs. I like transforming robots. These are two great tastes that taste great together! I'm really more of a traditional RTS guy, but in my search for that genre on Oculus Home I discovered nothing in the way of a VR RTS. Tower Defense, sure, plenty of those. Not really the same though. MOBAs are close enough however, and I was delighted to discover that this one is a real treat to play.

Air Mech Command is in fact a modern reimagining of a classic multiplayer Sega Genesis title, Herzog Zwei. There is no base building or resource collection to speak of, but you can commission the construction of units, direct them to approach and attack the enemy, or just manually carry them three or four at a time to where you want them.

Constructing turrets will result in their automatic placement on pre-determined points around each base. You can exceed that number of turrets, but any extras must be manually (and judiciously) placed. Simply looking up shifts focus to the bar where you select which unit to build. Queue them up for construction, then use the d-pad to issue commands after selecting the units you want with the B button.

Mind you, selecting units is done (like most actions in this game) with your flying mech. There's a variety of mechs in the game. Each transforms with a press of the left trigger into a different aircraft and has a different set of attacks which are not just minor reskins but strategically very, very different from each other. Which mech you main will determine in large part your play style.

The aircraft have simple twinstick shooter controls where the left stick flies your aircraft around and the right stick shoots in whatever direction you want independently of vehicle movement. This also applies while on ground in mech form. There's also a secondary attack for both the aircraft form and the mech form which differs from one mech to the next, often some form of melee.

To capture a base you will first need to vacate it. There are four spots that troops can occupy which then act as turrets. After killing all four, the base can be entered and captured by your own troops. It takes four to capture, and no other unit can capture a base, so make sure it's safe before you deliver your vulnerable little infantry units to a freshly pacified base.

In this way, you advance base by base towards the enemy stronghold. Damage the enemy stronghold enough and you win. I'd have liked it to explode spectacularly or something, but one can't have everything I suppose. If your own mech is damaged, you can hover in aircraft mode over any of your bases to heal it, though you can only do this as an aircraft, not as a mech. If you're destroyed, you will be rebuilt at your main stronghold.

You can literally see the other person you're playing against as a humanoid figure at the opposite end of the battlefield, which I thought was a cool touch. While the visible portion of the battlefield is limited to what's within your scope (this game's equivalent of fog of war), you can see radar blips which appear on the rim wall around the edge, indicating how many enemies are approaching and from which direction.

There is a singleplayer of sorts, but only a few levels long. Really just a tutorial. Not to fret if you don't know anybody with a Rift (currently this game is a timed Rift exclusive, sorry Vive owners) once you finish that tutorial the much, much wider array of multiplayer maps are all immediately available to you for practicing against the AI. In the process you will ear Kudos, an ingame currency which can be spent upgrading your mech or buying other (mostly cosmetic) perks.

I really love this game. I have a weak spot for strategy titles. But your enjoyment of this game will hinge in large part on whether you have a friend to play it against. Otherwise there's not much here but endless AI battles, and the cool looking upgrades aren't going to impress an AI.

For that reason I give AirMech Command a 7.5/10 if you only play against the AI, or don't like strategy. The actual human versus human multiplayer is where the real fun is, that deserves a 9/10 but of course hinges on you having friends who also have Rifts and their own copies of this game.

At $40 I can only recommend this game in good faith if you are in a position to regularly enjoy the multiplayer with a friend. In that case it's well worth it as one of the few really compelling multiplayer titles for the Rift right now. But otherwise, if you just plan to play versus the AI in practice mode, I can't recommend it at the current price.

^{Screenshots credit to Oculus, wallpaper credit to Carbon Games}