Yesterday, the first-person shooter Hawken Reborn was released. One day after the Early Access launch, there are already over 900 reviews on Steam – only 21% of them are positive.
On May 16, we reported on MeinMMO about Hawken Reborn and the content. The character customization based on the gigantic battle machines sounded particularly interesting. The announced story mode also piqued curiosity. But the excitement quickly faded.
What disappoints Hawken Reborn? In the reviews on Steam, the new free-to-play shooter is being criticized. The story, which feels impersonal to many players, as well as the environment, are particularly criticized. Some even found the graphics in the 2013 Hawken better than those of today. “yoshi” writes in his review on Steam:
I don’t mind that it’s only PvE, but what bothers me is that nothing resembles the previous game. The movement, the sound, the user interface, the animations, the weapons… everything is different and bland.
The display (HUD) is unintuitive and ugly compared to the original HUD. The movement and controls do not feel like they did before, when you could feel the weight of the mech.
“yoshi” on Steam
Here you can watch the trailer for Hawken Reborn:
It is also criticized that the characters in the comic-style cutscenes look like they were generated by AI. In fact, the facial features look different every time, especially the mouth and teeth.
It also seems that the woman changed her earrings for each scene:
Boring Gameplay, Odd Controls
First opinions about Hawken Reborn were published on Reddit and do not sound much better. “hirmuolio” writes in a subreddit that the movement in the mech feels bad. The mouse speed seems to be buggy and remains too fast despite changes. The cockpit sways too much when moving, the turn speed is too fast.
The gameplay is boring. Enemies spawn, you kill them, until they stop spawning. This is the only goal, nothing changes even when you complete the actual mission objective. “hirmuolio” also finds the level design boring. It is an open field with few structures.
The movement felt strange, the mech only reacted shortly after I moved the mouse – and then way too fast. The missions also seem completely arbitrary and achieving the goals feels unsatisfying. After the first task, everything felt repetitive. Fly off, kill all enemies, come back, repair the mech, take on the next mission.
And someone was constantly talking without me even knowing who all these people are and what role they play. Meanwhile, a stressful music played continuously that reminded me of YouTube ads where mobile games are shown.
I find it unfortunate that the game only has English text and voice output. Even if you have good English skills, it is difficult to follow the texts while being busy with other things.
Is there still hope for Hawken Reborn? Since the developers have planned the Early Access for 12-18 months, it is quite possible that a lot will change in the game. However, whether players will still be interested in the shooter then is another question.
It is worth noting that the shooter is free. With its almost 9 GB, it also loads quickly – and can be uninstalled just as quickly.
This shooter is also currently disappointing many fans because a popular mode has been removed.
