DownloadAssault begins

As anybody who isn't a jaded cynic or blinkered fanboy will know, MechAssault is a damn fine multiplayer game with an engaging single player diversion. But as hundreds of thousands of gamers the world over blast one another into smithereens, Day 1 Studios continue to beaver away on the promised downloadable content, and purse-string-holder Microsoft has confirmed that it will roll out starting the first week of January.

It's not clear how the extras will be distributed, at what rate or in what quantity, but we do know what specifically we'll be getting our hands on! To start with, we're looking at a bastardisation of the hot-as-hell single player maps Hell's Kitchen, with its fields of molten rock and unhelpful lack of water. Bad news for fans of the heavies. However, two new mechs will join the fray; the lightweight Raven with the ability to remain invisible for a considerable period, and the equally light Corvus, the Raven's opaque equivalent with a considerable arsenal to compensate.

And both will be extremely useful in the freshly announced Capture The Flag mode. Having spent the last few weeks enjoying it in Unreal Championship, it seems inconceivable that mech-based CTF won't take off in a big way, and the Raven sounds like an ideal flag-runner. Happy New Year, eh?