Capture The DownloadAssault
CTF, two new maps, two new units.
Another round of downloadable MechAssault content has made it onto Xbox Live, introducing Capture The Flag (and a couple of corresponding maps) to the proceedings along with a couple of new mechs. CTF works really well, and the two new maps are pretty good - Midtown Mayhem has one team up on a hill and another on a lower plain with hilly cover and an urban cityscape in-between. In our first game this urban playground quickly disappeared as gangs of Ragnoraks and the new Loki and Hellbringer mechs crept through it with autocannons and flamers blazing. The other map is Desert Storm, which has some narrow causeways and chokepoints, perfect for shooting up the enemy.
As fans will have been anticipating, CTF in MechAssault benefits greatly from the light and speedy Raven and Corvus models introduced last time, but it'll be a while before the best team dynamic establishes itself. As for the new units; Loki's triple crossbows, dual autocannons and dual pulse lasers make for a mean firefight, and Hellbringer also fares pretty well with a flamer, dual autocannons of its own and a javelin missile.
Other changes in this update include a new on-screen voice indicator and a much-needed rematch option.
The question now is whether we'll get some more extras (we'd like some more CTF maps to go with these two) before Day 1 abandons MA in favour of working on the inevitable sequel. Let's hope so.