I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started playing Mini-Mech Mayhem. I knew FuturLab was the developer which spiked my interest. FuturLab is the company behind the awesome Velocity and Velocity 2X. If this game was anywhere near that I knew it would be good. Sadly, Mini-Mech Mayhem is nothing like the fast-paced action-packed Velocity. Instead, it’s more like a slow-paced board game than anything else.
Victory points
Mini-Mech Mayhem by FuturLab tries to merge VR gaming and tactical board game in one cute looking package. Your goal is to guide your robot through a grid-based maze towards a goal while avoiding hazards. Instead of directly controlling the movements of the robot, you get to program the movement in advance. First, you put in 3 commands after which you press start and hopefully see your robot execute the desired movements. If the goal hasn’t been reached, you get another round consisted out of 3 commands. After you’ve eventually reached the goal you get a victory point and the board/maze resets. Get 3 victory points and you win a game. Afterward, you are rewarded with some experience which works towards buying new apparel for yourself and your robot.
The competition
While this principle of “programming” your robot’s movements might sound a bit too basic, you also have competition. Up to 4 players will compete simultaneously to try to make your job not so easy. Since one robot can only occupy one space, there’s bound to be some bumping into each other. This bumping can even result in a robot falling in a pit. If you happen to be the one who delivers the final push, you gain an additional victory point. Making the whole getting to the goal part, not the only source to win this game. To spice things up a little more, Mini-Mech Mayhem also incorporates some shooting action. Each round allows you to either perform 2 moves and 1 shooting action or 2 shooting actions and one move. If you happen to finish off the last life of possible three from any of your opponents, you’ll also gain a victory point.
Ensuing Mayhem
With so many things earning you victory points what follows is sure to be called Mayhem. Since each player enters their 3 commands before the action starts, there’s no way of knowing what will happen when everything unfolds. Herein lies one of the biggest problems. Sometimes you plan to shoot another robot based on their position at the start. When that robot moves, you end up shooting in thin air instead of delivering that fatal blow. This makes the outcome of your action very much random. To win, you have to predict the movements of your opponents in advance because once the gears are in motion, you can’t do much else than watch. To me, this felt like a game which has some great tactical mechanics but in the end, decided to let it mostly come down to luck. This doesn’t mean Mini-Mech Mayhem can’t be enjoyed but it probably means I won’t be playing this for a long time since there is not really a way to get better at it.
Power cards
The only way you can influence the outcome of a round in Mini-Mech Mayhem is when you’re using Power cards. These cards are the only thing that can be used during a round to get the upper hand once you see your plan isn’t unfolding as you meant it. The problem with these cards is that they cost a certain amount of “energy”. Playing a few rounds will get you that energy but this means that the higher-powered cards are only usable later in the game. By the time you get to use your epic move, it might already be too late. Better thought out use of these cards would’ve made a big difference in my opinion. Although the luck factor would’ve been still present, the outcome could be influenced more giving a sense of control.
Multiplayer
I play board games with friends on a regular basis. The social aspect of playing these games might be the best part about them. Mini-Mech Mayhem can be played in single player mode but is definitely meant to be played in multiplayer. Making this game a VR game might actually be its biggest downfall. At the time of this review, I couldn’t get a multiplayer session started. Although this is not uncommon with early review copies, I fail to see how this game will gather enough of a player pool to make multiplayer games regularly available. I would’ve chosen to ditch the VR part of this title completely to give this game the most opportunity for a thriving online community. I fear this game will be a bit too niche to really be more than a short-lived single player affair.
Conclusion
The game takes an original board game idea and puts it in VR. The VR looks fine and the game controls as it should with both the move and the DualShock controller. I still find this game could’ve easily done without the VR and as such maybe even get a better chance of getting an online community going. The originality of the game can’t hide the fact that the balance isn’t well thought off. If FuturLab could come up with a way to lessen the luck factor that would really benefit the longevity of the game. As it stands right now, I think I’ve seen enough after a few games.
