REVIEW - Override 2: Super Mech League Is A Partial Knockout
Almost the Real Steel.
By Jonathan Garrett
06/01/21
Reviewed on Xbox Series X.
Review copy provided by Modus.
Override 2: Super Mech League is beset with contradiction. When you strip back the clunky level design and occasionally awkward animation, you’ll find a surprisingly addicting brawler that means well. It’s always a treat to discover a game that knows what it's trying to be, although that can’t excuse some lingering issues that hamper the experience.
Setting your expectations will definitely help; while you’re afforded a nice selection of moves and special attacks, fights can often devolve into spamming basic combos. So, much like every fighting game in the history of time, repetition can be an issue. However, it’s a faster game than the original, with both movement and attack speed given a noticeable bump.
This at least gives you an opportunity to use space and movement to your advantage without getting too overwhelmed. When the combat clicks, and you manage to combine blocking, dashing, and good positioning to best your opponent, the fun is undeniable. Attacks feel heavy, with strong audio design that hammers home the weight of your strikes.
Graphically, Override 2 is on par with its predecessor, and is therefore functional but unremarkable. The one on one circular arenas offer the cleanest fights, but on the whole, maps lean too heavily on more fantastical environments that feature too many moving parts. It tends to make things overly chaotic, and since being able to keep track of the action is a fundamental aspect of good balance, it can be a tad frustrating.
The camera is also a contentious element, working perfectly well in two player fights but completely falling apart when more combatants are introduced. Target switching becomes a hot mess, and even the sturdiest of stomachs will feel queasy as it bounces between each challenger. The four player skirmishes are easily the weakest element of the game, amplifying the problems with clarity, animation, and level structure.
Thankfully, online 1v1 matches load quickly and with consistent performance, the character designs are interesting, and there’s enjoyment to be found in its broad simplicity. Override 2: Super Mech League might be a tad uneven, and in desperate need of tighter polishing, but I can’t deny that there’s definitely something here.
Now THAT’s how you key art.
WORTH IT?
At the bottom of every game review, we ask the question: Worth it? And the answer is either “Yeah!” or “Nah”, followed by a comment that sums up how we feel. In order to provide more information, we also have “And” or “But”, which follows up our rating with further clarification, additional context for a game we love, or perhaps a redeeming quality for a game we didn’t like.
YEAH!
Override 2: Super Mech League is an enjoyable slapstick brawler with its heart in the right place.
BUT
The camera is an absolute demon at times, and character animation is extremely basic.
TARPS?
At the bottom of some of our articles, you’ll see a series of absurd looking images (with equally stupid, in joke laden names). These are the TARP badges, which represent our ‘Totally Accurate Rating Platform’. They allow us to identify specific things, recognise positive or negative aspects of a games design, and generally indulge our consistent silliness with some visual tomfoolery.
