Mini eGuide: Hawken: What You Need To Know Before You Dive In

For months now, Adhesive Games has been pushing its free-to-play multiplayer mech combat game Hawken at various events, showing off its incredible graphic engine and its relentless action, which supports several players in city-based arena combat, with three different mech types and multiple weapons to choose from.  It really is a game that stands out from others in the free-to-play category, as it seems to be more on the level with console and PC-based first-person shooters.

The open beta kicks off on December 12 (you can sign up at www.playhawken.com), and promises hours upon hours of frivolous action between its various modes, including team deathmatch, free-for-all deathmatch, siege and more.  You’ll be able to fight your way through eight different maps, each one brimming with detail and no shortage of space in which to turn your buddies into scrap metal.

We’ve got a quick rundown guide for you here, one that talks about the various weapons that you can use in the game, as well as what you’ll need in your PC in order to make it run efficiently.  You’ve got some time to study up before the beta goes live, so treasure these quiet moments before you head off to make some noise against Hawken’s online community…

What You’ll Need

The minimum system requirements, taken from the main Hawken page, are as follows…

CPU: Dual Core 2.4 GHz or faster, or a Quad Core 2 GHz or faster

CPU with IGP: Dual core 2.8 GHz or faster second gen Intel or AMDQuad core 2.5 GHz or faster second gen Intel or AMD

RAM (Memory): 3 Gigs or more

Hard Drive space: As much as needed to install the game (game still in development)

Graphics Card: Most 3D cards paired with a good CPU should be able to run the game; with Windows Vista and Windows7 requirements, a 3D capable GPU is REQUIRED.

Intel: Any second generation card should be able to run it on the lowest settings

Intel CPU i5 series with IGP

Intel CPU i3 series with IGP

AMD/ATI Radeon series 6550 or better with 256 MB ram

Nvidia 450 or better

You might need to upgrade a few things, but in the long run, you’ll have this thing running smoothly with these specs.  Moving on…

Getting To Know Your Mechs

Hawken comes with three basic mech types – a light, an all-around and a heavy.  The heavy, as you might expect, comes with a ton of armor, but at the sacrifice of speed.  Meanwhile, the lighter scout models are good for getting a view of the land and engaging in quick, if not quite so powerful, combat.  The all-arounds are good for general combat, depending what you bring to the table.  And that leads us to…

Weapons Are Your Friend

In Hawken, you’ll have the opportunity to equip your mech unit with a variety of weapons.  The primary ones are fairly balanced, including a multi-firing Point-D Vulcan cannon, a burst-based Flak Cannon, the immense HEAT cannon, the SA Hawkins, the EOC Repeater, the Slug Rifle and the Assault Rifle.  It doesn’t hurt to mix these bad boys up and adapt to a style that fits how you play the game.  Are you a go-getter?  The Assault Rifle and Vulcan might do the trick.  A little slower on the assault?  Maybe the Flak Cannon is your thing.

Secondary weapons can also be used, including a Sabor Rifle (perfect for concentrated shots), a TOW Rocket, Hellfire Missiles (good if you’re in a group) and the grenade launcher.  Some have better firing ratio than others, but you can play around with your load-out before each match and see how you fare.

Skills

Skills are divided into three groups – Offense, Defense and Movement.  How you choose these skills, again, depends on your style of play.  Forward movers may want to balance the load between Offense and Movement, while more strategic types will rely better on Defense.

Offense

Offense ranges from helpful tactics on the battlefield, including Overheat Recovery and Special Weapon Fire, to more specific effects, like Increase Trace Damage and Increase Explosion.  Mixing these up with some weapons can really deliver quite the payoff.

Defense

Meanwhile, on Defense, you can use such techniques as Heal Start-Up Time, Repair rate (important when you’re constantly in low health) and Camouflage.  Smaller things like Radar Distance and Damage Reduction can also pay off for the right player.

Movement

Finally, Movement separates into a number of categories, including Reduce Dodge, Max Thruster Energy, Energy Capacity and Run Speed.  You’ll slowly but surely see the effects of these tools over time, so don’t expect a world of difference in just one match.  Stick with it, though.

Hawken has a lot to offer when it comes to both casual and hardcore audiences, and the fact that it doesn’t really cost anything to play is a nice touch.  Be sure to check it out when it launches later this week, over at http://www.playhawken.com.