Mechanic Infantry is the first indie game release by Slak Games; a small French independent game development studio. The team did a good job for their first release. In this game you are a television with arms and legs, and of course a face, living in a world run by machines. However, for unknown reasons your people lose all their power generators and therefore are left unprotected from the big monsters who hunt them down. It is your job to help save your fellow TV people from these monsters and repair the generators.
Mechanic Infantry is made in the style of a classic 2D platformer, and it brings you five worlds with ten levels each. Yes, it is kind of a short game but it is very addictive. You will find yourself losing track of all time as you navigate through the levels trying to find all five of your people in each level and get them to safety while outrunning a big monster. The monsters that chase after you are not stopped by anything. They can even just run unharmed through obstacles that would kill the player. The only thing on going for you is that they will follow the path that you take.
Not only are there monsters chasing after you, but there are also lasers, floating orbs, and guns – all of which will kill you instantly upon contact. Afterwards, players will respawn at the start of the level without so much as a pause. You will also die if you end up running into the monster or even just get too close to it. This was a little annoying because there were a couple of times that the monster was very close to me but was not touching me and the level restarted.
It is kind of nice that you don’t have to play the levels in each world in any kind of order. So if there is one level that you just can’t seem to get through, just skip it. Since you only need to rescue 25 of your people in each world to unlock the next stage, the game moves pretty fast. However, once you enter the second world you will already be thinking: ‘Didn’t I just do this level?’ There are many levels that feel like they are exactly the same as others but with just a different colored background and a few more lasers and other obstacles thrown in your way.
The controls are very simple to this game; mastering them is just a matter of using the arrow keys properly. At first I was kind of happy to see that there was an auto wall jump, but that changed. In order for the wall jump to actually work, you have to be completely up against a wall. If you are even the smallest bit away from it, it won’t work, and then chances are you will be eaten and sent back to the start. Also, there is not a pause button. Sure each level is very short, but it would have been nice to be able to pause the game if you needed to.
Overall the game is enjoyable. If you like platformers then you will like Mechanic Infantry. Even though it is a short game you will find yourself getting lost in it, and when you finish the story mode you can play the survival mode and see just how many of your people you can save.
