Mecha Break, the recently released free-to-play mecha shooter from Amazing Seasun Games, is a hell of a lot of fun. The minute I learned of its existence, I knew I’d be devoting a great deal of time to beating up giant robots with my own giant robot. I did not, however, expect to be devoting a great deal of time to the game’s character creator.
After all, the mechs are ostensibly the star of the show here. Aside from a few brief moments in cutscenes, players don’t spend a whole lot of time looking at their player-character, a human pilot, as these pilots naturally spend most of their time hanging out inside the aforementioned giant robots.
But the lack of player-character screen-time certainly hasn’t stopped me from treating Mecha Break like it’s Infinity Nikki, because holy smokes, this game has one of the best character creators I’ve encountered in recent memory. At this point, I’d rather funnel my creative urges into Mecha Break’s wildly customizable character-builder than spend hours messing around in The Sims 4’s Create-A-Sim mode.
The amount of detail is what truly blows me away. Like many games with character creators, Mecha Break allows you to choose from a series of pre-made characters and tweak them to your liking. Hair, eye, and skin color can all be altered, and frankly, given how little screen-time Mecha Break’s pilots get, Amazing Seasun Games could have just left it at that. But instead of tossing in a few customization options and calling it a day, Mecha Break’s developers went in a completely different direction. In addition to editing your pilot’s body shape, you can also significantly adjust their height. As a 5’3” woman who frequently finds herself balanced on her toes in real life, it’s incredibly cool to see my equally-short Mecha Break pilot climbing into an enormous mech.
Mecha Break’s character creator isn’t just good, it’s phenomenal. Frankly, it’s better than the character creators offered by most modern single-player RPGs. Mecha Break takes standard character-creation features — like multi-colored hair options, for example — and elevates them. Players can adjust their pilot’s hair color and its length. Bangs can be adjusted separately, allowing players to create short fringe or anime-esque hairstyles with chin-length bangs. Every single part of a character’s eye can be tweaked, from the thickness and angle of various parts of their eyelids to the length of their eyelashes and shape of their eyebrows. Skin texture options range from rough and grizzled to baby-smooth. Every part of the face can be molded with precision. You can even adjust the length of your pilot’s fingers, a feature I’ve never personally seen in any game’s character creator.
Best of all? Most of the game’s customization options are free. Players must use Mission Tokens — a plentiful in-game currency earned just by playing the game — to unlock different colors for their character’s bodysuit, but when it comes to body tweaks like height, hairstyle, and eye color, there’s no charge. Additional items (like outfits) can be purchased from the in-game store using real money, but I was able to customize my pilot to my liking without spending any real-life cash.
There are some limitations, of course. The game’s mechs (called Strikers) ironically have far fewer options for customization, despite ostensibly being the stars of the show. Some pilot hairstyles require real-life money to purchase, and the range of skin tones and body shapes does leave a bit to be desired. But for a free-to-play game that hasn’t even been out for a week, Mecha Break’s character customization is absolutely incredible, and offers players the ability to craft their ideal pilot with surgical precision.
Mecha Break isn’t a fashion game, a life-sim, and an MMO, or an RPG. But when it comes to character creation and customization, the game about giant, flying robots still manages to beat franchises like Infinity Nikki, The Sims, and Cyberpunk 2077 at their own game, which is no small feat. Mecha Break is obviously a fantastic game for fans of giant robots, but it’s also a hidden gem for those of us who love to play dress-up.
