The first thing we liked about Heavy Gear II is the plot. First, it has one. Second, by both licensing the Heavy Gear concept, and getting someone good to do the job, the plot is really good. We're not going to go into details because we don't want to ruin anything, but basically, you command an elite strike force being used to protect from and go offense against, invaders from Earth. Even if the game play wears on you, the intricate and intelligent plot of Heavy Gear II will keep you going for more.
The control of Heavy Gear is the part we liked the least. The default key layout is playable, but seems to be designed for left handed players. This wouldn't be a problem except that it takes a long time to reprogram all the buttons, and we had some glitch where it didn't work the first time for us. We didn't bother trying a second time. The problem is piloting control. The feel of which way your mech is going and which way you are facing is poor. It's difficult to do the gamed "circle-of-death," and like most games, without the circle, you're in trouble. Fortunately, aiming your guns is easy, and that is the most important part, so the difficult control did not ruin the game at all. It just makes it less than optimum.
"Hold on." you're saying. "The control ain't so hot but it doesn't matter?" Well, yes. Because of the level design, you tend not to get into direct confrontations. You instead get to fire from afar much of the time. By the end of Heavy Gear II, you'll be an excellent sniper, we assure you. Remember that you're a part of a special forces group. Special forces don't work on the open field, they work on covert missions, vastly outnumbered, and have to use superior tactics to win. So even if you walk into things now and then, rarely do you have to dodge missiles, so control is not so important.
