Jump inside a Battle Frame (fancy way of saying mech) and prepare for some twitchy, fast-paced aerial combat

Nov 5, 2014 15:18 GMT  ·  By

Taking to the skies has always been man's dream, in one form or another, and now that we're so accustomed to traveling by aircraft that it's become boring, we're setting our sights on the future of aerial human transportation, battle mechs.

Project Nimbus is an indie aerial combat game that enables you to live that fantasy today, albeit in a more conflict-heavy manner, that also requires that you shoot down the pesky opposition in rather large numbers.

The game is currently available on Steam Early Access, having been just released for the public after concluding a successful Kickstarter campaign earlier this year.

It all takes place in the future, when the war for resources has taken on a whole new form, with Earth devastated after a world-spanning conflagration almost destroyed the entirety of the planet's habitable surface.

Man took to the skies, living in giant floating fortresses, divided into three factions warring for the remnants of Earth. You are the pilot of a Battle Frame, a gigantic mech that soars through the air, armed to the teeth and ready to take on all enemies.

What Project Nimbus is all about

Project Nimbus offers a single-player campaign and a survival mode that lets you choose one Battle Frame and then attempt to take down as many consecutive waves of enemies as possible, with the odds growing against you with each subsequent squadron you take down.

The single-player campaign takes you through the basic controls and then throws you right into the action, scrambling for your life and deftly navigating through the air, piloting your huge robot to the best of your abilities.

The levels are pretty open and seem vacant, due to the fact that you spend most of your time in the air, chasing distant blips on your radar, and only seldom getting close enough to actually inspect your targets, at which point you're most likely scrambling and dodging too fast for sightseeing anyway.

Although things are a bit hectic, the game captures the high-speed essence of the mech fighting genre pretty well, enabling you to fly freely across the open skies and to pursue your prey however you see fit.

You have a host of missiles, rail guns and machine guns to employ against the assailants, and you have to actively dodge incoming projectiles, never standing still. This focus on rapid movement and the hale of projectiles coming from both your enemies and your allies makes gameplay a bit confusing at times.

Thankfully, your hi-tech mech is smart enough to be able to lock onto targets and then lead them while shooting projectiles, ensuring that most of your shots hit their mark, without you having to jump through hoops to take down even the most basic of enemies.

A simple but satisfying experience

Unfortunately, you can't customize your payload, and there are no relevant decisions to be made in order to convey player agency or to provide a more in-depth experience, so you're mostly there for a rollercoaster ride.

Overall, the mechanics are pretty satisfying, although the game is still a bit rough around the edges – the version available now is only an alpha. This is certainly something that fans of hectic action and high-speed maneuvering can sink their teeth into.

The ability to employ boosters for quick lateral dodges, getting out of the way of incoming missiles and projectiles, is also something that the developers have nailed when it comes to how an airborne mech should work.

That being said, the enemies aren't really as challenging as they should be, being mostly cannon fodder, presenting almost no threat to you, with the exception of the bosses, which require a more dextrous approach, due primarily to their generous health pools and their strong attacks, that can actually harm you if you don't do your best to dodge them.

But since the game has just been released on Early Access, there's plenty of time to further polish the experience. For the time being, it shows enough potential to hit the spot for mech enthusiasts who are pining for a new video game focusing on fast-paced aerial combat.

Project Nimbus screenshots (17 Images)

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