Today's the day for Mecha BREAK, which is a new free-to-play title launching exclusively on Xbox and PC, and the beta ended up proving extremely popular ahead of release - so we're assuming the same will happen post-release.
That said, Mecha BREAK has launched to "mixed" reviews over on Steam in the first few hours, with players enjoying the game itself but grumbling about the microtransactions that are present in the final version. To be fair to the developer, it seems they're only charging for cosmetic items, but this still hasn't gone down well with some players.
Vellie on Steam: "Was a huge fan of both the betas that came out, but instantly lost all desire to even start up a game after seeing how much of the customization that was in the beta being either removed entirely, or added behind a paywall and user marketplace. Don't even get me started on the 50 dollar bundle of skins that cannot be customized."
Kura on Steam: "Look, if you're here for the cool mech fighting, the awesome mechanics, and the immersive gameplay, you're gonna have a good time. But if you concentrate on their monetization practices, from a certain standpoint you do have to understand it's a free game and we're getting way more than what we bargained for in the beta in terms of gameplay."
There are definitely mixed viewpoints on Steam, then, but what about the professional reviews? The likes of IGN, Polygon and others have been sharing impressions over the past 24 hours, although many of them aren't scored yet.
Here's a sample of those professional reviews for Mecha BREAK so far:
IGN
"So far it’s made a good first impression. I’ve come away liking the little moments, and the stories I’ve already been a part of in a short session. Now we just have to figure out if Mecha Break has the juice to keep telling them for the long haul."
Polygon
"Regardless of what the future has in store for Mecha Break, there’s potential here, if only as an on-ramp to the genre. At the end of the day, Mecha Break accomplishes the one thing it needed to: give you a giant robot, and make you feel like a badass for piloting it."
GamingBolt
"Even if it isn't a ground-breaking endeavor in the world of objective-based multiplayer shooters, Mecha BREAK is a competently put-together package that mecha fans will enjoy."
All in all, it sounds like people are enjoying their time with Mecha BREAK despite the grumbles about microtransactions, and the same goes for reviews on the Xbox Store - they're generally positive with a few negatives here and there.
It's harder to grasp how the Xbox community feels because of how much spam tends to litter the Xbox Store's review sections, but for what it's worth, Mecha BREAK has a 3.8/5 rating on the US Xbox Store at the time of writing.
Anyway, it's best to make your mind up for yourself! Mecha BREAK is now free-to-play on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and PC, and you can even get some free in-game goodies via the Xbox Game Pass Perks program as well.