The game's fun too, while it lasts; and while it brings nothing new to the mech-fighting genre, it's an entertaining romp nonetheless. You control a third-generation HIGH-MACS, which is this world's mecha of choice. They're fast as hell, and come standard with both a basic gun and a missile launcher. As you complete levels, you pick up Option Boxes. These often contain things like new guns, objects to add to the (pointless but cool) database, and so on. You can select these optional parts for missions, but they're used up once you use them, so you've got to ration them carefully.
Each mission has a specific goal. For example, in the Cape Canaveral mission, you've got to destroy all enemies in three different locations and then blow up the Space Shuttle. In the Greece mission, you've got to keep the bad guys from approaching the hill. And so on. You've got to make sure that most of what you're doing is for the mission -- each one is timed, and if you don't complete it in the time allotted, you fail the mission. I had problems with the Cape Canaveral mission because I kept forgetting to go to one of the bases. The HUD keeps track of how many 'mission' enemies you still have to kill, which is handy.
As for the game itself, it's pretty standard mecha fare. You run, turn, and shoot things up. The analog control is absolutely spot-on, with wonderful responsiveness and ease of use. You switch weapons and fire with the shoulder buttons, which takes all of ten seconds to get used to. And you can jump, which is cool, but you have to wait for it to recharge if you jump a whole lot.
There's nothing that really stands out in this game and makes you go 'wow,' but the game as a whole is a whole lot of fun. The sum of the parts is definitely greater than the parts themselves.
