MechAssault

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MechAssault is a 2002 Xbox action/shooter game developed by Day 1 Studios and FASA Studio, and published by Microsoft. It was one of the first games to support online multiplayer on Xbox Live. A sequel, MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf, was released in 2004. Both games take place in the BattleTech universe, where pilots operate large, heavily armed walking machines called BattleMechs.

Plot
You are a BattleMech pilot for Wolf's Dragoons on the planet Helios. After your ship, the Icarus, is shot down, you learn that the Word of Blake cult has invaded Helios and rules it with an iron fist under Commander Strader. Led by Major Natalia, with help from techie Foster, you fight the cult, aim to liberate Helios, and kill Strader.

Gameplay
MechAssault supports both single-player and multiplayer modes. It was one of the first Xbox games to use Xbox Live for online play, with features like Quick Match to join any game and Optimatch to join specific kinds of sessions. Players could also host online games and invite friends. Online support continued on Xbox Live until 2010 and later returned on replacement servers called Insignia.

Modes
- Grinder (local play, up to two players): survive as more Mechs spawn in.
- Destruction: deathmatch or team deathmatch with Mechs.
- Last Man Standing: free-for-all with no respawns as a Mech; dead players become infantry.
- Capture the Flag: team-based objective.
- Elemental/Giant Killers: player-created variants that became official modes.

Reception and sales
MechAssault received generally favorable reviews. It was praised for its online play and won several Xbox online awards from GameSpot, including Best Online Game on Xbox and Best Shooter on Xbox. In Japan, it released in 2003 and earned a 28/40 from Famitsu. By 2006, the game had sold about 750,000 copies in the U.S. and earned around $26 million there, with the MechAssault series totaling about 1.1 million units sold.