Mecharon - Flash-based Action Shooter

Mecharon is a Flash animation action shooter created by Newgrounds.com crew episodeent. This run and gun adventure was submitted to Newgrounds.com on January 19, 2010 and won a Daily Feature award on January 20, 2010.

Game Background

Mecharon has been created to find a planet that is suitable for life. Because of global problems, such as pollution, wars, diseases, and a lack of resources, your world turned to killing and conquering other races and other worlds. Use Mecharon to accomplish this mission.

Gameplay

The objective of Mecharon is to destroy all the enemies in each stage.

To control the Mecharon, use the arrow keys on your keyboard or the WASD keys. Use your left mouse button to fire your weapon. Aim your weapon with your mouse. Because the game requires both mouse and keyboard, good coordination with both hands is essential to virtual survival.

The point of view of Mecharon is from a bird's eye view. Thus, you will be able to see enemies approach you from all sides, and that is exactly what the enemy does. The enemy can come from any direction. The game arena is limited, as in you can only walk in one direction for so long before being stopped. Staying at the edges of the game arena is dangerous as enemies can come from there.

You can be hurt by enemies by simply touching them or the bullets that they eject. At the top-left hand corner of the screen, you can view a vertical red bar that indicates your health. When this meter depletes, you will die. You can restart from where you left off after you die. In this sense, you have an infinite amount of lives.

At the very top-left hand corner, you can see a number that indicates the level of your Mecharon. To the right of this, you can see the Experience meter. Increasing this meter to its capacity will increase your level. Earn experience by killing enemies and picking up Experience bonus item drops. When you gain a level, you will be given the option to improve a skill. Skills that can be improved include anything from better damage to faster movements to more experience per kill.

Below the Experience meter is the Progress meter, which indicates your progress for the current stage.

At the top-right hand corner of the screen, you can see the type of weapon you are using as well as the amount of ammo you have before you need to reload. Below the ammo value, you can view the timer that shows you how long you have been on the current stage.

Throughout the game, as you kill enemies, you will notice that some drop items. Collect these items by running over them. Items range from making you faster to giving you more experience to increasing your fire rate.

You will also encounter larger, boss-like enemies that, when killed, can drop new weapons.

At the end of each stage, you will be given a score report that will evaluate your performance of the last stage. This report includes:
-the time it took you to complete the stage i.e. kill all enemies
-the number of kills made
-the accuracy of your shooting
-the amount of ammo you used up
-your score

Play through all the stages to complete the game.

Game Review

Mecharon is a highly addicting action shooter. The many upgrade options, along with the many different types of enemies and worlds and stages, keep the game interesting and entertaining for players. Though stages may seem repetitive, the goal to level up and/or collect new weapons keeps players playing to see what more the game has to offer. The ominous music also adds a nice touch.

Mecharon scores a 10/10 for providing a tremendous amount of entertainment value.