Mecha Break’s player creation marketplace is incredibly cool, but painfully limited

Even supposing you don’t see a lot of your character in Mecha Break, the PvP mech shooter has a god-tier character creator, which lets you tweak the whole lot out of your pilot’s peak and hair coloration to the size of their fingers. This character creator is supplemented by the Matrix Market: an in-game retailer the place gamers can promote or public sale off their painstakingly personalized pilot designs in change for Corite, the sport’s premium in-game foreign money.

On the floor, this looks like a very neat concept, particularly as a result of the sport’s normal seasonal beauty retailer has a really small collection of gadgets that rotate out each three days. For those who spot a pilot with cute pigtails, for instance, you may’t simply go into the beauty retailer and purchase that precise hairdo, because it’s impossible {that a} particular coiffure shall be out there so that you can buy at any given time. You would possibly discover one other cool coiffure on the market, however it in all probability gained’t be the one you’re searching for. Thus, you have got two choices:

You would possibly suppose Possibility #2 is your best option, however sadly, it comes with a catch. You see, when you’ve bought one other participant’s customized pilot look, you’ll get to apply it to your pilot. You’ll not, nevertheless, have the ability to edit it in any means, form, or type. The hair coloration can’t be modified, and the coiffure itself can solely be used along with the remainder of the bought pilot’s options (collectively known as a “model” in-game). You possibly can’t put on the coiffure by itself — you may solely put on the full model, primarily changing into a clone of one other participant’s pilot, proper right down to their face and physique form.

That is nice should you simply need a kind of cosplay pores and skin to your pilot, because the Matrix Market is stuffed with fascinating customizations that may make your pilot seem like a particular character from an anime, film, or online game, and can prevent the work of spending limitless hours attempting to construct them from the bottom up by your self. However should you’re simply searching for a particular coiffure, make-up sort, or accent, you’re just about screwed. You possibly can solely edit the player-created customized pilot designs you buy within the Matrix Market should you already personal the beauty gadgets getting used within the design, which might require you to buy these gadgets from Mecha Break’s normal in-game beauty retailer, which defeats the aim of shopping for a player-made model to realize entry to a beauty merchandise that isn’t presently out there within the seasonal beauty retailer.

Except you someway get fortunate sufficient to unlock all of the beauty gadgets you want through direct buy from the rotating types listed underneath the Seasonal Cosmetics tab, you’ve bought no selection however to attend round for the best cosmetics to pop up, or take the L and alter your character’s total look, simply to make use of the coiffure, iris/pupil design, or make-up model you need. I’ve been hoping to get my fingers on a beauty that will give my pilot heart-shaped pupils, however it’s not out there for direct buy in my seasonal cosmetics retailer, and the one model of it that’s presently on the market within the Matrix Market is locked to a pilot design that features quick brown hair and facial scarring. It’s a very cool look, however it’s not what I’m going for. I simply need the eyes!

The flexibility to promote your creations to different gamers for in-game cash is a very enjoyable idea, and is an effective way for Mecha Break to spotlight its unbelievable character customization choices — a function that may be simply missed in a recreation that devotes most of its display time to massive robots. I’ve listed just a few designs on the market (no bites but, sadly), and I’m all for giving gamers the instruments they should create the character of their goals.

The issue is that gamers additionally want the liberty to make use of these instruments, and freedom isn’t one thing Mecha Break permits for in the case of attaining cosmetics. The sport allows you to customise the heck out of your pilot, but when there’s a particular premium beauty you’re searching for, you’ll want both the endurance of a saint or a substantial amount of luck to really get your fingers on all of the gadgets it’s essential to create your ultimate pilot.

As enjoyable because the Matrix Market is, the truth that the cosmetics are locked to at least one particular coloration and pilot design is unbelievably irritating, and I’m struggling to know the reasoning behind it. I’m sitting right here virtually begging the sport to take my cash, however I’m not going to spend it on a player-made creation when what I get in return is a totally un-customizable pilot who has the best hairdo within the flawed coloration. It appears like shopping for a Barbie who has all of her garments fused to her physique, unable to be worn by different Barbie dolls until I get fortunate and discover further variations of the identical equipment on the market.

Probably the most irritating a part of all of that is that the entire gadgets I’m presently looking for had been absolutely out there to gamers throughout Mecha Break’s a number of beta exams, and might be bought utilizing Mission Tokens, a free in-game foreign money earned simply by enjoying the sport. Wonderful Seasun Video games made it clear that gadgets like outfits would must be purchased with Corite, however till the sport’s launch, gamers had been underneath the impression that they’d have entry to a a lot wider array of customization choices. I bought used to customizing my pilot’s coiffure, iris/pupil form, eye coloration, and make-up precisely how I needed it utilizing solely Mission Tokens. Now I can’t even get what I need with real-life money, and the choices to customise sure cosmetics — like eyeshadow and lipstick coloration — has disappeared completely.

Mecha Break’s Matrix Market has different points, too — you may promote absolutely anything, together with weapons and gadgets that make life simpler within the recreation’s signature Mashmak mode, resulting in accusations of pay-to-win mechanics, and the public sale home is a little bit of a large number. However that’s a dialogue for one more day. For now, I simply need a method to get my fingers on particular cosmetics with out having to cross my fingers and wait indefinitely, or utterly change my pilot’s total look.

Then once more, issues may at all times be worse. At the very least Mecha Break’s hairstyles aren’t distributed through randomized loot packing containers.