Nobody ever accused mechs of being easy to pilot. With the exception of a few rare games like Shogo: MAD and Slave Zero, most games revolving around mechs are quite complex and rate amongst some of the toughest games to learn, let alone master. Titans of Steel: Warring Suns continues this proud tradition of mind-numbingly frustrating mech games, setting perhaps new standards for the genre to aspire to in the future.

Like any game, Titans will appeal to a certain section of the game market, while driving other players in the PC market to either vodka, suicide, or some sort of religion based around brain-eating gods. Before you immediately scrub Titans off your "games to buy" list I would like to make one thing very clear: this game is heavily based around micromanagement and if you're a fan of micromanagement games, where everything down to how many nits are living in your mech pilot's hair is important to you, then you simply must get this game. I do warn you though, when I say micromanagement, I mean it.

Titans is a top-down, turn-based game, the objective of which, as described in the manual, is to "wreak havoc on your opponents while they do the same to you". One presumes this means using the usual array of machine guns, laser cannons, fusion missiles and foul language to pound the enemy into their component subatomic particles, as is the case with roughly 100% of all mech games.

In the best tradition of turn-based games, each and every command you issue to your mechs takes time to perform and this means time to walk, turn, pivot the body, aim your guns, scratch your behind, you name it. The micromanagement required to watch every single second and use them as if they were your last is exceptional. As I stated before, micromanagement fans will foam at the mouth and convulse with joy over this game but I have to admit that I'm not one of them and I just found it frustrating - really frustrating. The controls are complex too and if you think you might have a chance of playing the game after only reading the 50-page manual, then think again. Without playing through all of the tutorials you'll probably be unable to even get your mech to step forwards.

The micromanagement in the game goes beyond just the controls in actual battle. Aside from the complex task of buying, equipping and repairing your mechs, you also have to pay extremely careful attention to the mech pilots, or "jocks" as the game calls them. A jock with low intelligence will forget the layout of the battlefield quickly and the fog-of-war effect will reappear rapidly after you move through an area. Each jock has seven different attributes to manage, which isn't much compared to the eleven base systems each mech has, without worrying about each of the multiple parts of your mech, the armour and damage level of each mech section, heat and radiation effects, breath odour levels and a hundred other things, each of which must be carefully monitored to stand a chance of winning.

Although many players (especially micromanagement fans) may disagree with me on the difficulty and general fun level of the game (the latter of which I found somewhat lacking), one thing most people could agree on is the graphics quality; it's not that great. About five years ago it would have been considered fairly good but for a modern game that could cost you quite a bit of hard earned cash, most players are looking for something a lot more advanced. The menus and game sprites, though functional and adequate for the means of playing the game, simply feel amateurish. If your aspiring programmer mate handed you this game and said he made it, you'd be pretty impressed. If you bought it from the shop however, you might very well not be.

The music, however, is exceptional. The title and menu music are probably the most appropriate pieces of music for a mech game I've ever heard; heavy metal sounds that emphasise a hard-core, no-prisoners taken approach. It gives you the feeling that this is going to be a game that combines high-tech futuristic warfare with the grim and ashen feeling of the reaper's hand. Unfortunately, the game itself doesn't live up to this standard but at least the replayability is good. Aside from coming with a large selection of battlefields, Titans comes with a map/campaign editor to design your own slums of slaughter. It might be worth mentioning that I found the editor significantly easier to use than the actual game itself!

So, is Titans of Steel: Warring Suns a game you want or not? It really depends on what type of player you are. Micromanagement fans, as noted, will become social recluses (even more so than usual) after getting their hands on this game. If you like balancing a hundred statistics or more and keeping a careful eye on each and every system and number that appears on your screen, then Titans is going to have significant appeal. If you are not this type of person however and prefer to play games for their "switch on and slaughter" factor, you had best give Titans a wide berth. Find something comparatively straightforward to do with your time instead, like neurosurgery.

Reviewed by Steve Rosenthal for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).