MechAssault 2 trailer released

"A trailer for MechAssault 2" could be one of two things. It could be a pesky wooden cart on two wheels with a number plate tied halfarsedly onto the back and brake lights that don't really work, loaded to bursting with rusty bathtubs and lengths of pipe and tethered to the hulking frame of a giant robotic exoskeleton.

Or, it could be a downloadable movie showing off three minutes of FASA Studio's upcoming mech shoot-'em-up for Xbox Live, available in (direct links) low and high resolution versions from Microsoft this morning.

Were it to be the latter, we might point out that the trailer focuses on providing a sort of single-player introduction, as the player's character arrives in a futuristic warzone preparing to be attacked by a mysterious force identified only by its single communication - a bloody handprint beamed over an open channel.

We might mention the Tribes-style jetpack scooting that the player does in his one-man exoskeleton, hitching rides by hanging on to the bottom of gunships, clawing onto the front of larger mechs and firing heartlessly into their innards up close, and even mech-jacking them and using them against their former owners. We might mention the explosions and buildings sinking into piles of dust.

And, sadly, it was the latter. But if anybody has seen a trailer full of rusty bathtubs lately, do go ahead and talk about it and how stupid the person driving it around was, because we were pranged by one the other day and feel the need to vent...

MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf is due out later this year on Xbox.