In a world reeling from a devastating world war, the accumulation of resources has become the paramount task of everyone, especially when it comes to gathering sources of the mysterious Code 51 energy, which powers the huge and powerful mechs.
Code 51: Mech Arena is a title created by Chinese developer Smellyriver. There has been a sad lack of mecha combat titles on virtual reality (VR), and the developer is aiming to redress the balance with this title.
The player takes a position within the cockpit, one of the chosen few who pilot the powerful, lumbering war machines whose very existence is made possible by Code 51 power. Trouble is, you are not the only ones searching for that power, so others that get in your way need to be taken out.
As you sit in the mech, waiting for the machine to fully power up, another mech tears open the tick metal wall in front of you as if it were tin foil, before being distracted by another mech that engages it in combat. This gives a taste of the frenetic pace of combat in Code 51: Mech Arena.
Different mech types are available to choose from, each having different defining features that affect the best strategy. Some mechs are fragile but lightning fast, others are walking tanks specialising in defence and others are best for straight-up attacking.
A variety of weaponry is also available to unlock, so the preferred loadout can be changed to suit the task at hand and more efficiently take out the enemies in your way, including railgun, minigun or missile launcher.
Players can engage with the single-player campaign, or take on other pilots in multiplayer deathmatch. For those who want to sharpen their PvP skills, a practice mode versus an AI mecha pilot is also available.
The full gameplay video is available to view below. Code 51: Mech Arena is out now for PlayStation VR, with a HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. VRFocus will provide more information as it becomes available.