Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Hawken

Developer: Adhesive Games
Status: Open Beta
Release: Early 2013

Hawken is shaping up to be an excellent alternative for gamers who love shooters in concept, but have grown tired of the "been there, done that" nature of the genre. Unlike its direct competitor, MechWarrior Online, Hawken plays very much like an FPS... albeit one where you're scampering around in giant robots that have the potential to overheat, and might not be as graceful as say a ballet dancer.

Hawken is also one of a handful of games on our list that have been loosely categorized as an MMO by gamers or other media outlets, but at the end of the day it's a pretty straightforward lobby based multiplayer game. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and Hawken does offer a pretty decent advancement system on a per-mech level.

In the current open beta, Hawken does tend to suffer a bit from a disparity of maps and the lack of full clan support. Thankfully, developer Adhesive Games has stated that both of these areas are being addressed so players will have an easier time connecting in-game, and the ability to play on a wider variety of maps in the future.

Read more about Hawken on Ten Ton Hammer
The Hawken official website

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Wildstar

Developer: Carbine Studios
Status: In Development
Release: 2013

Wildstar may be one of those games that lives or dies by people's acceptance of its decidedly cartoonish graphics. But if you can look beyond the highly stylized surface, Wildstar is perhaps one of the most interesting MMOs currently in development.

The combat is incredibly fun, taking concepts like ground targeted abilities to a whole new level that factors in more shapes than circles or straight lines. The Paths system also adds a layer of depth that extends character progression in some very direct and meaningful ways, and we were also pleased to learn last summer that Wildstar will also feature a player housing system. Player housing is one of those magical MMO elements that helps connect players to a given game over time nearly as much as social systems, so we're excited to see what the team at Carbine has up its sleeves in that department.

We expect big things from Wildstar, and will be looking at the game in greater depth moving forward. While a release date still hasn't been confirmed, we're keeping our fingers crossed that this will be one of the games we're all playing and talking about next fall.

Read more about Wildstar on Ten Ton Hammer
The Wildstar official website

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