Intergalactic Predatory: Hawken Adds Bots, Invisible Mech

Hawken still hasn't added any hawks, which is weird to me, but hope remains given that updates keep on chugging along. The latest, titled Invasion, is quite a doozy, with some oft-requested features leading the charge. Most prominently, the free-to-play first-person blast-o-stomper now has nefarious AI bots, who strut their boxy, boxy bodies in both wave-based co-op and offline training modes. There is also a new mech, because of course there is a new mech. The Predator is lithe, canny, and a friend to the animals, but you probably won't notice its sleek form on the battlefield. It can turn invisible, you see. And now you don't. See what I did there? See? Go below to end this trainwreck of a joke.

The Predator sounds like quite the handful, though an arsenal of slower-acting weapons should - at least, in theory - balance it out. Here's its ace-in-the-hole ability:

"When Stalker Mode is activated, the Predator will become permanently invisible and gain the ability to see through walls. However, overall vision range is greatly reduced. Using any action that generates heat or consumes fuel while in Stalker Mode will trigger a 'Break Cooldown', which will cause the ability to be deactivated for a short period of time. At the end of the Break Cooldown, the ability will automatically reactivate."

In addition to bots, two bot-based modes, and the Predator, Invasion takes a comically oversized wrench to all manner of balance issues. Repair abilities, especially, have been re-tooled, becoming markedly less effective while targets are under fire, but much more so out of combat.

The update's available now, if you're itching to go on a robot ghost hunt. Come to think of it, it's been a while since I played Hawken. I should probably dive back in one of these days. I miss my walking television and his good friends/bitter enemies. I know Adhesive's been updating the game for a while now, but has it actually gotten, you know, better because of it?