‘Steel Battalion’ is hard-core junk

It was a great idea that fell flat on its face.

“Heavy Armor” takes place in 2082, though in a low-tech world, because all computer chips have been destroyed by a silicon-eating virus. The most utilized weapons in this desolate future are walking war machines known as vertical tanks, or VTs. What’s left of the United States military is at war with the new United Nations, helmed by a militant Asian coalition. Playing as famed VT pilot Sgt. Powers, you fight to take back America from the enemies of freedom.

It’s a fantastic plot, and there’s some great voice acting on the part of your crew members. Too bad that’s where the praise ends.

The Kinect controls are downright sloppy. You’ll find yourself flailing helplessly and dying a bunch unless you invest many, many hours learning the super-precise movements. It’s very easy to accidentally shut the tiny view port while trying to change between weapon types — then you can’t see what you’re shooting at. Problems like this make the mech game almost unplayable and could leave you trying not to throw your controller.

Combining Kinect and a standard controller is a great idea for wooing hard-core gamers. But by doing such a poor job, it actually pushes them further away.

“Heavy Armor” is frustratingly hard. Tough can be good — such as From Software’s other great title, “Dark Souls” — but here it doesn’t work. The missions, in some cases, are just odd. One has you hanging around for a while, looking through binoculars, then you get to blow up an enemy tank when it wanders by. The U.N. forces are also hard to see, making everything even more annoying.

It’s sad that such a lofty project backfired. But challenging games need precise controls, and that’s why “Steel Battalion” fails.