So while everyone one is kickstarting this and that, I thought I'd give this a deserved bump. It's made by a small team of 9, it's got mechs, it's only multiplayer but it's free to play while remaining totally indie. How did they fund this? They had a business plan and they managed to get financed through that.

That's more honest than saying, hey give me some cash so that i just might a game that you like. The more money you give me, the more meaningless trash you might get. Micro-transactions are just more honest and are no different that my my days spent in cigarette smoke filled arcades shoving 20sen coins into money eating machines.

Rant aside. Hawken. Mechs. I might never play it because its multi player but damn doesn't it look good enough to eat to you?

As much as I enjoy reading your diatribes, this game is free. They are asking you to try and if you like, pay for like optional stuff.

to respond individually to your paragraphs:

There was user involvement through forums, alphas and betas. However, I actually think that crowdsourcing ideas is actually worse than crowdsourcing finance. You don't have to look far to see the power of focus testing and user involvement http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_Idol_finalists

This game is in a genre that people "do not want"/fallen out of favour, mechwarrior type mechs etc.

2 benefits of kickstarter without having to "invest", and they didn't even have to be chris roberts, tim schaffer or al lowe to make a game! http://www.adhesivegames.com/team.html

You had a bad experience with NFS. Boo Hoo. Whether you like it or not, free to play is as valid a business model as crowdsourced financing and is here to stay.

It's free to try. If you don't like it don't play.