Mech shooter Hawken readies closed beta for end of October

Genres appear to go in and out of fashion – and 2012-2013 is the year of the mechs. With Mech Warrior Online already approaching open beta (currently in closed beta), its biggest rival, Hawken, will be getting a closed beta from October 26th to 29th.

Hawken promises first-person mech action for free, courtesy of developer Adhesive Games and publisher Meteor entertainment.

The brief closed beta at the end of the month will open the game up to a wider playerbase than were previously allowed in the Alpha test stages.

“Hawken’s Alpha 2 testing was great. We broke a lot of things and that’s good. The more that we find wrong now the smoother open beta will go,” said Meteor Entertainment CEO Mark Long.

To get in on the free-to-play action you’ll have to register on the official site here, and then hope you’ll be one of the lucky few selected to command a lumbering robotic death machine for three days.

To sweeten the pot, Hawken is also one of the very first games which will support the Oculus Rift 3D virtual reality headset, and it’s difficult to think of a more awesome VR experience.