Typical! You wait a decade for a giant killbot game, then three come along at once. Publisher Stompy Bot Productions today announced Heavy Gear Assault, seeking $900,000 in crowdfunding to bring the free-to-play multiplayer game to PC. It's being made by MekTek Studios, the folks who jazzed up MechWarrior 4 for its free re-release in 2010.

Heavy Gear Assault will drop you into gladiatorial combat arenas with your 'Gear' mech, to earn fame and fortune by smashing other mechs. Money lets you buy new Gears, upgrade Gears, and customise them with new equipment and weapons, from autocannons to vibrokatanas.

The world may have ached for Heavy Gear Assault a few years back, but the free-to-play mech 'em up genre already has some stiff competition now. MechWarrior Online has the simulation-y side of mech combat covered, while Hawken is going for agile killbots. Neither offers melee combat like Heavy Gear will, though.

If it piques your interest, you can pledge money to make Heavy Gear Assault happen. For your pledge you'll get an equivalent amount of premium in-game cash, perhaps some shiny in-game gear, and beta access too if you go above $40. It has a long line of stretch goals, running all the way up to single-player and co-op campaigns at $10 million.

This is the first game Stompy Bot is making with the wargame/RPG license since nabbing it last year. Stompy Bot is targeting PC "for initial release," hinting Assault may spread elsewhere later, and also teases that it wants to bring the Heavy Gear series in general to "the latest next generation gaming systems"--whatever that means.

Heavy Gear was last seen on PC in 1999, in Activision's Heavy Gear II.

Hit the official website for more. Here's a bland announcement trailer: