Mechwarrior 5
- Thread starter civvver
- Start date
PPQ_Purple
Purple Cube
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2008
- Messages
- 5,464
It's not bad but it's not as good as MW4.
The graphics are quite good as far as I am concerned. But I am not a graphics snob and frankly I play Doom (1993) without complaint so you definitively want to look at some screenshots before purchasing.
As far as the gameplay goes it is good, even great as far as driving and shooting is concerned. The weapons certainly feel as they should both in terms of sound, art and effect on target. In terms of music and other ancillary sound design it's good but not fantastic.Like, the music could do with a bit more stompy heavy metal. But that's a question of taste.
The mech selection is decent to good, depending entirely on which mechs you love and want for. It certainly has some crowd favorites like the UM-R60L and the King Crab and you do get something like 50 mechs to chose from (+ variants). But the timeline of the game which is set before the clan invasion does mean you get to miss out on a lot of cool tech like ERPPC's, clan mechs like the Mad Cat and the variety of Gauss Rifles. Unlike in MW4 which had all of those in the game. So that was somewhat of a letdown.
In terms of other niggling annoyances you have the ops officer who unlike in MW4 insists on calling out objectives during a mission far too often (target at 50%... target at 49.999%... target at 49.998% ...) until you just wish you could shoot her. You also have the fact that the Urbanmech is not a mech coring doom turtle of doom that can stop an atlas cold (although it is still fun as hell to play with an AC20 light mech). So that might turn you off. And of course the fact that there is no Solaris and thus no Duncan Fisher. The last of these makes me die a bit on the inside.
So overall if you really really want to play MW4 but can't get it to run on a modern system it's a good enough substitute even if it does not fully live up to the last one.
The graphics are quite good as far as I am concerned. But I am not a graphics snob and frankly I play Doom (1993) without complaint so you definitively want to look at some screenshots before purchasing.
As far as the gameplay goes it is good, even great as far as driving and shooting is concerned. The weapons certainly feel as they should both in terms of sound, art and effect on target. In terms of music and other ancillary sound design it's good but not fantastic.Like, the music could do with a bit more stompy heavy metal. But that's a question of taste.
The mech selection is decent to good, depending entirely on which mechs you love and want for. It certainly has some crowd favorites like the UM-R60L and the King Crab and you do get something like 50 mechs to chose from (+ variants). But the timeline of the game which is set before the clan invasion does mean you get to miss out on a lot of cool tech like ERPPC's, clan mechs like the Mad Cat and the variety of Gauss Rifles. Unlike in MW4 which had all of those in the game. So that was somewhat of a letdown.
In terms of other niggling annoyances you have the ops officer who unlike in MW4 insists on calling out objectives during a mission far too often (target at 50%... target at 49.999%... target at 49.998% ...) until you just wish you could shoot her. You also have the fact that the Urbanmech is not a mech coring doom turtle of doom that can stop an atlas cold (although it is still fun as hell to play with an AC20 light mech). So that might turn you off. And of course the fact that there is no Solaris and thus no Duncan Fisher. The last of these makes me die a bit on the inside.
So overall if you really really want to play MW4 but can't get it to run on a modern system it's a good enough substitute even if it does not fully live up to the last one.
civvver
Deity
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2007
- Messages
- 5,855
Oh man I loved that solaris arena! That was basically how I funded my entire campaign as soon as it became available. No clan tech also sounds quite awful, but I guess if the whole game is balanced around it, meh whatever. But no mad cat?!?! What about the Dire Wolf or Vulture? I love those iconic mechs. I mean Timberwolf/mad cat has to be the most iconic mechwarrior ever. It graced the mechwarrior 2, 3 and 4 covers (it's in the background on mw4). Maybe I'll just stick to mw4 mercs for now. You know it's freeware now right? Pretty sure it'll run fine on windows 10.
PPQ_Purple
Purple Cube
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2008
- Messages
- 5,464
Yep, no clan mechs at all. If you don't mind spoilers the Sarna wiki has a complete list of mechs for you. As for MW4 I have not gotten it to run on windows 10 no matter what I try.
Anyway, if you want a full review after about a week playing here goes (alphabetically):
AI
The AI in this game ranges from serviceable to dumb as a brick. But that's not a bad thing. In the areas where it needs to be good such as pathfinding, target prioritization and shooting it's quite good. I have only ever once had a teammate get stuck on something and that was my fault. And have newer had any issues with them shooting or being shot at by the wrong thing.
This being said don't expect it to do anything overly intelligent like use cover, flank or god forbid coordinate. That just won't happen. Best thing to do with your lancemates is to give them a hold ground order and watch the enemy stream in. This is especially obvious with enemy AI whose entirety seems to be a brainless attack-move order in your general direction.
So all in all enemy difficulty is entirely down to numbers and equipment as opposed to any brains on their part. Enemies will know how to circle you, weave through your formation and stuff like that. But they just don't have any tactics to speak off.
This being said, given the quality of the AI where it counts I think that it was a conscious decision not to make them smarter. Because the dumb AI actually works great in making you feel like Rambo in a 80 ton stompy war machine putting down hordes of unwashed mooks. Mooks that will put you down if you get careless. And that actually feels great. It's how being in a giant 80 ton stompy war robot should feel.
So that's a big plus for that. I would rate the AI situation as very good.
Characters
The character roster in the game consists (from the ones I've met) of two plot NPC's with zero interesting personality and annoying voices whose only job is to be exposition drones and generic pilots with about as much personality as you'd expect from procedurally generated lancemates.
What's worse there is no option to talk to any of them beyond the scripted plot conversations. There is no banter, no backstory and no character building at all. So if you are in the market for a game with good characters and interesting interactions this is not a game for you.
My rating is what characters?
Customization
The customization options in this game are lacking but serviceable. It covers all the bases (jump jets, weapons, armor values, ammo and heat sinks) but that's all you ever get. You can't combine smaller slots to make a larger one nor can you subdivide larger slots into multiple small ones. Both features which existed in MW4. And there is no customization for armor type, engines, extra equipment or anything like that. Again, stuff which was to some extent present in MW4.
Another pet peeve of mine is that it did the same thing Battletech did with their customization in that they locked you into variants as opposed to the more open version of customization you had in MW4.
But overall it's not bad, just not great. On the plus side the interface is intuitive and you won't ever be overwhelmed with options. And it does genuinely cover the bases and let you have enough fun customizing your giant stompy war machine.
Overall I'd give it a mediocre rating.
Equipment
In terms of equipment the game gives you pretty much what you'd expect for the era it's set in. You have your autocannons, your LBX autocannons, small large and medium lasers, PPC's and missiles. No MRM's sadly and none of the fancy toys like heavy gaus rifles and no clan tech. But overall there is quite enough to keep you entertained and its all readily available in the game.
So overall I'd rate it as fine.
Fighting
The fighting in the game feels excellent. It can be difficult, tense and even hectic and still leave you feeling like an action hero in the end. The weapons all look, sound and feel the part. Damage models are good. And whilst the enemy AI might be limited in what it can do it offers up enough of a challenge in both the way it moves and its numbers to make the combat feel great when you are in the zone.
On the down side these same things mean that the combat gets repetitive and boring after a mission or two. The lack of tightly scripted levels and designed combat sequences really does make every battle feel the same after a while. So the game is best enjoyed in small bite size chunks of a couple hours at most.
Overall I'd rate it as good.
Graphics
The graphics in the game are dated. Quite dated. If you come into it expecting a sublime graphical experience you will be sorely disappointed. But as far as I am concerned they get the job done and keep the FPS up.
So my rating is a big heavy meh.
Mech Selection
The mech selection in this game is fine to good. It covers all the bases with both a decent variety of models and around 6 variants of each to chose from. A specially nice touch being the "hero" versions that come with lostech such as double heat sinks or ERPPC's attached. But the lack of later clan tech and later era classics such as the Fafnir really does make it feel inferior to MW4.
Still overall for the period its set in the selection gives you a good cross section of what you would expect to find in the field. So my rating would be another good. As long as you can accept not having clan stuff.
Missions
Aside from the plot related missions which are good most of the missions in this game seem to be procedurally generated skirmish battles designed along a small set of templates. This means that whilst they are decent individually the game does get fairly samey fairly quickly. It's definitively inferior in this regard to MW4 where every mission was individually crafted. But you do get a potentially infinite number of them. So it's a give and take.
Overall I'd give it a meh. It does the job but that's all they do.
Multiplayer
The only multiplayer option I've seen is COOP mod for the campaign. I have not seen any sigh of head to head fight your friend in an arena multiplayer. So yea. That's a thing. Or rather that's not a thing.
Personally I don't care about it but I imagine this is going to be a serious issue to some people. Rating is YMMW.
Solaris
There are no Solaris matches in this game. None. Nothing. Absolutely zero.
My rating for this section is THIS TEXT HAS BEEN CENSORED BY THE STAFF
Story
So far the story seems to be meh. It does the job of giving you something to work toward beyond just the infinite sandbox that is the rest of the game. But that's all it does. And it does not do it terribly well. But it's better than nothing I guess and I will hold off on a rating until I've actually seen it through to the end. Who knows, it might surprise me.
=======================================================
So overall my rating for this game is mediocre. It's definitively an inferior product to both Battletech and Mech Warrior 4. But it is fun to play and you will get quite a bit of enjoyable entertainment out of it. And it is the only singleplayer game on the market today that puts you into the cockpit of a mech and works out of the box with modern systems .
Overall my advice is most definitively don't skip it. But don't get it for full price either. Wait for it to go on some sort of sale or something when it's on the cheap. Especially if there are some decent mods out by than.
Anyway, if you want a full review after about a week playing here goes (alphabetically):
AI
The AI in this game ranges from serviceable to dumb as a brick. But that's not a bad thing. In the areas where it needs to be good such as pathfinding, target prioritization and shooting it's quite good. I have only ever once had a teammate get stuck on something and that was my fault. And have newer had any issues with them shooting or being shot at by the wrong thing.
This being said don't expect it to do anything overly intelligent like use cover, flank or god forbid coordinate. That just won't happen. Best thing to do with your lancemates is to give them a hold ground order and watch the enemy stream in. This is especially obvious with enemy AI whose entirety seems to be a brainless attack-move order in your general direction.
So all in all enemy difficulty is entirely down to numbers and equipment as opposed to any brains on their part. Enemies will know how to circle you, weave through your formation and stuff like that. But they just don't have any tactics to speak off.
This being said, given the quality of the AI where it counts I think that it was a conscious decision not to make them smarter. Because the dumb AI actually works great in making you feel like Rambo in a 80 ton stompy war machine putting down hordes of unwashed mooks. Mooks that will put you down if you get careless. And that actually feels great. It's how being in a giant 80 ton stompy war robot should feel.
So that's a big plus for that. I would rate the AI situation as very good.
Characters
The character roster in the game consists (from the ones I've met) of two plot NPC's with zero interesting personality and annoying voices whose only job is to be exposition drones and generic pilots with about as much personality as you'd expect from procedurally generated lancemates.
What's worse there is no option to talk to any of them beyond the scripted plot conversations. There is no banter, no backstory and no character building at all. So if you are in the market for a game with good characters and interesting interactions this is not a game for you.
My rating is what characters?
Customization
The customization options in this game are lacking but serviceable. It covers all the bases (jump jets, weapons, armor values, ammo and heat sinks) but that's all you ever get. You can't combine smaller slots to make a larger one nor can you subdivide larger slots into multiple small ones. Both features which existed in MW4. And there is no customization for armor type, engines, extra equipment or anything like that. Again, stuff which was to some extent present in MW4.
Another pet peeve of mine is that it did the same thing Battletech did with their customization in that they locked you into variants as opposed to the more open version of customization you had in MW4.
But overall it's not bad, just not great. On the plus side the interface is intuitive and you won't ever be overwhelmed with options. And it does genuinely cover the bases and let you have enough fun customizing your giant stompy war machine.
Overall I'd give it a mediocre rating.
Equipment
In terms of equipment the game gives you pretty much what you'd expect for the era it's set in. You have your autocannons, your LBX autocannons, small large and medium lasers, PPC's and missiles. No MRM's sadly and none of the fancy toys like heavy gaus rifles and no clan tech. But overall there is quite enough to keep you entertained and its all readily available in the game.
So overall I'd rate it as fine.
Fighting
The fighting in the game feels excellent. It can be difficult, tense and even hectic and still leave you feeling like an action hero in the end. The weapons all look, sound and feel the part. Damage models are good. And whilst the enemy AI might be limited in what it can do it offers up enough of a challenge in both the way it moves and its numbers to make the combat feel great when you are in the zone.
On the down side these same things mean that the combat gets repetitive and boring after a mission or two. The lack of tightly scripted levels and designed combat sequences really does make every battle feel the same after a while. So the game is best enjoyed in small bite size chunks of a couple hours at most.
Overall I'd rate it as good.
Graphics
The graphics in the game are dated. Quite dated. If you come into it expecting a sublime graphical experience you will be sorely disappointed. But as far as I am concerned they get the job done and keep the FPS up.
So my rating is a big heavy meh.
Mech Selection
The mech selection in this game is fine to good. It covers all the bases with both a decent variety of models and around 6 variants of each to chose from. A specially nice touch being the "hero" versions that come with lostech such as double heat sinks or ERPPC's attached. But the lack of later clan tech and later era classics such as the Fafnir really does make it feel inferior to MW4.
Still overall for the period its set in the selection gives you a good cross section of what you would expect to find in the field. So my rating would be another good. As long as you can accept not having clan stuff.
Missions
Aside from the plot related missions which are good most of the missions in this game seem to be procedurally generated skirmish battles designed along a small set of templates. This means that whilst they are decent individually the game does get fairly samey fairly quickly. It's definitively inferior in this regard to MW4 where every mission was individually crafted. But you do get a potentially infinite number of them. So it's a give and take.
Overall I'd give it a meh. It does the job but that's all they do.
Multiplayer
The only multiplayer option I've seen is COOP mod for the campaign. I have not seen any sigh of head to head fight your friend in an arena multiplayer. So yea. That's a thing. Or rather that's not a thing.
Personally I don't care about it but I imagine this is going to be a serious issue to some people. Rating is YMMW.
Solaris
There are no Solaris matches in this game. None. Nothing. Absolutely zero.
My rating for this section is THIS TEXT HAS BEEN CENSORED BY THE STAFF
Story
So far the story seems to be meh. It does the job of giving you something to work toward beyond just the infinite sandbox that is the rest of the game. But that's all it does. And it does not do it terribly well. But it's better than nothing I guess and I will hold off on a rating until I've actually seen it through to the end. Who knows, it might surprise me.
=======================================================
So overall my rating for this game is mediocre. It's definitively an inferior product to both Battletech and Mech Warrior 4. But it is fun to play and you will get quite a bit of enjoyable entertainment out of it. And it is the only singleplayer game on the market today that puts you into the cockpit of a mech and works out of the box with modern systems .
Overall my advice is most definitively don't skip it. But don't get it for full price either. Wait for it to go on some sort of sale or something when it's on the cheap. Especially if there are some decent mods out by than.
Last edited:
