BATTLETECH

I only got to the end of the first mission. It took me an hour, I failed at the last step and teh game wanted me to start from the begining of the mission. I never want to replay the last hour of gameplay in a game. So that's it for me for this game. Can't really tell you if its good or bad, but no checkpoint or autosave with missions that last >1hr is a dealbreaker.

BattleTech isn't a total disaster, but its a completly forgetable chapter of a once epic series of games. It feels like the developers had a lot of great ideas, but were limited by a tiny budget, so a lot of features had to be truncated or cut entirely. A shame, because it looked good to begin with. To name a few things: * it didn't crash even once for me * unlikeable/unrelateable characters you are supposed to care about (Mastiff, your crew, literally everyone except maybe the two Lady leaders are replaceable cardboard figures) * pointless character creation (you end up with the same answers and events anyway) * your character has no voice, not even in battle, a computer speaks for you * mediocre graphics * mediocre sounds * boring and bulky user interface * very partial voiceover (MechCommander 2 was 100% voiced in 2001, it just seems silly) * boring campaign with a story that has been told a hundred times * arbitrary sandbox mercenary "work" that only serves to stretch the game * arbitrary space travel that only serves to stretch the game * annoying XCOM 2 flashbacks with the pointless pauses during combat * boring Mechs (pre-Clan era, SLDF mechs are the exception, you mostly run around with Mediums/Heavies that all play the same) * pathetic difficulty, just focus fire and keep moving to auto-win * pointless character development, only Evasion and Focus Fire are important

The main problem of the game is stability. I didn't pass first real mission because of crash on in-game video. In etc 2 hours of playing game (3 times tutorial mission and 3 times first mission) I have 4 crashes of game. That alone is annoying. But when you add to it that the game missing any functional auto-save mechanism it is infuriating. I don't want play every mission at least 2 times because creators for some probably very stupid reason didn't implement auto-save. Even quick save for manual ensurance that I don't need play whole mission when game randomly crash is missing. Don't mention other small but very annoying bugs like magically emerging enemies directly in front of you because of mission plot. Graphic looks very good, feel of commanding mech squad too but game instability in combination with absence of functional auto-save or at least quick-save killed game experience for me.

This game has surprised me to say the least. I had no previous familiarity in regards to any of the relevant history of this game outside of the concept of mechs. So at the very least don't let that hold you back from having a look yourself. Turn based strategy is where I feel most at home and this game really gave me a very cozy welcome. This is turn based like I had not seen before and hoenstly it really works well. The maps are varied, missions arguably less so, Nice little cinematic angles for your attacks and plenty of loot and management of said loot to be had. On the flip side, I would warn people that I really think you need to play this game on an ssd or at the very least a fairly modern or new hdd. I had read some reviews before picking this game up and there was a lot of talk about ridiculous loading times. I think personally it boils down to people like myself running ancient hdd. I switched over to the ssd and the loading times are no problem now. Also Galaxy is a pain in the ass, turn off auto update when you are playing if you have serious problems with this game loading.

The game is a great tactical set game of mechs that we once dreamed about in our childhood. Growing up playing Battletech RPG and seeing this in fruition is a great accomplishment. The game has a decent storyline, good cutscenes and a good amount of mechs to collect and do what you want with them. My only misgivings is the crashes during some gameplay, especially when one finally headshots a Atlas and the game crashes. Harsh. Maybe out of 5 missions there would be a crash. I don't know if that is the computer or the programming, but still a little annoying. That being said, still a great game to play with a collection of great mechs. Can't expect everything in life I always say. Just being thankful for what we got.