BATTLETECH

Years back I played the first Battletech computer game on my C64. I remember it had some kind of a minigame for protection where you would have to guess mech part's names which would be very difficult if you didn't have the manual. Good old times :) Probably if I looked at the game now I would think it's crap :D When I saw this game I knew I would eventually buy it. I didn't rush - I waited for the discount since I rarely have time to play games anymore and it would collect digital dust among the other things I bought. This is all just a prelude to the short review so you know it will be completely subjective and biased ;) I like this game. A lot. This is what I had in mind when I though of a new Battletech game. There is a good amount of lore scattered around, combat is good, management mechanic is good... I didn't finish the campaign so I don't know how long it is, it looks also good for now. But there are problems with the game. Big ones, ones that would cause anyone not familiar and warm to the franchise to abandon the game immediately. They are, in no particular order: 1. Loading times (I have 1080TI, 32 GB RAM, SSD, ...) 2. Crashes (official list of things to try from support sounds like something out of IT Crowd) 3. Stuttering and freezes 4. Maintenance and post-launch development. It's been a while since release and I hoped those kind of bugs were fixed - they are not. 5. Some cut-scenes do look like they are from 20+ years ago. Not that the rest of the game is bleeding-edge, but some things stand out. So all in all - this game has taken me back to my childhood, C64 loading times and all. I'm grateful for that. I would love to see the developers invest more time to fix the remaining problems. I also don't consider my purchase a waste of money since I got it on a discount and I am actually enjoying it.

Its 2020, I just finished the campaign, 3 hours a day for a week, what a blast. I loved the tabletop as a kid, picked this up and all the expansions during a sale. Most of the bugs and quality of life mentioned in other reviews have been fixed. The campaign gives you the feeling of being a mercenary and dealing with your crew and daily life. When I lost one of my leveled up crew I did feel a loss. The missions are varied and hunting for scrap to get the mech you want is fun. The difficulty is just right, and even though on rare occasions the AI can be a little daft, that can save your skin! I am looking forward to the playing the non campaign setting and trying out the community mods. If you like Battletech, this is a buy, on sale even better.

Having played Mechwarrior and Mechcommander games in the past I was expecting to like Battletech, but I wasn't sure how the turn-based approach would turn out. After finishing the campaign and moving on to career mode, I can say that I love it. Just make sure to turn on "Speed up timeline" and "Speed up combat" in the options (I also disable cinematic cameras and follow cameras). This makes the whole experience much smoother. I saw in old forum posts that initially the game was too slow paced and these options weren't even available, as the developers added them based on criticism. So the game seems to be in a much better state in 2020 than when it came out. In terms of gameplay, it reminds me of XCOM a lot - but what I find better about Battletech is that there is not the feeling of "coin-flipping". Because every Mech has multiple weapons, it's unlikely that you will completely miss a target, even if your positioning is bad. Conversely, XCOM can be so frustrating where a seemingly perfect shot so often misses because of the measly 90% all-or-nothing hit chance. I also found a many initial complaints about the performance and stability of this game, so I think I should describe how my experience went in terms of stability and performance. I can happily report that is my 70 hours of play (so far) the game has only crashed once. This was when a mission was loading (the game just crashed to desktop) and luckily I did not lose any progress due to autosaves. The performance is excellent - the framerate is stable, load times are actually quite fast, and there are no general hiccups at all. My PC is basically lower end by modern standards and 1080p on maximum details works smoothly at 60 FPS. The specs are i3-9100F, GTX 1660S, 32GB RAM, and the game is installed on a dedicated SSD drive (separate from the OS drive).

This is one of those games I heard nothing good about for the longest time, even though this was the same team behind the Shadowrun games which had a lot of potential they didn't quite live up to. One sale later and I've bought the game...and it's a fine, deep, satisfying, very faithful adaptation of a sadly neglected genre: mech combat. It's all here for those inclined. This is NOT an action game (although the explosions and flying limbs of the mechs are fun to watch) it is a simulation strategy game, and in that spirit it's all here. Hire pilots. Outfit mechs. Recover and buy weapons and ammo. Repair damage after each sortie. Use cover and height to advantage. Level up pilots with new skills with experience if they survive. Negotiate deals with the various factions you're beholden to. Granted this is NOT a good RPG in the traditional sense. Graphics are nice, but the lion's share went to the mech systems. Cutscenes are either barely moving photoshop art or vaguely shifting 3D models that never move their mouths. There is a surprisingly drawn upon character creation mode with backstories that can come up in conversations so that's nice. But you have to want to micromanage a squad of mechs to enjoy this game. You pay for everything, from jump fuel to ammo, so you need to budget your runs and even avoid damage so you don't have to pay to fix your mechs and waste valuable days of downtime. Death is permanent so don't lose pilots if you can help it. The story is meaty but a slow burn. Turn based combat can be long, but it's such a feeling to target an enemy and blast them until their arms fall off. As a mech game it's second to none. Less so an immediate action game (although there's an option for single battles) or a bells and whistles RPG. Satisfying, paced, deep, and I would argue immersive.

When I first loaded this up I was flabbergasted by a 2-hour long introductory mission. Coming back to it, the game seems no less long. Takes 5-10 minutes from clicking the icon to get into a game. Then it's a slow trudge of your machines across the map to trade PEW PEW with the enemy. UI also seems obtuse. I see my guy getting debuffs but don't know what half of them mean. I get a warning before I perform an action but am not told the risk or its consequence. I appreciate that the game has its many fans but this is no longer for me. I was glad to have backed it so that other people can experience it. But I needn't experience it myself.