BATTLETECH

Fairly standard tactics game that's held down by some bad dev choices and terrible optimization. The game, even now years after release runs terribly with long load times and noticeable lag on the tactical maps. The overall "strategic" level is missing and you can pick up random merc contracts between story missions. The issue with these is that there's only so many mission types and within a few hours you'll have seen all of them. The other issue is that tactical battles tend to play out the same way, due to deviations from the TT version and no tonnage limits you're heavily incentivized to field a lance of the heaviest mechs you can find as fast as you can find them. On average you'll be fighting 4-10 enemy mechs plus their supporting vehicles/turrets, which gets old very quickly. Mech customization is nice It's okay, I'd get it on a steep sale.

So, full disclosure, I've been playing the tabletop game since back in the Fasa days, so when I heard about this kickstarter I instantly backed it. So here we are with the finished product and oh. Oh dear. Let's recap my attempts to play this since it was released. Attempt 1 - Mech wouldn't turn around, forcing me to go in a straight line till I ran out of map and couldn't complete the mission. Attempt 2 - Completed first mission, only for game to crash to desktop on loading mission two. Attempt 3 - Found my progress had been deleted, set back to start of first mission again. I'm done. I'm out. I'm not going to waste my time staring at black loading screens for a game that falls over and deletes my progress. I'll come back in six months when hopefully this has been patched and is more stable.

I have been waiting for this game since I was young, playing the first 2 Battletech games, and all of the Mechwarrior games. The systems are well developed, balanced, and very intuitive. It doesn't take too long to learn, but will take quite a while to master. The developers really knocked it out of the park. If you like deep, complex, turn based strategy with deep management, get this game. Even if you have never played a Battletech/Mechwarrior game before, the game does a great job of bringing you up to speed, and even giving lots of information about the lore of this wonderful universe.

Battletech is a poor product. It's full of game breaking bugs. Missions become impossible to finish because of bugged hidden triggers. Firing animations get stuck halfway, forcing you to restart the game. I strongly advise against playing ironman mode; you are practically guaranteed to lose your campaign to a bug like this. The campaign missions are decent and the dialogue is adequate; there are some obvious flaws but I won't nitpick. It's obvious that some of the development team invested real love into these aspects. But the interface feels like it's waging war on me, at times. Called shots are a mess. Shoot off the legs? Flat out doesn't work, the torso gets destroyed instead everytime. Nevermind that it doesn't work for missiles; it doesn't work for ANY weapon. After dozens of attempts, I've given up: it's just not a worthwhile mechanic. The random missions are the worst, though. hey contain prominently some of the worst strategy game sins of all time. They are utterly repetitive yet also random and unpredicatble. New enemies will spawn randomly on the map, and they'll take their turn before you do. Potentially landing an entire new lance behind your troops and focusing down a vulnerable target before you have time to respond. I get the sense that these random missions in general are designed to waste my time. Gaming in general is a waste of time. Battletech isn't the worst strategy game ever made. But it's flawed mediocrity angers me to the point where I wonder why I even bother to start up the PC, when I could just be staring at the wall or going outside to shove old ladies into traffic.

This game could have been so good. I played it twice. Both times I quit in frustration. The pluses: + The designers loved what they did and it shows in the little bits of fluff strewn across the game. + The mechanics are quite good. I would love to get such a game for a tabletop. + Campaign mode is neat -- you build up your mercenary company, expand your craft and modify your mechs. It feels right. + Artwork is good. + Story is... ok. It's not brilliant, but it fills the space. + The music score is excellent. The minuses: x Optimization is nigh non-existent. The loading times are amazing. The game slows down whenever there is a little bit more stuff to show and the enemies take a very, very long time to make simple decisions. x Beta testing must have been minimal -- the game is imbalanced from the start. At first it's extremely difficult, then--once you get some heavy equipment--it's a cakewalk. x Very soon it becomes clear that there is only one strategy -- get heavy, fast. You can only deploy four units at once and this means a scout is wasted space where a heavy could have been. And you need the firepower, because there are more and more enemies coming at you. x Terrain is absolutely not readable. It's frustrating to try to maneuver around and get good angles, so you can shoot and not be shot at. This reduces your tactics to a few basic behaviors. A pity, because the mechanics promises so much more. x Despite the apparent diversity missions boil down to a slugfest. You just won't have the maneuver space when you are constantly hounded by enemies; and because a single shot can cripple you, you need to play it safe and go into fighting retreat until you break their assault. Rinse. Repeat. Watch the Loading Screen. x The AI knows only one tactic, and that is attack. Summarizing, the game feels unfinished and all its potential complexity gets reduced by the lack of beta testing. I enjoyed the first few missions, but then the grind started becoming annoying.