MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries

On the surface this game has the right ingredients to be good. It has good variety in types of 'mechs and weapons, all the customizability you'd expect from a 'mech game, it looks and sounds good, and combat would be great if it wasn't for two major issues. First, the AI is terrible. Friendly AI doesn't check whether anything is blocking their line of sight, so they'll happily unload in the direction of an enemy regardless of whether there's something in the way. Friendly mech? Shoot it. A building you're actually supposed to defend? Shoot it. If any of your allies have a PPC you can be assured your sensors will go haywire every time they use it. At the same time they take absolutely forever to accomplish anything; order your lance to deal with a medium mech while you take on two heavies, and you'll be killing both heavies and that medium even if you took the lightest 'mech with the least firepower for yourself, because your allies are doing more damage to each other (and you) than to the enemy. If left to their own devices on a mission where you need to destroy some buildings they'll happily ignore enemy targets shooting at them, even light vehicles that can be blown up with one salvo. Makes me wish I could somehow import the AI scripting from MW2:mercs because that old game was miles and miles ahead of the joke that is AI in MW5. Second, enemies often keep spawning in faster than you can deal with them. Combined with the terrible AI that makes for incredibly frustrating gameplay because you basically have to deal with everything yourself while getting shot to pieces by enemies and friendlies alike. Apart from that there are other problems. I haven't experienced much crashing myself but it seems to be a common issue. RTX options are there but are barely functional; enabling ray traced shadows removes most shadows from the game, ray traced or otherwise. Honestly, you'll have more fun playing any of the older MW games. This one is broken and not getting fixed.

Pros: good graphics with a good rig, decent co-op play, mechs mostly well-represented, whole Inner Sphere to play in, superficially scratches the Mechwarrior itch. Cons: MW veterans might have liked more detailed mech-building experience. Another vengeance story. Mostly unplayable single-player due to horrific squad AI exacerbated by procedural missions spawning endless enemies (at higher difficulties, certain mission types GUARANTEE you will lose pilots/mechs). If I wanted to micro-manage my lance to make sure my dumb AI teammates didn't get wrecked on attempt after attempt of campaign/career missions, I would have played Battletech/Mechcommander. Many people say the mods make this game a good one. I disagree. Needing player-created mods to make a game PLAYABLE, as opposed to IMPROVING a good experience, means the game was made half-heartedly. Most of the cons can be avoided by playing with friends, but I still feel scammed despite buying this "only co-op viable" game with a hefty discount.

It seems most reviews here are based on the assumption that this game is a hardcore mech simulation. Well, it is not, but it's still a fun game and does not deserve such bad ratings. There are always some changes in a game series and disappointed fans because some decade old gameplay was not 'revived', but those are the loud minority. If you are just looking for some well made mech action and/or are on the fence of buying it, I can absolutely recommend this game (+DLCs for full experience, including the soundtrack which has some really great tracks). Weapons and mechs are distinctive and there is definetly the feel of heated battle with heavy machinery hurling missile salvos and laser beams around. Game has been improved a lot since release, so older reviews should be treated carefully. Do your research before buying. Difficulty can spike sometimes, but otherwise it would just be shooting sitting ducks. You actually have to play tactically, choose your weapons and armor points wisely and not just run into shooting range. Or melee range. Some mechs are really strong with fists alone. The AI does its job well enough and gets a lot of kills delivered comparing to what some other reviews claim, they are not dumb at all, but that depends on battle dynamics. As a player, you still are the main protagonist and this human skill is required, just like with AI in other games. What can be annoying sometimes is unexpected spawns of tanks, helicopters or additional dropships, but in my opinion, that just adds to the simulation of being a mercenary and introduces some last-stand scenarios. Or you can just flee, which is possible most times. You cannot fit every weapon on every chassis, but have to collect variants with suitable hardpoints, which sometimes are hard to find and quite expensive; and you need most of your money for repairs. The metagame is ok but nothing new; you have a galaxy map with a lot of star systems and search for missions or special mech offers.

I absolutely love it! It's especially amazing with all the DLCs--They make nice incremental updates and expansions, and I appreciate the dev putting more work in it. I don't play it for the story, just for the feel of piloting and owning a merc company. It's def worth 5-stars to me.

I won't try to sum up everything this game is and isn't. However, I will say that for someone who only played the first MechWarrior (and never the tabletop Battletech games either), MW5 is a nice update and major expansion of an old classic. Expect a game that is part thinker's exercise and part visceral combat sim, albeit more the latter. First off, the feel of piloting a giant walking tank bristling with weaponry is palpable. But while the battlemechs are certainly lumbering hulks, they also carry themselves with a certain sleekness reflective of military hardware. They feel like they're designed to make mass-destruction-style combat easy and smooth. Second, the graphics and sound are excellent. Keep in mind that I'm speaking from the point of view of somebody who liked the original game, but even so, this installment is very solid. Performance is good too, all things considered. Third, the sometimes punishing gameplay feels fairly symmetrical. As big and powerful as your machines may be, your opponents are often at least as formidable, though not always. Many battles are just whatever they are, which feels more real and less contrived than some logical progression of challenges. The galactic map, as big and impressive as it is, has a familiar feel to it somehow. Being able to travel and choose actions and missions adds a layer to the game world. I spent a long time in MW1 just playing mercenary and building an overpowered fleet of Battlemasters, and I could do the same here. Last, the modding is a solid win. One can modify nearly everything about this game, from actual gameplay and missions, to models, visuals, and sounds. I liked the vanilla game a lot; I like my modded version even more. Letting the community make tweaks to a game is always a good choice, and I was thrilled to find the MW5 made it possible. I can understand the context that earned this game such a low rating, but taken on its own merits alone, for me it's an easy 5 stars.