My previous exposure to the BattleTech universe has come entirely electronically- I have many fond memories of the MechWarrior/Mercenaries series and LAN-based robo-carnage. With this in mind I was excited to hear about BattleTech, I heard many comparisons to XCOM after release which prompted me to pick it up- hybrid management/strategy of that calibre is pretty rare after all. After finishing the BattleTech campaign, my basic takeaways are that this isn't really much like XCOM except in a very 'broad-stokes' kind of way, I personally think that mech combat works better in a real-time format and the game is good, but not great with a mass of opportunities for improvement through some basic tweaking of the UI and some of the mechanics. My favourite part of the game is the strategic layer; when you're on your ship checking your pilot rosters, outfitting your mechs and choosing contracts things all work pretty smoothly and it feels like the dream version of the 'Mercenaries' system. You can hang out, talk to your crew and immerse yourself in the world too which is a nice touch; it's clear that the devs have a great respect for the universe they're working in, even if (to my taste) the lore does get somewhat oppressive at times. Then you get dropped down to the actual missions and things take a turn for the mediocre- your (nicely rendered) mechs plod across a (nicely rendered) set of landscapes, make contact with some people who need to be blasted, blast them then maybe blast some other stuff before going home. I think my main issue with the missions is I couldn't seem to wring much tactical depth out of them- victory seems to hinge almost entirely on how much mech-tonnage you bring along, coupled with having enough intelligence to avoid turning your back to the enemy. My fights often devolved into my lance standing stock-still while shooting until all my opponents fell over. Still worth a play if giant robots are your thing, just not 'Clan-PPC'-level amazing.
I love X-Com to death (or to the deaths of thousands of unfortunate soldiers and aquanauts who have fallen under my command). I loaded this new iteration up with trepidation- the franchise hasn't all been hits; I had to force myself to finish Interceptor, The Bureau was mediocre outside of it's storytelling and Enforcer was a trash-pile that's remembered pretty much entirely on the basis of being attached to the franchise. 'New' XCOM finds its niche by distilling the experience of saving the world from an alien takeover down to the core business of shooting down UFOs, taking out squads of soldiers to kill and capture aliens and reverse-engineering their gear into equipment to be used to repeat the loop until finding the means to halt the invasion once and for all (or until you boot up XCOM 2 at least). Everything feels simpler than the classic game- no more micromanagement of soldier inventory, you no longer need to manually keep your interceptors and troops stocked with ammo and you're restricted to a single base. Purists may cry foul, and the restrictions do feel somewhat arbitrary- a soldier carrying a single grenade means they can't attach a rifle scope for example. Where the game really shines is in nailing the feel of XCOM- whereas the original strung together a story out of the text and pictures unlocked by research, here there are actual characters who do a fine job of making experience seem about more than blasting ET with ever more powerful ray-guns. The tactical missions capture the tension of sending a squad into combat against unknown horrors (at least until the late game when it's likely the aliens might as well be fighting the Justice League). When everything clicks and your pincer movement works it feels great, and when half your squad gets nuked by an alien grenade and the remnants start panicking and shooting at each other, it's just as visceral as ever. It's great to see the franchise back in good hands- Vigilo Confido Commander.
For all the hate that's been poured on EA over the decades they've put some pretty cool experiences into the world- The Sims, Mass Effect, Battlefield... I love all those franchises but if you asked me to pick the coolest thing EA's ever put out I'd tell you it was Mirror's Edge, a game that's just as amazing visually as conceptually and just as simultaneously pure joy and infuriation incarnate when it comes to the gameplay. I've been playing the rebooted version (Mirror's Edge: Catalyst) lately, and while I love (and sometimes hate) that game just as much as the this one, playing it reminded me of just how unique the original game has remained all these years. Some properties like Assassin's Creed and Dying Light have borrowed elements but there's still nothing out there with such a pure emphasis on movement above all else. Most of the complaints (and there are many legitimate ones) circle around this focus; the combat- both hand to hand and with firearms is clunky (to put it mildly), and while there's some navigational help it's not always explicit where you're supposed to be going and plodding around in this game backtracking to build up enough speed to do a wall-run or whatever doesn't feel good, it feels like you suck. But then a weird thing happens and you get good, learn to read the blistering white terrain as you sprint roll, jump, vault, somersault and zip-line through Glass. When you're moving smoothly the sensation is incredible- nailing a speedrun here is (for me at least) a feeling far more satisfying than nailing any number of headshots. You can tell a lot about the game's appeal from the fanbase, a small but hyper-dedicated group who are still trying to shave fractions of a second off their times in the challenge runs. It's certainly not everyone's idea of a good time, but I love it's uniqueness in concept, form and aesthetic and the fact that it rewards patience so richly- A great piece of game history.
