While it's great that they brought some of the classic 'Mechs back (really, the Assassin and the Flea? Why no Wasp or Stinger?) that they actually brought some completely broken devices into the game indicates that they're not interested in giving us a BattleTech game, and more trying to re-write history and whitewash years of canon. An Ultra AC/5, in 3025? That does 9 points of damage per shot? Great job. The "improved" autocannons broke the game originally, and now adding LB-X autocannons an Ultra Autocannons firmly cements the game as more a fanfic than a canonical adventure in BattleTech. The new "powers" that they gave the newly added 'Mechs show what little regard they hold for BattleTech fans who have been playing since the BattleDroid days. The one good thing (and what indicates it deserves a single star) is that they're finally allowing mods. So, maybe one of the great modding community can create an effective mod to fix all the bad parts of this game and make it amazing.
As a game, it's fairly good. Difficult, good combat, uncertain what does what. If you don't know anything about BattleTech, you'll be fine. It's a good, if not BattleTech, game. It's pretty, and decently polished. The story is about what you’d expect for BattleTech (don’t expect Shadowrun Returns). It doesn't seem to be terribly well optimized, as it's chugging along with my i7/1080 gaming rig. As a BattleTech game, it's sub-standard. I get that you're going to change things going from the board game to a digital representation, and that makes sense. What doesn't make sense is completely changing an entire group of weapons to make them awesome while nerfing the existing good weapons. The decision was made, during development, and rallied against, that all AC's (save the AC/20) got a massive damage increase. The AC/2 is now an AC/5 for damage, but still has AC/2 range and ammo. The AC/5 is now an AC/10 with AC/5 range, heat and ammo, and the AC/10 is now, basically a Gauss Rifle with slightly less range. This has, basically, ruined, the game for anyone who doesn't assume Autocannons are the be-all and end-all of BattleTech. Supposedly, there is a way to edit the files to change this, and I'm looking into that myself. Basically, consider that the JM-6 JagerMech now packs the same fire-power as an AWS-8Q Awesome with 1/10th the heat gain. Actually, it's worse than that, as heat gain has been spiked as well. Energy 'Mechs WILL overheat regularly, even when playing cautiously. As a point, the AWS-8Q, which could fire all three PPCs and only gain a little heat, will shut down the first turn you try that. The JM-6? It can keep that up until it runs out of ammo. TL/DR: Really think about this if you like BattleTech. If you just like tactical combat games, it’s really good.
As a game, it's fairly good. Difficult, good combat, uncertain what does what. If you don't know anything about BattleTech, you'll be fine. It's a good, if not BattleTech, game. It's pretty, and decently polished. The story is about what you’d expect for BattleTech (don’t expect Shadowrun Returns). It doesn't seem to be terribly well optimized, as it's chugging along with my i7/1080 gaming rig. As a BattleTech game, it's sub-standard. I get that you're going to change things going from the board game to a digital representation, and that makes sense. What doesn't make sense is completely changing an entire group of weapons to make them awesome while nerfing the existing good weapons. The decision was made, during development, and rallied against, that all AC's (save the AC/20) got a massive damage increase. The AC/2 is now an AC/5 for damage, but still has AC/2 range and ammo. The AC/5 is now an AC/10 with AC/5 range, heat and ammo, and the AC/10 is now, basically a Gauss Rifle with slightly less range. This has, basically, ruined, the game for anyone who doesn't assume Autocannons are the be-all and end-all of BattleTech. Supposedly, there is a way to edit the files to change this, and I'm looking into that myself. Basically, consider that the JM-6 JagerMech now packs the same fire-power as an AWS-8Q Awesome with 1/10th the heat gain. Actually, it's worse than that, as heat gain has been spiked as well. Energy 'Mechs WILL overheat regularly, even when playing cautiously. As a point, the AWS-8Q, which could fire all three PPCs and only gain a little heat, will shut down the first turn you try that. The JM-6? It can keep that up until it runs out of ammo. TL/DR: Really think about this if you like BattleTech. If you just like tactical combat games, it’s really good.
(I have this on Steam) This is not a game for everyone, but it is a gem for some of us. This is a game about resource and inventory management. Basically, you're on a quest for rare recipes and the resources to make them. Getting to the center of the galaxy just gives you a direction to travel . . .. Unfortunately, the game is light on content. I will echo a sentiment I've seen on-line that this feels more like a very polished beta (think Subnautica) where it's very pretty, and what little it does have is very, very polished, but, you're waiting for updates to give you new things to do. While on-foot combat is acceptable, the in-space combat is atrocious. Having extremely muddy controls is bad enough, but having to stop flying/fighting in the middle of a dogfight to craft components to repair my shield, then repair my shield, makes it very, very annoying. Sure, I could just drop materials directly into my shield, but, it just makes for an unpleasant situation. Avoid space fights. I must be one of the few people who haven't had anything but a good experience from No Man's Sky. I've got a 4770k @ 3.5 ghz (I'm unambitious), and a GTX 970 with 12gb of RAM. I get a consistent 60 fps @ 1080p (my eyes aren't good enough to see at a higher resolution than that, so I've saved money by not buying a 4k monitor). I've had ONE crash to desktop, and one other issue (three times) where the game slowed down. Not I had a frame-rate drop, but the game just went from running smoothly to running smoothly VERY SLOWLY. It took me 5 minutes to traverse a distance in space that listed it should take 45 seconds. Getting out of the game and back in fixed it. I haven't seen any of the issues that other people have with the game.
