Harebrained Schemes deserves credit for aiming really high in their gaming goals. Ideal: In-depth tactical play with a significant strategy layer with player choices that have a real impact on the game. Released: Clunky gem in the rough. The good news is that BattleTech Advanced 3062 fixes almost all those problems. -Improved loadtimes, UI is more informative, AI is much, tons of technical problems sorted out (except that the Mechbay is now a little buggier but there are workarounds). Line of sight has been perfected (watch out for friendly fire!) You can now choose which type of melee attack and it affects damage output significantly (kicking does leg damage, punches do torso damage, etc). -Mech customization is much deeper, you can field up to 8 mechs and 4 vehicles, making all those extra mechs you salvage worth keeping. With the right equipment a 25 ton mech can take on a 55 ton mech. That's a gratifying feeling. -Mechwarrior customization now has new specialties that make several different styles of play viable. Mech affinities and battle perks add new dimensions to building your squad over and above just levelling them up. Warriors panic and eject (no more suicidal AI). -Surviving in career mode is much tougher, but workable. They even have bank loans! The campaign has been added into career mode as a flashpoint, so you can play it or ignore it. Brilliant move BTA team! Overall, I love this game now. I've been a fan of the XCOM series for a long time and have loved the Long War mods. Even though I can't praise XCOM 2 LWOTC enough as a highly replayable and fun game, I find myself prefering Battletech for my precious moments of free time thanks to BTA 3062.
Since my sentiments have already been expressed in previous reviews I will keep this short. 1) It's the only game I know of that you can have a fun experience with a crew in a spaceship AND take that same crew for combat missions on land (or space station etc). 2) The Dev is very responsive and keeps an eye on his forums. (Won my support by purchasing on both GOG and Steam). If I had one wish from a genie in a magic lamp, I'd ask for a 1st person camera while in space to make the experience a little more immersive. Otherwise, this game is really everything I've ever dreamed of.
Pro's: Though personally unimpressed by the novel, I really enjoy this game for 2 big reasons: 1) Story moves briskly and feels deep 2) No grinding!!! You don't get to customize your characters or personalize their weapons and armor to their class, but you also don't have to grind to level up equipment and skills either. The graphics are good, the art is fantastic and the other production values such as acting, animations and hardware requirements are very competent. Con's: 1) The mechanics feel experimental. Combat is a challenge but an interesting one without feeling like drudgery. However, you have to pause all the time, so it's basically a turn-based combat system with RTS functionality. Perhaps if they added an option to auto-pause every 2-3 seconds it would feel less clunky. 2) Your options are limited. You don't get to pick weapons, armor or class. You have very few options to work with in battle. The characters as warriors don't feel like they are YOURS nor do they feel like they are YOURS in the storyline. The Devs are obviously trying to make "REAL" options but in practice you often get railroaded into dialogues so you don't even have control over your character's personality. When you do get a choice during dialogues that has an impact, there is usually a "right" answer that the dev's want you to pick and penalize you if you don't. Overall, if the Dev's can make the same improvements by the time they get to The Dwarves 2 that Creative Assemblies pulled off in taking Shogun Total War to Shogun II Total War - this has the potential to be one of the greatest games ever.
I was really excited about the story-rich RPG, low-fantasy concept. I played it in early access then again a year or so after release. It was fun for about 5 hours but then you realize the story is linear, there are no "real" choices, not even in combat which LOOKS like a cool chess game at first but you cannot move your characters or even pass on your turn if you want to keep a soldier out of harm's way so it feels more like a clickable auto-resolve. The developers claim you have strategic options in troop placement but putting your healers and archers in the front line is suicide so you don't have any real choices when it comes to troop placement either. Battles were more economic calculations than edge-of-your-seat action - I was just trying to pick battles where I could win enough loot to cover the cost of healing wounds. Other than grinding to upgrade equipment and level up the squad the player has little to do except read volumes of text about a more or less coherent story line with generic plot twists. Still I enjoyed playing it for about 5 hours, then it got boring but I slogged through it to see where the story would go. Once you finish a map, you lose the troops so you have to grind a new squad up to par to finish the next story. Then lose your squad again and grind your way through a new map aware you are wasting your time. Three maps was all I could do before hating the game. I started out really excited about the game then ended up angry at the developers - if only there were some decent modding tools it might be salvageable but there aren't. If you want to give it a try, buy it when it's on sale.
