I heard that the game has its cracks and rough edges, so I was cautious going in, but after putting 50 hours into it I can safely say that I'm incredibly pleased with what I ended up with! VISUALLY, the Mechs look good and animate convincingly. Environments are nicely detailed as well. I love the 2D art and the overall aesthetic. The UI is efficient and easy to look at. It's a very consistent package. Only criticism here is the way the 3D faces are rendered, something feels a bit.. off about it, but it doesn't detract from the experience for me. AUDIO-wise, the sounds for the weaponry are satisfying. The noise radiating from Mechs on the field when the camera gets close to them is a nice touch, and they're appropriately heavy-sounding. I love the little lines pilots spout during missions. The music is just fantastic and sets the mood perfectly. The STORY has been pretty good, I'm invested enough in it. I enjoy the characters and interactions in particular, especially the (sometimes very wholesome) events that occur between missions. The BattleTech universe is just fascinating to me and the game does a good job making you feel like part of it. GAMEPLAY has been fun and well-balanced. Can be difficult, but I haven't hit any walls. I've gotten plenty of use out of (nearly) every Mech I've come across, and there's multiple ways to tackle almost every situation. The economic/planning-side is neat - there's a subtle risk/reward factor to every little decision you make in terms of budget/Mech-builds/squad-composition/etc. There's a great modding community as well! PERFORMANCE on the other hand is still a but mixed... I experience drops and stutters that I can't explain even on this final version of the game. Still completely playable, but not optimal. One crash so far, but no real progress lost. MY HARDWARE: Ryzen 5 3600X, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 6GB. Overall, I'd say the game is currently a solid 4.5. I can't give it that, so I'm rounding up to 5.
