I haven't played very much, nor do I feel inclined to revisit this game in any meaningful way. The reason why? Its difficulty and the opacity/complexity of its systems (skills, salvage, mech builds, contract ratings, etc.) have drained almost all the fun from the game. For example, I'm playing a 1-1/2 skull rated contract, which I had previously enjoyed playing and beating. This mission drops me into a scenario where I'm almost immediately set upon by 6+ mechs and some LRM artillery. The environment is "badlands", so the heat build-up is yet another limiting factor. The level's terrain is a ridged valley, where you can choose to get mired in the canyon floor, getting pummled from all sides, or try to make it to high ground, only to be closed down within the first two turns and be stuck on the middle tier, with terrible hit chances and almost no cover. It's a complete nightmare and just an overall terrible experience. I don't understand how this contract could be rated so low and be placed in the game so early, when it clearly requires heavier mechs and / or more familiarity with the game (which is never forthcoming). The game does a poor job explaining how to build optimal mechs and lances, as well as what to drop your upgrade points into. The RNG for hits will always tilt the battles in favour of the AI and on a number of occasions I've had a medium mech, in cover, with 3-4 evasion get internal damage on the first volley from a light mech. It just doesn't feel great nor fun to play. I backed the game a long time ago and don't regret it, but with that said, knowing what I know now, I wouldn't recommend purchasing it. I find it so unwelcoming to the player as to be unpleasant and near-unplayable.
Controls are crap, complete with delay and odd timings. Graphics aren't great. Music is awful. Game should've stayed dead.
As harsh as the title may be, I can't really recommend this game. The graphics are nice, the robot customization at the build-select stage is a great innovation and there is clearly a lot of effort and talent behind the game. It's really a shame that the majority of the product remains subpar. The units lack weight, with their weapons connoting the pew-pew of pop-cap guns, the A.I. and pathfinding are poor, the missions are underwhelming and repetitive and there are too many barriers to enjoying the game, in favour of phased-in elements. The straw that broke the proverbial camel's back was a mission in which you had to build a turret hub and proceed to defend a limited number of turrets (more become available later) through 25 waves of units! This tedium is compounded by a severe lack of resources that can either be spent on turrets, or skills that are necessary to progress. You can't repair the turrets without spending 75 shardium on the repair skill (for each turret/wave), new turrets cost 300 shardium and an ability that becomes mandatory at wave 10 uses 200 shardium for a wimpy explosion with minimum effect. The explosive is unlocked because you have to kill sniper units that stay out of the range of all your turrets. If you miss one shot, you might as well reload a save, because you don't have the resources to have a mulligan and I haven't been able to discover a way to destroy existing turrets to place them in range, in event of a misfire. Or of course you could just have an enemy unit glitch, standing out of range, not attacking and refusing to move, until you spend 200 to blow it up, or reload. There's not a strategy to employ here, which is frustrating for an RTS. While Meridian has some good ideas, it's execution is lacklustre and the mission/campaign design is maddeningly mundane, when not outright broken. I wish the developer success, because they seem to have potential, but I would avoid this game, unless on sale and desperate for an RTS.
While I was enthused to see this classic game that I had the fleeting pleasure of enjoying from a PC Gamer demo disc when it was originally released. I booted it up, the settings consist of two audio settings, without any graphics options (namely resolution), mouse speed, controls, etc. Playing the game is not aided by the lack of an intuitive UI, brick-dumb AI for your soldiers and the card mechanic that doesn't have a brief explanation for what the respective cards do. There is nothing setting this game apart, beyond this clunky mechanic and with so few options, it's hard to suggest picking it up. If this title intrigues you, wait for a sale, as I thoroughly feel disappointed having spent $5.99 on it (not GOG's fault obviously).
