Rating: 
Summary: A fun shoot'm up.
Review: A fun shoot 'm up, no less, and regrettably, no more. Fans of the board game, the series, or even the role- playing game will be in for a bit of a dissapointment. The game has few options besides "click and shoot". Still, I spent a fun few hrs playing it (and a lotta dlrs buying it). I hope we'll get a better, more extensive version soon.
Rating: 
Summary: Limited Scope, Busy Mech Graphics, & Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!
Review: After playing the demo for 'Mechwarrior 3' I was less than inspired, and unlike the venerable 'Mechwarrior 2', saw no reason to buying it. Well, boredom and impulsiveness lured me into finally purchasing the game, mainly because it was on special. Considering there is four years of development and technology in 'Mechwarrior 3' over Activision's older title, 'Mechwarrior 2' is the better. Sure the graphics are inferior and there are play touches evident in the newer game, but there is a much grander feel to wherein you have to combat Jade Falcon Clan across several worlds, whereas in MW3 you take the role as a mechwarrior with Eridani Light Horse tackling Clan Smoke Jaguar on only one world. This lack of scope hampers the game tremendously, plus the game also lacks the connectivity that MW2 had to the entire Battletech universe. Game setup is simple and once installed the user is treated a rather nice opening segue of Light Horse forces fighting a desperate battle against superior Clan forces and eventually luring them into a trap. From there the player is given the option of Campaign, Training, Instant Action, Multiplayer, Options & Credits from the main screen. Training is tedious and drawn out, so I suggest using the Instant Action option and scaling battles up as you become more and more familiar with mech controls and systems. I haven't tried multi-player yet simply because I know there are going to be way too many cowards cheating for me to enjoy battling against other players. Campaign Mode deals with an invasion of the Smoke Jaguar home world and using it as a stepping stone to Strana Mechty in 3058. Yawn. Not much of a story here, I'm afraid, and that's only half of the troubles for this game. It's buggy! While my system exceeds system requirements by light years, the game routinely dumps me back out to my Windows desktop, once after my 'mech overheated and shut down. Worse, the game's sound effects get so messed up that pressing an on screen selector to move LRM-5's to your mech results in a burst of auto-cannon fire issuing from your speakers instead of a beep! This happens mainly in the arming & load out menus with sound effects overriding what was originally there. It also happens in-game when your MFB's encircle your mech unit to repair it, repair sounds are replaced by explosions, weapons fire, 'Mission Successful', 'Mech power-up detected', etc. It gets annoying fast. My jump jets on mech units have never once worked properly. The graphics are a mixed bag of some very nice designs in buildings and other structures that give a nice sense of scale while in your mech. Terrain is quite good, but very limited in variety. The battlemech's themselves are well designed, by surface bitmaps are very busy, giving the mechs an extremely cluttered look. Mech animations have a very nice look to them, conveying a sense of weight in motion. Microprose, for some reason, changed the damage model, and suddenly 'time on target' becomes a necessity in order to deliver any appreciable damage you your target. If your Med Pulse Laser does 5 points of damage and you do not concentrate it on a single location, such as a limb, it gets spread around to the rest of the mech. Very quickly does the player learn the value of twin UB-AC 10's! Or, god help you, twin Gauss Cannons! Whoohoo! I actually made a Daishi in the Instant Action section that mounted 4 Gauss, it had limited ammo, but anything I shot stopped shooting back. Microsoft will be doing Mechwarrior 4, and given they are also making the X-Box, (sounds like something Charles Xavier might make to battle Magneto or something), I am not sure if PC gamers will see it. However, it is also looking that the X-Box will be based on PC architecture which means the games might be cross compatible. For now, however, 'Mechwarrior 3' is a mixed bag of some very good things, but perhaps, at least in my case, too many bad things to make it very much fun. Maybe I'll try the Multiplayer option and see if it gets any better. Until then I still have my old copy of Mechwarrior 2 kicking around, and there's a 3Dfx version of Mercenaries available as well. This game could have been so much better, but too many problems drag it back into the realm of mediocrity.
Rating:
Summary: Here today, gone tomorrow
Review: Ages in the making and a bit of a disappointment, 'Mechwarrior 3' isn't sufficiently different to the ancient, venerable 'Mechwarrior 2', and suffers from the lumbering nature of mech-to-mech combat - even the best simulation of big, slow robots fighting each other boils down to a series of largely static duels. It's not complex enough for there to be a strategy hook, and not cartoony enough to be fun on a visceral level. Fittingly for a sequel to one of the nicest-looking games of 1994, the presentation is excellent, although the fantastic music from the original game has been ditched in favour of some anonymous, inferior imitations. As before, the weapons you have are an odd bunch - although you can kit your mech out with a variety of equipment, you eventually realise that only heavy lasers and heat sinks are any use. Machine-guns and missiles are strangely ineffective, and it seems unsatisfying to spend the entire game 'painting' the legs of enemy mechs with weedy lasers. Despite a four-year wait, the game seems... underwhelming. Not bad as such, just very forgettable. There aren't many missions, and only one of them (in which you have to intercept a train) presents a major challenge, and when its over it just seems to fade from the mind. Except for the voice acting, which is fine, but having them say 'aff!' as a salutation, whilst true to the Battletech universe, sounds extremely camp. The intro movie is fantastic, by the way.
Rating: 
Summary: MechWarrior III Rocks (except for the AI)!
Review: An awsome sequel to Mechwarrior II. Mechwarrior III does an incredible job with setting up missions, providing multimedia briefings, and developing an interesting storyline. The graphics are outstanding, the sound effects are good, and the gameplay is smooth. An excellent game which is well worth the cost. The only downside/improvement to the game would be better AI. The enemy mechs are easy to kill, and the missions aren't difficult enough. Why can't they learn from the AI engines from Quake or Halflife and create opponents which are truly worthwhile?
Rating:
Summary: Great game
Review: Great game. good controls. hours of fun. one thing that i didnt like was that is was hard some times to finish a missions you got to make sure you do all them and the sub-missions. i would leave before i got the submissions done some times cause the screen would come up and say you completed your main objectives then i would leave. that is my only complaint about the game other than that is was one of the best games that i have ever played.
Rating: 
Summary: Old Soldier, New Mech
Review: I haven't been following the Battle Tech series very closely, and have lost track of its history. But I am told, and have read that Mech Warrior stems from it.
Believe it or not, I found the Battle Tech series when I was a Private on the rise in the U.S. Army. That was over 20 years ago, and I've heard that BattleTech is over 15 years in history. Go figure! Anyway, about 7 years ago, I read about Mech Warrior and was stunned. Wow! What a toy to have! (GAME for PC) I grabbed a few pictures, and did a little reading. Then I acquired, MechWarrior - Hawks Revenge. I still have it around here somewhere - I think in storage. It was a fun game to play. Who wouldn't like dancing around in a 40 to 100 ton Battle tank with legs? Now Last year, I downloaded MechWarrior 3 (No CD, no disks, nothing! Just a download) and I have been in love ever since. Again - who wouldn't love dancing around in a 40 to 100-ton Mech? The guns, the power, the speed! My God, the speed! I have a pentium 4 running Windows XP. And man, the speed and fluidity of the program is awesome. I'm a graphic artist and I love eye-candy. This game gives me a high that you won't believe. My family gets upset because when I feel like making noise and blowing things up, it's Mechwarrior 3 on the PC! They like to play too (and my family is my girlfriend and my niece - both whom I call "Lady MechWarriors" - They play that well). However, sometimes, the program does drop out on its own. Yet it is not enough to annoy me or cause alarm. I just hit go, and I'm back in the business of shredding mech metal. It is, however, a good idea to shut down any non-essential programs that may be running in the background, in order to keep it from becoming a headache. That is, unless those programs are essential to keep the computer up and running. Usually, I shut down ICQ, and any other programs that may enable a pop up advertising window, or system message window. For a little while, I can live without them. And the PC doesn't mind either. From then on, it is BANG-BANG-BOOM! Good-bye Smoke Jaguar!
So, if you are new to the Mech Warrior Universe, read the books (any that you can find), play the games. Immerse yourself and have fun. If you are an old soldier like me (1st Cavalry, Co. C 2/7th Cav - '80 - '83), then put it on, it will look good on you! I haven't stopped (After a hard days work, it's always a trip into fantasyland and a visit with my fellow Infantrymen from days gone by), and I have completed the game several times. Now my new love is "Mech Assault"....
But that is another love story to be written.
Rating:
Summary: Last of the real Mech games
Review: I highly recommend this game for anyone who wants to play mech/giant robot games without having a $3,000 computer with fancy video cards. I can play it on an HP Pavilion 6683 straight out of the box, with a lousy 1 MB SGVA Intel 810 chipset. It offers the option to play with a 'software render,' which doesn't need a 3D video card at all. If you can play Majesty on your computer, you can play this game. It doesn't continually freeze and crash, like MW2 or MW4 do even when their system requirements are met.
On the non-technical front, the game itself is quite exciting and looks excellent. The weapon special effects aren't quite as spectacular as the MW4 renderings, but they are still good. The landscape looks BETTER than that hazy, vague, bland thing they have in MW4, and you can actually crater it with your missiles. The mechs look fine, move quickly, and offer both an external and internal view.
In short, if you're looking for bug-free, fine-looking, exciting giant robot action, don't pass this game by! It'll probably work on your system, too, if it was made in the last couple of years and has one of the right Windows programs. Check out Majesty and Diablo II while you're at it -- another couple of spectacular, fascinating games with low system requirements! :) Have fun, Mechwarrior!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: At last -- a mech game that works! :)
Review: I highly recommend this game for anyone who wants to play mech/giant robot games without having a $3,000 computer with fancy video cards. I can play it on an HP Pavilion 6683 straight out of the box, with a lousy 1 MB SGVA Intel 810 chipset. It offers the option to play with a 'software render,' which doesn't need a 3D video card at all. If you can play Majesty on your computer, you can play this game. It doesn't continually freeze and crash, like MW2 or MW4 do even when their system requirements are met.
On the non-technical front, the game itself is quite exciting and looks excellent. The weapon special effects aren't quite as spectacular as the MW4 renderings, but they are still good. The landscape looks BETTER than that hazy, vague, bland thing they have in MW4, and you can actually crater it with your missiles. The mechs look fine, move quickly, and offer both an external and internal view.
In short, if you're looking for bug-free, fine-looking, exciting giant robot action, don't pass this game by! It'll probably work on your system, too, if it was made in the last couple of years and has one of the right Windows programs. Check out Majesty and Diablo II while you're at it -- another couple of spectacular, fascinating games with low system requirements! :) Have fun, Mechwarrior!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: This game is the bomb-digity
Review: I love to play this game, it's never boring.Everyone should play this game!The weapons are awsome , the mechs are awsome (the thor and dashi in particular. I love to customize the Dashi with nothing but weapons. Buy this game today!
Rating:
Summary: Good, easy fun
Review: I've loved all of the Mechwarrior games, they are always so easy: stand and pick other Mechs off at extreme long range. Besides graphics changes the two big changes are a nice zooming rectile, to make those long-range shots easier and a "Mobile Field Base" that will fix you up in the middle of a mission. All of this makes the campaign short, just 10 hours or so. I had one glaring problem, it wouldn't install or run on Windows 2000. Maybe I could have gotten it to run if I had hunted down and hand-installed all the files. It ran without a single hitch on Windows 98SE.
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