Mech Warrior 4: Mercenaries

Rating:
Summary: Welcome back Merc
Review: Make sure you check in at Outreach and equip your mech with only the best equipment ripped from your enemies dead bodies. Ahh...its good to be back.

Naturally this game is not the first to claim the title mercenary, nor is it the first Mechwarrior game to do so. It is also not the best Merc game so don't buy it because someone says so. However, it is a great game that is worth its now reduced price. Let me detail...

In Merc, you must earn money and buy mechs, something different from Mechwarrior 4. You also have the option of not only picking the missions you play but also the worlds you play them on. Near the end players can also choose to whom they give their alliance, a fun if questionable ability. I personally would have liked a third option to choose neither side. So ultimetly the player now has control over the direction of the game.

The mechs themselves are again the main feature and main drawback. Running around in a fifty foot tall death machine never gets old. Taking that same death machine and slapping all the best equipment on it is without compare. This is fun stuff. Now the negaitves.

These fifty foot death machines are damn near indestructable. I don't claim to understand physics at the level of Archimedes but if a hyper sonic guass slug impacts a solid object traveling at many times the speed of sound, anything under fifty tons is likely to be blown off its little feet. However the light and medium mechs shrug off repeated attacks of this sort. They actually barely even notice when you hit them with multiple such attacks, something I find unconchanable. I also felt that the idea of salvage was a little weak. No matter what mechs you kill and how you kill them, the salvage is always the same. Also, throughout the game vast numbers of chassis will come your way and unless you are getting brutalized every mission you can end the game with about 50 different mechs. YOu can also expect to run out of all the major weapon systems if you do not covet them and buy them whenever they are in shop. Its an interesting combe...too many mechs and not enough of the major weapons.

This problem is exasperbated by the Mech Warrior 4 customization system, where only certain weapons can go in certain slots. So a laser heavy mech must remain so. For a player like me, who grew up on the Nova clan mech(12 medium lasers) this is a little less fun. I also miss the ability to repair my mehc at the well placed depots in the mission. I thought this went a long ways towards making the game fun and challegning while letting less skilled players get through. In this game, where players face more enemies than ever before and have even more near worthless squad mates to protect, not being able to repair your mech is a serious handicap.

There is more but I am beggining to ramble and loss my focus so I will wrap this up. Great game, some handicaps, not as good as the origional Mechwarrior Mercenary. But it works on XP machines so...

Rating:
Summary: Mech Warrior 4-Now more complete than ever.
Review: Mech Warrior 4 Vengence was a great game, with a solid plot, good gamplay, and great overall tilt. I have also purchased Mech Warrior: Black Knight and loved it-with more weapons, mechs, and overall destruction whats not to love? Mercinaries does the same thing. Not only added content, but a new story, way of play, added a second lance, and different strategy makes Mercinaries Mech Warrior 5.

Rating:
Summary: It's all about the C-bills
Review: Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries (MW4:M) is a stand alone expansion to Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance (MW4:V). Why is that so? Well, if you played MW4:V before, you'll automatically feel accustomed to the this game. The game engine, graphic, control, mechs, weapons, AI, and even multiplayer are based on the first game. However, the storyline doesn't follow. In the first series, you are a young noble fighting for revenge. This time you are a mercenary starting up your own company. The time period between the two games is the same, which is during the civil war between House Davion and House Steiner.

For those of you completely clueless, Mechwarrior is a game where you choose and pilot mechs (or large robots) with various speed, size and firepower to out-gun your opponents. There are no other PC game similar to Mechwarrior. On the other hand, there are a zillion games on real-time strategy (RTS) and even more on first person shooters (FPS). Mechwarrior stands out because even though it is like a FPS, the variation of mechs, battle strategy and firepower makes it unique.

In this game, the focus is C-bill (the cosmic form of currency). You need it to travel, buy and repair mechs, and hire lancemates. You travel around the universe seeking jobs for hire (and crushing those who stand in your way, obviously). Eventually, you might need to pick between the Davion or the Steiner House. Here are my conclusions.

Pros:
1) Battles are even bigger than before. For over half of your campaign missions, you have the option to command 2 lances (8 mechs total). That spells for large battles with a huge amount of chaos and fire power. If you like that, then that's a big plus.
2) More mechs, there are about 8 or so new mechs on top of the first game (I'm not including the Clan/IS mech packs). Most of the addition is in the assault (ultra-big) mechs. This added firepower allows even more mayhem on top of Pro #1.
3) Graphic, although a bit dated, is still pretty good. There are subtle touches added. For example, when using ballistic cannons, you can see the spent shells exhausting out of the torso/arms after firing. The larger the cannon, the larger the shells. That's a very realistic touch.
4) Solaris. This is a part of the campaign mode where you play first-person shooter, except in a robot. You enter an arena solo and you have to out-gun and out-last 7 or more opponents. Be careful, you could be disqualified if you're not careful.
5) Multiplayer, if you are a big fan of Mech Warrior multiplayer, then this is a plus. Connection is pretty good and stable.

Cons.
1) Because of the larger battles, you need a pretty beefy computer to handle the graphic smoothly. I occassionally get choppy gameplay on large battles and it really puts a hamper on my aiming.
2) Although there are some new weapons, I don't think it is enough. I still end up using the same weapons I used from the first Vengeance, which are the PPC's, Guass's, Scatterboxes, and Clan LRMs. The only new weapon that I occassionally use is the Arrow T-bolts missiles. That's not good enough.
3) Lancemate AI can be a pain. When you are paying 7 other lancemates to help, you want them to follow orders! I have countless time got mobbed by computer opponents because my lancemates refuses to follow me and cover my flank.
4) More variation. At the start of this game, you choose one of four different mercenary sponsors. I wish there could be some more differences aside from starting equipment. I end up with pratically the same thing regardless of who I choose.

Overall, a great game and I highly recommend. This is more of a action/FPS game than a simulation, but I think that helps appeal to more people.

Rating:
Summary: It's all about the C-bills
Review: Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries (MW4:M) is a stand alone expansion to Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance (MW4:V). Why is that so? Well, if you played MW4:V before, you'll automatically feel accustomed to the this game. The game engine, graphic, control, mechs, weapons, AI, and even multiplayer are based on the first game. However, the storyline doesn't follow. In the first series, you are a young noble fighting for revenge. This time you are a mercenary starting up your own company. The time period between the two games is the same, which is during the civil war between House Davion and House Steiner.

For those of you completely clueless, Mechwarrior is a game where you choose and pilot mechs (or large robots) with various speed, size and firepower to out-gun your opponents. There are no other PC game similar to Mechwarrior. On the other hand, there are a zillion games on real-time strategy (RTS) and even more on first person shooters (FPS). Mechwarrior stands out because even though it is like a FPS, the variation of mechs, battle strategy and firepower makes it unique.

In this game, the focus is C-bill (the cosmic form of currency). You need it to travel, buy and repair mechs, and hire lancemates. You travel around the universe seeking jobs for hire (and crushing those who stand in your way, obviously). Eventually, you might need to pick between the Davion or the Steiner House. Here are my conclusions.

Pros:
1) Battles are even bigger than before. For over half of your campaign missions, you have the option to command 2 lances (8 mechs total). That spells for large battles with a huge amount of chaos and fire power. If you like that, then that's a big plus.
2) More mechs, there are about 8 or so new mechs on top of the first game (I'm not including the Clan/IS mech packs). Most of the addition is in the assault (ultra-big) mechs. This added firepower allows even more mayhem on top of Pro #1.
3) Graphic, although a bit dated, is still pretty good. There are subtle touches added. For example, when using ballistic cannons, you can see the spent shells exhausting out of the torso/arms after firing. The larger the cannon, the larger the shells. That's a very realistic touch.
4) Solaris. This is a part of the campaign mode where you play first-person shooter, except in a robot. You enter an arena solo and you have to out-gun and out-last 7 or more opponents. Be careful, you could be disqualified if you're not careful.
5) Multiplayer, if you are a big fan of Mech Warrior multiplayer, then this is a plus. Connection is pretty good and stable.

Cons.
1) Because of the larger battles, you need a pretty beefy computer to handle the graphic smoothly. I occassionally get choppy gameplay on large battles and it really puts a hamper on my aiming.
2) Although there are some new weapons, I don't think it is enough. I still end up using the same weapons I used from the first Vengeance, which are the PPC's, Guass's, Scatterboxes, and Clan LRMs. The only new weapon that I occassionally use is the Arrow T-bolts missiles. That's not good enough.
3) Lancemate AI can be a pain. When you are paying 7 other lancemates to help, you want them to follow orders! I have countless time got mobbed by computer opponents because my lancemates refuses to follow me and cover my flank.
4) More variation. At the start of this game, you choose one of four different mercenary sponsors. I wish there could be some more differences aside from starting equipment. I end up with pratically the same thing regardless of who I choose.

Overall, a great game and I highly recommend. This is more of a action/FPS game than a simulation, but I think that helps appeal to more people.

Rating:
Summary: It Still is strong
Review: Mechwarrior 4: Merenaries is a great game. It gives you new mechs, new weapons, and new maps. What more could you ask. It seems it is toaltally redone. Aside from the old mechs and gameplay it still is great. But it would have been better if they put in the mechs from the mech paks instead of people who didn't buy it have to buy it if they want it on MW4:M. But overall it still is great with new blood and that old school goodness.

Rating:
Summary: dated, but it's still mercenaries...
Review: Mercenaries is, in some ways, all that Black Knight should have been. Both of the prior MW4 installments have very linear mission progress and very little opportunity to effect the game's outcome. One of the things I like about Mercenaries is that it allows you to choose sides in the FedCom civil war, which effectively determines how the last set of missions play out. (Although, having played both the Davion and Steiner tracks, the missions are fairly similar.) Black Knight was a good expansion, but while it placed you in the role of a mercenary, it seemed artifical.

Part of the appeal to the Mercenaries concept is playing the bad guy, and the game lets you do this better than the original (MW2) mercenaries. Some missions give you the chance to be treacherous, which is a lot of fun. I only wish you could continue to play with your mercenary company after the end of the scripted misions, like in the titanium edition of the the first Mercenaries.

The game engien is dated, but is still playable. The missions are fine: well written, paced and well scripted, but not spectacular. The Solaris tournoments inflate the mission count, but they're a lot of fun. The teaser at the end of the game alludes to the story line for Mechwarrior Dark Age, which is cool.

For it's minor faults, this is a fun game that's worth playing. The basic concept of the game is sound and surpasses it's limitations. It's still good to be bad.

Rating:
Summary: mech warrior 4: mercenaries
Review: MW4 is the best game i've played with-in a period of 3 years. I went to the gateway store and saw it on a computer, so i started to play. There is ONLY, and i mean only, one bad thing about MW4...It takes a while to figure out the controls.

Rating:
Summary: Dated but awsome game.
Review: One of the first indications of the quality of Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries is the opening movie. No it's not some slick CGI that we are used to, but a mix of canned gameplay footage with a good voice over telling the player next to nothing about what is going on. It sounds good, and looks good enough, but for an opening movie I would expect more. This sums up the overall game. It's great in it's own way, but is lacking the polish that we have come to expect. That said, the actual game is great fun and it's one solid experience. If only we did not have to wait for 2 years to get it.

The single player campaign is interesting but short. It balances between giving the player a lot of freedom but not total control. This way the player can still make choices but still has to work towards "unlocking" the next set of missions. The missions them selves range from the standard search and destroy, defend the base and escort the convoy. But to mix it up you can often take the other side in the conflict. For example, one mission will have you defend the peace talks between two warring governments. At the same time there is another mission that will have you instead attack the peace talks. You cannot do both and the results are different. Or you can just leave the planet and go on to another contract. It's fun to go back and see the different outcomes.
The economy from Mechwarrior2 Mercenaries is back and works well. It adds another layer of depth and strategy that also helps make you feel like a mercenary. However unless you are a really bad Mechwarrior that loses Mechs left and right, you will never really be hard pressed for cash.

Of course you will have to keep your unit well armed with the cash you earn with various Mechs. The selection of Mechs is impressive, and I really enjoyed some of the new designs. Some of the old ones have gotten a nice face-lift with higher detail and higher res skins. There is an equally large selection of weapons and many of them have been revised in some way. The autocannons have new sounds, pulse lasers fire faster, etc. Fortunately the balance has been kept. All this helps inject some fresh interest in a game that is now 2 years old.

However that is where the game is weak. The engine used is getting old. This is the first Mechwarrior game where the graphics have been less than state of the art. The developers promised that they were just now able to use the full potential of the engine. But it is still a far cry from competing with he latest Unreal and Quake powered games. That said, the graphics are at least good enough. Only in a few areas does the game really look bad. It does manage to look improved over Mechwarrior4. It has lots of nice particle effects and better textures. The Mechs still look pretty good and the sound is well done. However the simple water effects, plain skybox, elementary lighting, crude damage decals, and 2D tress all tell of an engine past its prime.

The game does a few things that previous Mechwarrior games never did. Such as giving the player command of 2 full lances (8 Mechs total) rather than the usual four Mechs. The pilots are rather generic but they at least have distinct voices that give you some illusion of character. The voice acting through out will not win any awards but does a good job of creating atmosphere that is just right for a Mechwarrior game. There is also more story content told by text in the form of news reports that help flesh out the story. This is a welcome change from Mechwarrior 4s silly little live action clips.

In the end if you are a Mechwarrior fan than this game should at least entertain you. Anyone familiar with the Battletech story line will be glad to see some important characters and planets later on in the game. But just don't expect Mechwarrior5 or anything too impressive from the engine. If you can look past that, the experience is well worth the money.

Rating:
Summary: Best Yet
Review: Personally I think this game is the best Mechwarrior game yet. I have Mech 3 and it's quite a jump. Your lancemates aren't total idiots anymore, though it still takes them time to do certain tasks and they don't always follow orders. That aside they are way better than the ones from 3. Nine times put of ten if you told them all to attack a target you could attack a target 1000m away, kill it and still get back into weapons range of the target that you lancemates were to kill. And that's in a Daishi. Now they just get in the way sometimes.

The weaponry is finnaly done right too. Clan versions of the weapons are accually significantly different. Their lasers are longer ranged, Their ballistics are lighter, and their missiles have better tracking. In fact Inner Sphere MRMs and SRMs don't track at all. Omnimech's now actually matter. Their omni slots let them carry any kind of weapon in them. This is why the Kodiak is king. Unfortunatelly you need the clan mech pack to use that but I have it; so it's all good.

Rating:
Summary: Online against others is where its at
Review: The game senerios are great training and alot of fun. But I found the most satisfaction playing online with others. Working together as a team to try and beat another group of people on a different team. Online gaming is free once you have purchased the base game. There are several organized ladder leagues that have lots of people that want to have fun too. A good example is Mechwarriorleagues if you can find it. There you can find a ton of additional maps and patches for new mech types.
The game runs alot like a 1st person shooter, but you are piloting a giant robot like machine: a Mech. Because you are in a big "Mech" you don't die with 1 or 2 shots like alot of shooter games, which makes this a good LAN party game as well. Friends that have never played it before can join in and have fun without feeling that they are just another target for person that is more experienced at this game.