MECHWARRIOR ONLINE (BETA REVIEW)

I'll start off by saying that Mechwarrior is one of my all time favorite franchises. Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries is easily in my top five games of all time. So this review is coming from a true fan of the series. I hold this game franchise as the pinnacle of Mech based gaming. So the opinions ahead can be taken with a grain of salt. I can admit that but praise is earned on this site so strap up and prepare for a ride in this reviewers Mech of opinion.

My love for controlling a huge heaps of armored machines was further enforced by the purchase of my first car. A overheating piece of shit Ford Tempo purchased for $600. My few months with the car reminded me of piloting a Mech in the Mechwarrior Universe. I had to manage my heat every time I decided to take her out for a roll.  For most people it would be stressful but for me every single time I arrived at a destination without overheating was a successful mission. So now as I pilot the iconic Atlas I get the same trills.

“DECLINE IN THE FAITH OF THE DEVELOPER”

I wanted to get this review out before the changes come from the games official release of September 17, 2013. Mainly to address the decline of faith in the developer PGI in delivering the product the community wants. The Mechwarrior community loves the game but they love to complain about the game just as much. Not in the pissy whining you get from “kids” complaining about no “dino-mode” or overpowered weapons they cannot counter More so you are getting season veterans that have played for decades pointing out the fundamental flaws of the latest metagame (damn ppc snipers was so two patches ago).

If PGI was listening closely to the top-tier players they would learn a lot about their game. They may be great at programming MWO but there people out there that understand the gameplay much better than them. I have the feeling PGI is in house testing the newest tweaks of the gameplay this is what is fucking up the balance. They really need to outsource testing to small top-tier players as focus groups. With the intent to better understand weapons and builds in a gameplay setting.

My personal loss of faith in PGI comes from the upcoming addition of 3rd person cameras. This game was never struggling because of the point of view. Any person complaining of POV is a fucking noob sorry but its true. The fact that PGI took time away from coding so many other aspects of the game to work on 3rd person mode is only one of many bad decisions I think they have made.

THE EVER CHANGING BATTLEFIELD

It seems like every introduction of a new battlemech to the game further disrupts the previous balance of the game. With the addition of the Raven and Ecm came the downfall of lights successfully fulfilling their role of scouts. With the Highlander taking the field we encountered a jump sniping metagame that was the only viable option for months. Nothing wrong with the game evolving but there seems to be a slight oversight when new mechs enter the ecosystem. The change they bring is then corrected in a way that hurts all other Mech builds and not necessarily the Mech that disrupted the ecosystem. The latest Alpha Strike penalties are what I would say was a bad call on PGI’s behalf.

I do not have all the answers but the strong leaders in the community do. PGI you have their info you need to seriously start contacting them and work out the issues of you game together. Where I can admit the community is wrong is the complaints of wanting a return on founders packages. Whoever wants a refund, you need to suck it up and either go along for the ride or eject from your cockpit permanently.

DO NOT BREAK THIS PROMISE

Here’s where PGI’s will either epically fail or go on to thrive. Community Warfare, this promise is going to make or break the community. Whatever you do PGI do not fuck up Community Warfare. If you cut any corners on this or if its just some shitty feature that is not better than what House marik did for their civil wars you will lose nearly all your customers past, present and future. So many users are not playing because they are waiting to hear the verdict on this aspect of the game. This feature can pull in countless new players if its the talk of the town. Please PGI do not fuck up this feature.

  

For the “BETA” I’ll say damn good. The tweaking they have done to the Cry-Engine impresses me a lot. Some really great lighting that even reacts in real time to the battlemech models. But I am a gameplay over stunning visuals. Here Mechwarrior does a great job of two. They support each other. However once we move out of beta and we receive the Direct X I will give the final verdict. As far as what I see now I like it a whole lot, and would approve of PGI’s efforts with the engine.  

They won me over once the startup sequence was added to the game. I am a sucker for that sexy robot voice. She gives me a comfort that all systems are nominal. Some of the latest patches sounds make you feel like the year is 3050 and shit just got real. Here is where I think PGI exceeded mine and most users expectations.

Bottomline: Download and enjoy this title, but make sure you join a faction so you get the best experience out of the game. Pugging it doesn't do this game justice. It relies heavily on teamwork.