By Jim Rossignol on March 15th, 2012 at 10:11 am.
So you’ve read about John’s encounter with Mechwarrior Online, but how about seeing it in action? Head below for a battle in a riverbed. An interesting contrast with Hawken, I would say. This really is the year of the Mech.
And lasers!
15/03/2012 at 10:14 marlin says:
That looks…..fun.
Also, lasers!
15/03/2012 at 10:14 remover says:
Years ago I thought MechWarrior and related games were the coolest thing ever.
I watched this pretty video though and started wondering, “Wouldn’t it just feel like a simple FPS with super sluggish movement?”
What will set it apart besides auxillary systems and whatnots?
15/03/2012 at 10:16 marlin says:
It’ll be the ‘whatnots’. It’s always the ‘whatnots’.
15/03/2012 at 10:28 deke913 says:
auxillary whatnots are pivotal
15/03/2012 at 10:21 Scythe says:
For your answer I prescribe two hours of playing Mechwarrior: Living Legends, a free mod for Crysis Wars.
Fundamentally you’re right; It’s a slow FPS. But that’s exactly what makes it glorious. Everything has momentum. In your average FPS almost every action is carried out and its consequences felt in under half a second. Mechwarrior games dilate this timeline out such that you can see events unfolding in more detail, and have more opportunity for cleverness in your usage of sensors, weapons and movement.
15/03/2012 at 10:52 LuNatic says:
You have to think about what you do because if you walk into a bad situation, you can’t just use your twitch skills to escape again. This leads to successful players stalking each other slowly, or using the terrain to ambush there opponents to get 1-2 volleys of unanswered fire in before the slugging match begins. Also, you have to prioritise your aim. You can try and destroy the enemies weapons to gain a fire-power advantage, or shoot out his/her legs to leave them stuck in place. Choose a slow heavy mech to overwhelm anything that gets close, or get a light mech and duck in and out of cover to fire your weapons, slowly wearing your opponents armour down. With headshot-twitch skills irrelevant, it become much more of a tactical fare.
15/03/2012 at 11:46 SanguineAngel says:
God I love Mechwarrior for all these reasons.
15/03/2012 at 12:13 Derppy says:
I haven’t played mech games too much, but I’d imagine the difference is that even 1v1 combat requires strategy and knowledge.
You’ll need to know how to counter various attacks, hit the enemy mech in the right locations with the right weapons and plan your movement and other actions ahead. You can’t kill anything in a second, so knowing how to inflict most damage and survive the damage from enemy becomes essential.
Need to try this when it comes out, I hope it has a ton of depth and complexity. Would love to see module management similar to EVE, where you can equip various modules and in combat you have to enable/disable/overdrive them to manage the energy cost, heat etc.
15/03/2012 at 12:21 TsunamiWombat says:
Team focused combat, limb destruction, and the ability to target 2 enemies at once.
15/03/2012 at 15:01 Hug_dealer says:
Its so different from an FPS. Locational Damage. Heat and ammo management. Hitting your target isnt good enough, you need to able to continually hit your target in the same location, while maximizing your firepower with heat management, but also doing your best to minimize the damage you take.
Most mechwarrior battles end up with the enemies circling each other, because that gives you the best chances of dodging their attacks, but also because it allows you to do your best to spread your damage around. When designing your mech, you have to decide where the weapons go, and the enemy then gets to see where those weapons are. So your most powerful weapons should be their main priority, but changing directions and turning away when you are not firing by swiveling your upper torso away from the enemy can allow you to spread the damage that would be extremely harmful to arms and back armor, when it would soley have blasted your upper left torso. Once those are damaged, you need to be presenting the other side of your mech to the enemy so it can take the damage, not your weakened spot.
At that same time you need to be deciding whether you want to cripple your enemy and use long range attacks to work them down. That one can be tricky. Then you have internal systems to worry about that can get jacked up etc.
It is in no way shape or form like and FPS. I never post here anymore, but i to come back for that comment.
15/03/2012 at 10:15 Hexanol says:
I just can’t get over how poorly designed some of the robots in Mechwarrior are. I mean look at the Atlas. Pirahna should get Katoki, Kawamori or Syd Mead to update the mechanical design so the mechs no longer look like the fruits of a 13 year old’s lunch break.
15/03/2012 at 10:24 sneetch says:
Dear Hexanol,
No. No they should not. Thank you.
Yours truly,
BattleMech fans from days of yore
15/03/2012 at 10:27 rocketman71 says:
Dear sneetch:
Yes. Yes, they should. Thank you.
I’m already sick of seeing the Atlas in every… fucking… trailer and image Piranha releases. There are SO MUCH BETTER mech designs out there.
Not that I expect much from this since Piranha broke their word and moved from the promised MechWarrior Fiveish to a P2W MMO.
Yours truly,
a BattleTech fan who played the first edition the moment it was released
15/03/2012 at 10:36 Mordsung says:
Considering we have no word on the F2P model, you don’t know if it’ll be P2W.
Considering many F2P games like LoL and Tribes:Ascend are not P2W, showing that F2P can exist without being P2W, you can’t make sweeping statements about it being P2W until we have more info.
15/03/2012 at 10:40 sneetch says:
Dear rocketman71,
I agree fully that the Atlas is a terrible mech, I never thought much of it; max armour but crap weapons, slow as a brick, never really used one. Marauder, Catapult, Thor, there are loads of other, “better” mechs out there that also look a lot better. The Atlas has become the iconic mech for some reason (it was in the teaser ages ago too).
That said, I do not want some guy to decide that everything would be cooler if they were redesigned, they’re classic mechs they’re supposed to look like that. I like that I can look at that trailer and say, oh, Atlas, wait, is that a… Jenner? It is! Hunchback. They’re distinctive and I wouldn’t change them for the world.
Yours truly,
A BattleTech fan who played the first edition before it was released*
*Ok, that one’s a lie. I played the second edition and all the spin offs though. Wish I still had my copy of The Succession Wars.
15/03/2012 at 11:39 StoneMason says:
Given the era, I better get my Enforcer…
Davion Awwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
15/03/2012 at 12:53 theleif says:
This.
I can’t understand why every video contains one of most ugly and uninteresting mechs in the game. It’s just very big. Show me a Marauder, Locust, Trebuchet, Rifleman, and above all, show me Warhammer.
That said, I like what I’ve seen so far.
15/03/2012 at 12:54 sneetch says:
@StoneMason
Grrr! Davion!
[Angry fist shaking]
Get of Liao’s lawns! (And, more importantly, Liao’s planets).
15/03/2012 at 11:18 Phantoon says:
Redesign it when it looking clunky and ugly is the entire point?
Sir, I think you’ll complain about anything.
19/03/2012 at 10:38 Bassem says:
I always thought the Madcat / Timberwolf model was rather the “mascot”.
15/03/2012 at 12:34 Hexanol says:
Considering that giant robots only became popular in America after Robotech aired, and that the original Battletech designs were copied wholesale from Macross and other 80s staples, I think there’s already plenty of anime influence in Mechwarrior, despite how much people would like to deny it. The current ugly designs were introduced in response to copyright infringement lawsuits, and they persist because people who don’t know better conflate poor design with realism. Consider the Atlas’s unarticulated arms. What role do they play? Why does it have hands if it’s unable to grab anything? Why not just put big guns on its arms a la Timber Wolf?
Also for those who think mecha design is all waify, consider this or this or this or even this. Realistic and well-proportioned is all I’m asking for here.
15/03/2012 at 10:38 Mordsung says:
Most Mechwarrior fans think Japanese mecha look stupid.
So keep guys like Katoki FAR FAR FAR away from Mechwarrior.
Mechs don’t move fast and don’t use swords. They’re tanks with legs.
15/03/2012 at 11:39 Phantoon says:
Yes, it’s the difference between Mechs and Mecha. It’s also why I was sad when Armored Core took a leap off the deep end and went from Mechs to Mecha- it had been so fun up to that point.
15/03/2012 at 12:12 mckertis says:
“Most Mechwarrior fans think Japanese mecha look stupid.”
Yeah, Mechwarrior fans hate, HATE Marauder. Oh wait…
Also, V.O.T.O.M.S.
15/03/2012 at 12:33 TsunamiWombat says:
Yeah, it’s an East v West aesthetic, MechWarrior has always had that blocky mass produced by a military look. Whereas in gundam, even the mass produced models are very sleek by comparison usually.
Exception of course might be the ORIGINAL Gundam, which had fairly study and reasonable mecha (which is why it was considered the progenitor of the “Real Mecha” genre), such as the MG Zaku.
http://1-4-4.scope-eye.net/models/Projects/1_100_Zaku_Kai/Katoki_Hajime_MG_FZ_Lineart.png
Notice even the humble, industrial Zaku is fairly humanoid, with articulating fingers and hand held weaponry
Mechwarrior on the other hand promotes a more ‘walking artillery’ aesthetic, the vehicles aren’t humanoid so much as just guns with legs who may have some vestigial human elements, But they don’t HOLD their weapons. They -ARE- the weapons.
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs51/i/2009/338/9/4/MechWarrior_4_Hauptmann_Front_by_Mecha_Master.jpg
Which could be said to be the primary difference. Mecha are an extension of the pilots body and may be equipped with weapons, MECHS -are- weapons/armored vehicles.
15/03/2012 at 13:29 deadly.by.design says:
Yeah, this. I want a hulking war machine… not a post-modern samurai mecha with lasers and a spiky-haired pilot.
15/03/2012 at 11:29 Svant says:
NONONONONONONO no stupid mechs that skate around like muppets with big ass swords. Fuck no. These are Mechs, slow 50-100 ton heavy mechs.
15/03/2012 at 12:14 mckertis says:
“These are Mechs, slow 50-100 ton heavy mechs.”
Which is, if you think about it, is less weight than a real heavy tank. Hell, its less than many real medium tanks. And real tanks are f-n fast…funny, that.
15/03/2012 at 12:34 TsunamiWombat says:
I’m fairly sure Mech’s are fast too, it’s just a matter of perspective.
15/03/2012 at 13:29 Svant says:
The fast mechs in Mechwarrior can run upwards 100km/h no sweat. (and have jetpacks)
16/03/2012 at 04:12 Corrupt_Tiki says:
@ mckertis
Pretty sure you will be struggling to find any tanks around the 100t mark.
Most heavies are 60-70t and even then that is at the extreme end of the range, afaik most are 50 or so.
I wonder if mechs would be more fuel efficient …
16/03/2012 at 10:41 Askeladd says:
But its not impossible, the only reason we don’t use them because we lack the energy to do so at high speeds..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_VIII_Maus < Look at that thing … 188t. It failed but it was semi working in WW2 in low production numbers.
Looking at mech that use some kind of fusion reactor and have hightech servo-motors, you could build really powerful tanks with similiar technologie in the BT universe.
15/03/2012 at 11:56 dsi1 says:
I have to admit, I always thought bi-pedal human-like mech designs were stupid, but the Atlas is designed much better than any mecha.
15/03/2012 at 12:01 Mordsung says:
It comes down to realism.
A Battletech mech is probably a lot like what a real mech would look like if we decided to actually build walkers (which we never will, as it’s a stupid design).
Mecha are impossible. They defy the laws of physics AND look stupid.
The sheer amount of physical stress that would be exerted on a mecha going as fast as they do would cause the thing to rip itself apart.
I prefer my sci-fi and fantasy to be rooted in real physics.
15/03/2012 at 12:10 paterah says:
If that’s the case then how do you know how mechas work, what materials they are made of and everything else related to the real world. I think you don’t, and under proper circumstances mechas could work just as good as mechs.
15/03/2012 at 12:19 mckertis says:
“It comes down to realism.”
Realism is such a wrong word to use in regards to a videogame…lets call it authenticity.
“Mecha are impossible. They defy the laws of physics AND look stupid.”
No, no, and one more no. What they are, however, is ill-suited for battlefield, even 18th century artillery would pwn Battletech mechs, realistically speaking.
15/03/2012 at 12:58 Mordsung says:
I said Mecha are stupid and defy the laws of physics, not mechs.
Battletech mechs are a bad actual design, but they make sense. They could work. Yes, a tank could destroy one easily, but at least they make physical sense.
Mecha, as in Japanese mechs, would rip themselves apart moving at the speeds they do and would be very fragile. The only way they’ve ever explained this away is by inventing metals that aren’t real or making up other ludicrous reasons why these things wouldn’t buckle under the physical stress of moving as fast as they do.
But I’ll full well admit to hating all things of a Japanese art-style, so I am quite bias. I don’t like skinny, pretty things and that’s the Japanese style.
15/03/2012 at 12:35 TsunamiWombat says:
I kind of fancy this Hauptman fellow he looks cantankerous
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs51/i/2009/338/9/4/MechWarrior_4_Hauptmann_Front_by_Mecha_Master.jpg
15/03/2012 at 19:02 Droopy The Dog says:
Yeah, forget making the cockpit look like a skull, that’s just cheesy.
The hauptman’s chewing on a freaking cigar-gun. That’s badass.
15/03/2012 at 12:15 glocks4interns says:
They’ve announced a pretty limited number of mechs so far. Unless they want to unveil five new mechs in their trailer the roster they have to work with is pretty limited.
15/03/2012 at 15:11 Hug_dealer says:
The game is following day by day the calander for btech. As such clan mechs and other new tech will not be present, but added as times goes on.
I look forward to the superiority of clan mechs and tech being present, but at the same time, extremely rare and costly.
15/03/2012 at 14:12 caddyB says:
I just can’t wait to jump into my Shadowcat and go from there. I never liked Atlas.
Or a Raven, since there isn’t any clan mechs around.
15/03/2012 at 14:47 DXN says:
It’s the skull. I cannot abide the skull.
15/03/2012 at 10:18 Squishpoke says:
Dat cockpit
So sexy
15/03/2012 at 10:20 The_Great_Skratsby says:
Hoo boy. My body is ready.
15/03/2012 at 10:20 iHavePants says:
I wonder if they hired any of the mod developers of Mechwarrior: Living Legends, it just seems like too much of a coincidence given that they’re using CryEngine and it’s a purely multiplayer product.
15/03/2012 at 12:53 Askeladd says:
I wondered about that too…
Mechwarrior Online (CryEngine3) vs Mechwarrior Living Legends (CryEngine2)
It’s too obvious … there has to be a connection. All that work that went into that mod and know some other company is doing the same thing all over again?
As far as I know those modders did it in their own free time. From my standpoint a collaboration of some kind would make sense.
The least they could do would be stealing ideas from that mod!
15/03/2012 at 15:03 nimzy says:
They might not have, but CryTek certainly did. They hired the brothers behind MWLL (who then went on to write the CryEngine 3 Cookbook). If Piranha get stuck on something all they need to do is pick up the phone and call their engine guys.
15/03/2012 at 15:40 Askeladd says:
Look what I found:
Quote:
“MWO: Do past MechWarrior games influence what you do?
[Kevin] The art team at PGI are constantly influenced by, and learn from, an extremely wide variety of games. We have a ton of huge MechWarrior fans on the team, and some of our best contacts at Crytek are the guys who worked on the MechWarrior Living Legends mod. [...]”
If they halfway get what those guys from Crytek did with MWLL then this game will be good.
15/03/2012 at 10:22 Firkragg says:
As Hexanol posted earlier, some of the designs might look outdated but for me its almost nostalgic to look at those old mechs again. I can still remember sitting next to my oldest brother, going through all the mechwarrior games. Too young to play at the time but I could sit for hours just watching him stomp into combat.
If I ever get into this, I’m going to get the biggest mech avaliable and stomp onto the battlefield with “Behold the Machine!” by Vernian Process blasting in the background. That’ll work.
15/03/2012 at 10:23 Gurrah says:
Is it just me or do the explosions look like montaged stock explosions, it doesn’t look like they’re getting hit by swarms of missiles but rather like they’re being wrapped in candy floss which quickly dissolves itself.
15/03/2012 at 10:25 Etherealsteel says:
I’m a little more excited with Hawken coming out than this one. A Mech FPS is really what’s been missing in this overflow of COD:MW games. I think Hawken is going to come on top of this over Mechwarrior imo.
15/03/2012 at 10:25 Unaco says:
Can’t wait for this…
Then I’ll be back up in the game, running things to keep my swing, letting all the people know, that I’m back to run the show. ‘Cos what Harmony Gold did, you know, was wrong, and all the nasty things they’ve done. So, RPS’ers, listen carefully while I sing my come-back song…
Return of the Mech (here it is),
Return of the Mech (hold on),
Return of the Mech (don’t you know),
Return of the Mech (here I go)…
15/03/2012 at 10:33 Njordsk says:
Looks so unfun.
Face each other, press left click/right click, wait for overheat cooldown. Rince repeat. Oh yeah, aim for the arm, so tactical.
15/03/2012 at 10:45 Stevostin says:
Choose what to aim.
Choose what weapon to aim with depending on the opposite build.
Aim and don’t miss.
Realise what the opponent is aiming in you. Try to move to prevent critical damage (maybe at the cost of causing some. decide).
Also we don’t know if there’s an energy routing mechanics (shield/repair/dmg) but it’s likely.
Also fights take time, which means allies joining in is a more likely event than in a common FPS. If you played PVP like wow you’ll know it can become the main consideration in every fight. Sometimes you break a winning fight because you know you’ll be ultimately toasted if you stay, no matter what.
So of course this will be tactical. Now if it’s unbalanced it can end up as shitty as you state, but we don’t know that yet.
15/03/2012 at 11:19 RaytraceRat says:
I think you can describe any game in an unfun way:
FPS:
move your mouse until you centre on enemy head, left click, reload, repeat. Die if you don’t do that quickly enough.
RTS:
learn to click faster than asian kid you saw on youtube
Chess:
move some wooden blocks until you realise that the guy/gal in front of you is smarter.
Poker:
collect funny colorful cards, realise that your opponents got nicer looking combos, lose piece of your clothing
and so on :)
15/03/2012 at 11:36 Svant says:
1 vs 1 in nearly matched mechs usually turns into a simple slugfest yes. But thats not what mechwarrior is about. Mechwarrior is about the different classes of mechs working together to bring the pain. Use a faster scout mech to find the enemy and eitehr stay undetected or be fast enough to escape without being blown to tiny bits. Long range mechs to hit the enemy before they can retaliate and then move in the heavy assault mechs to clean up the mess.
The mechs have heavy armor and will not go down in a single hit (unless you do some stupid 14 PPC’s on a single mech and manage to hit with all of them, problem is you will be left overheated and in deep shit). This means just jumping around a corner and getting that headshot CS style is not how it works. You have to plan your attack because if you get stuck in a slugfest with someone you will get hurt, you will be vulnerable to his backup or if you win you will be damaged.* Every single hit counts.
*I really really hope there isn’t any stupid “#_¤”¤%”%”12 health regen, avoiding getting hurt is a huge part of mechwarrior. You can’t just smash an enemy mech and expect to be able to repeat that over and over as long as you get a short break.
15/03/2012 at 11:46 mrpier says:
A salvage/repair mech role might be feasible, don’t know if something like that exists in the battletech universe. Something that could repair a not critically damaged component, but not replace destroyed ones.
15/03/2012 at 12:05 Svant says:
I think you could have repair systems that would try to fix a damaged radar or somesuch but even so, busted armor is busted armor. That shit is permanent until you get back to base for refit/repair. But the whole point of not being able to repair is that every fight costs you. Its what makes the game interesting.
Which is also the main problem with all modern FPS and especially RPGs, fighting costst you nothing. Either you die and reload or you win and quickly regain all mana, hp, stamina and can continue to the next fight after 5 seconds. It sucks ass.
Edit: As for salvage thats very much part of the earlier mechwarrior games. If you manage to down a mech without blowing it up you will be able to salvage it after the battle and repar/sell it
15/03/2012 at 15:42 Askeladd says:
I hope salvage won’t take that into account, or we are about to see only “legging” in this game.
15/03/2012 at 15:21 Reapy says:
I dunno, if you look at mw4 online, the game came down to basically jump sniping or popping out from a cover, alpha burst, and reverse. If you got into a slug fest like in the video it was an attrition war with your guns.
Pub games felt like you are trading hits most of the time. We kill them all off and we are half damaged. They come back and kill us and they are half damaged…repeat.
Really though it is pretty hard to miss shots at mechs, and it comes down to both people being overly annoying hiding behind cover and refusing to come out.
I think the beauty of the game only comes out in organized play unfortunately. When everything works together as a whole and people play their roles and weapon platforms are organized correctly, you have a really fun interesting game. If the map is big enough and your team is actually organized, maneuvers and team tactics can come into it.
I just know that your jump in and play casual mode with mech combat feels somewhat ugly and annoying. Trust me there is nothing more boring (imho) then 2 sides lined up behind their respective hills, following 40 minutes of protracted accelerating up the hill + alpha burst + back down the hill, maneuvers.
If someone tries to flank (if they are lucky enough there is a route that is covered) they are usually shredded by everyone behind the hill and it feels pretty pointless.
I enjoyed mech 4 and being able to play mechs online without having to aim for an invisible point in space (mech 2 lag :( ), but ultimately I think everything falls apart unless you have organized team combat, which is not something that most people have access too.
15/03/2012 at 21:06 immerc says:
Even if it’s just “aim for the arm”, that’s rare these days. I like games that let you attack certain enemy subsystems or parts. It makes for interesting tactical decisions? Should I kill his weapons so he’s less of a threat? Kill his mobility so he can’t escape, or dodge as well? Try to just kill the pilot? Just try to hit the enemy while moving as fast as possible to avoid getting hit in return?
15/03/2012 at 10:40 Stevostin says:
Wrong soundtrack. Looks nice, still.
15/03/2012 at 10:40 Crazy Hippo says:
Aim for the legs!!! kneecap them :)
15/03/2012 at 11:12 heledir says:
Damn, beat me to it. ;)
15/03/2012 at 10:51 Inigo says:
WAT ARE AN LONG RANGE WEPONS
15/03/2012 at 11:54 Biscuitry says:
Was thinking the same, though with fewer capital letters. I get that close-up slugfests make for more exciting trailers, but it’d be nice to see a Long Tom in there somewhere.
15/03/2012 at 11:12 fenriz says:
ooh this is so good.
i can’t wait to see an uziel with its exclamation mark overhead.
15/03/2012 at 11:13 Frostbeard says:
Hmmmmmm. I see that they were fighting in water to mitigate the heat. Will this game become a slug fest where everyone is in the same water. And where the best map will be the ice covered ones.
The boardgame was always about the tactical choices of movement, how to manage the different weapons, catching a stray mech in crossfire, damaging vital components. Mechs that jumped in and outflanked slower mechs.
And yeah, somewhat of a slug fest with way way way way to much dice rolling.
I think I will be looking forward to Mechwarrior Tactics, and not have to much hope for this one.
15/03/2012 at 11:39 Svant says:
Mechwarrior games are a slugfest if its just a battle between two reasonably matched mechs. But thats not really what Mechwarrior is about is it? Mechwarrior should have no “#%”#%” life regen, no respawn and a big open terrain to work with. There needs to be enough terrain to hide mechs so scouts are essential, there need to be places where mechs can set up ambushes, power down your mech to avoid radar scanners etc.
15/03/2012 at 11:15 Screamer says:
Not enough weapon hit recoil, being hit in the face with rockets/lasers should really do more than just a shaking hud :/
15/03/2012 at 13:19 MonkeyMonster says:
If you’re going with lasers being lasers and not some sort of superheated ion stream then there should be no knockback what so ever. What it should do and might be interesting to see is whether it heats up the opposing mech which helps to shut it down quicker…
If its powerful enough it should burn through with no shift in mass.
If the explosion and force engine is good enough then accurate hits with deliberate direction should do interesting things too.
16/03/2012 at 01:50 godwin says:
Yes, you can see in the first engagement that the opposing mech’s lasers do heat up the first-person mech.
15/03/2012 at 11:18 The Sombrero Kid says:
The online bit put me off, but it looks brilliant.
15/03/2012 at 11:35 fenriz says:
i wanna see you put off if they make it a persistant & dynamic territorial-resources seizing production, units and factories and facilities builder of an online game.
+ military life simulation
+ workshop simulation = realistic skill-modified mech customization inside your own personal hangar/house(you being able to open your machine and change a wire with another to obtain 0.3 more speed).
what you think instead is oh im logged in so cute: hey quests! oh look a map pointer. Ok im done with the quests in this map the last quest tells me to go seek quests in another quests-map.
15/03/2012 at 13:13 The Sombrero Kid says:
I wanna play MW2 in the modern age, if it’s gonna do the online thing, it has to do it better than Planetside 2 because people play online games atomically.
15/03/2012 at 13:17 fenriz says:
absolutely. It’s what i blurb of in my last blog, they don’t have to make a game about battletech, they just need to take all of battletech and make it virtually simulated in everything.
Why would we waste time saying it can’t have levels, it can’t have quests, it should be similar to this other game and have a pinch of that game. It’s simpler to say it has to be 100% what battletech is plus persistancy. It saves a lot of mental mess.
15/03/2012 at 11:56 ShowMeTheMonkey says:
I want Earth Siege 2 on GOG.
:(
15/03/2012 at 12:09 iZen says:
I don’t like the Atlas too. I love ShadowCat, Uziel, Vulture, bushwacker etc…Actually, most of the human-legged designs look kinda awkward and I prefer light to medium-heavy mechs. In MW4 you could beat an atlas with a raven, because you could faster circle around him than he could aim his weapons. However to the day, I only see hope in a battletech FPS game as a hardcore systems platform simulator. Then, even slower gameplay wouldnt hurt.
In the video the damage effects on mechs dont look contemporary. You should get immediate visual feedback. This looks more like “Oh, a rocket hit there, now I lost X healthpoints at that point”. However, there is not one scratch/burn at the chassis.
And:
Even 1v1′s with matched mechs don’t need to turn out in a slugfest. Remembering me and a friend fighting in MW4 with Vultures, making constant use of terrain and scanners to battle it out. The problem is, most people on public servers will play it as a slugfest. You usually have a hard time getting people to cooperate in the simplest of manner in games like Battlefield. Most are just too stupid and lazy to think, they just wanna get some explosive entertainment for a break.
I will try all the mech games and see who wins. While Hawken looks great, it appears way to fast and arcadey to me to deliver a true mech feeling. It should be more like giant spaceships battling and maneuvering, and the focus on electronic warfare can’t be paid too much attention.
EDIT:
Making it about aim and hit will certainly kill the franchise. I mean srsly, who constructs such high tech mechs and still has no auto aim? (Not that I advocate for it, but mouse-aim was always a little too overemphasized in MW)
15/03/2012 at 12:42 Svant says:
Indeed, it did feel alittle like things had healthbars that took damage instead of systems. A mech stays operational as long as the pilot feelts its safe to stick around or the reactor overloads and detonate nuclearstyle (pro tip, dont stand next to a heavy mech that overloads). So the mech really shouldn’t have a healthbar that would suck bigtime.
15/03/2012 at 17:55 PodX140 says:
I really don’t think any healthbars should be present, EVER. Hell, I would absolutely love if I could lose an arm or leg in a single hit due to a brilliantly aimed gauss at a joint.
And I definitively saw the effects of lasers and other weaponry…
Edit: Very much disagreed on the auto-aim. Rockets with laser tagging, sure, but lasers and autocannons ect, should not. MW is not only about tactics and strategy, it’s how good you can handle your mech.
15/03/2012 at 12:27 Tony M says:
Need more Wub
15/03/2012 at 12:35 Jorum says:
Can I get a Hunchback? If so I’ll be happy.
Or a Longbow – that’ll do.
As long as I can get in something awesomely kick-ass with suicidally limited options :)
15/03/2012 at 14:29 Walsh says:
There’s a Hunchback in the video. Part of it is in cockpit view though.
The only issue with these games is they lack physical combat for the mechs: punching, kicking, ramming etc. Also, needs more knock downs and going prone.
Only a few of the other games did death from above (jump jet your mech on top of another one, hopefully crushing the cockpit) and not very well at that.
15/03/2012 at 15:47 Askeladd says:
They will include meele maybe in a future version after release and only if it’s not detrimental to the gameplay.
15/03/2012 at 12:39 TsunamiWombat says:
I have a confession to make. The only Mechwarrior game I ever played was Mechwarrior 2 on the ps1 console (and Battletech on the Sega). I still have no idea what Mechwarrior is all about. I’m a poseur.
But I do love giant robots with guns, so…i’m looking forward to trying out a support role mech.
15/03/2012 at 12:40 pseudoart says:
That music turns me so off. Wow, bad choice right there. Combat looks interesting, though – I like how damage makes your aiming harder.
15/03/2012 at 17:27 TailSwallower says:
Agreed. Second MWO trailer with terrible music. They need to hire me to pick the music for them… Unless of course this is the music that’s being written specifically for the game, in which case I suggest they demand a refund.
15/03/2012 at 12:55 nyarlathotep-88 says:
Hoping the game turns out well. Realy enjoyed Mechwarrior 2 + 3 as a kid.
15/03/2012 at 13:15 lordhughes says:
what no wub wub wub, how disappointing.
15/03/2012 at 13:33 deadly.by.design says:
Are the cockpits ‘mech-specific, like they used to be? Or one for all?
I also really hope the cockpit is mandatory. I know the old games let you toggle views, but I’d prefer everyone to have the same restrictions. (and have certain ‘mechs have more blind spots than others)
15/03/2012 at 13:46 pepper says:
I feel like doing something silly like running through the streets naked and screaming “Weeee! Mechs!!!!” etc.
15/03/2012 at 13:51 Rii says:
I think I picked the wrong time to sell my PC.
15/03/2012 at 13:55 Askeladd says:
YOU- WHAT?!
15/03/2012 at 14:15 Kain91 says:
I can’t wait Mechwarrior 4 was the best thing ever. also you can now get it free legally from here http://www.mektek.net/projects/mw4/download.html
15/03/2012 at 14:24 reggiep says:
Mechwarrior is so boring. 2 giant tanks approach each other in an open field and shoot until one blows up. There’s no dodging. No countermeasures. No skill required. So why the hell do I love to play these games?
15/03/2012 at 14:48 Svant says:
Because they require tactics… AND ITS BLOODY MECHS :D
15/03/2012 at 15:50 Askeladd says:
Well .. how do I say this best?
You are wrong.
There is dodging. There are countermeasure for some weapons. You need skill – much. You don’t love them enought!
15/03/2012 at 17:29 JPicasso says:
Day one purchase. House Kurita better be a playable clan. Long live the Draconis Combine!
15/03/2012 at 17:53 PodX140 says:
It looks… Beautiful. Very much looking forward to it.
15/03/2012 at 18:09 Chaz says:
Will this finally be a good excuse to plug my force feedback stick back in again? MW3 had some of the best force feedback ever.
15/03/2012 at 19:50 Brise Bonbons says:
I’m not getting excited about anything until we hear more about the meaty bits of the mech customization and resource management. Until then, I will sit in my cynic’s chair and imagine interviews to come where the devs explain how, “complex heat management and energy routing were just overwhelming for new players, but it’s OK – you can stand in water!’
17/03/2012 at 07:46 omegajesus says:
Lasers are so boring in mech games. I assume there will be machines guns.