MechWarrior 4: Vengeance is the latest in the line of computer games based on Fasa's BattleTech universe.
I've played all of them, and loved most of them, so I was very frustrated when I heard that this one was going to be delayed, and delayed, and delayed. When it finally came out in the US, I was overjoyed, but it was still a long way from being released over here.
When it came out, I bought it straight away, but it took over a week to get the thing working.
It appears that this game is VERY fussy about having the latest drivers for everything, and wants LOTS of free disk space for it's swapfile. I've got 128Mb of RAM, and was quite happy, but this game makes it look puny. Even my 30Gb hard disk is puny considering a full install of the game is greater than 1Gb!
One the game was working, I was astounded by the graphics. Even running at 800x600, the scenery is amazing, as are the explosions!
Some people have complained that the Mechs are ugly, and that they walk like headless chickens (they do, actually!) but to me, this is a good thing. Mechs aren't meant to be good looking, they're meant to be functional, and the Mechs in MW4 appear a lot closer to the Mechs in the real role - playing game.
Before I go much futher and end up not making sense to people who haven't played any of the BattleTech stuff, I'll explain what the role - playing game is about:
There are lots of board based BattleTech games (BattleTech, CityTech, BattleForce 2, etc) and a regular sit around the table role-play game called MechWarrior, and they are all based in the same universe as the computer game I am talking about.
In these games, you have these 10 metre tall robots called Battle Mechs. You usually play a MechWarrior and pilot these things, although there are Elementals (little Battle Mechs that you more wear than ride) and regular vehicles as well.
There are two main sides, the Clans, and the Inner Sphere. The Clans have the better technology, but are usually considered the bad guys. Inside the Inner Sphere and the clans there a lots of different factions, but they don't really matter to play the game.
MechWarrior 4 centres around Kentares 4, a planet loyal to Victor Davion. Katrina Steiner had invaded this planet, and the aim of the game is to take it back!
If you aren't familiar with Inner Sphere politics, then you won't have a clue what is going on, but basically, when the bad guys, the Clans, invaded, Victor Davion went out to fight them, and while he was away, Katrina Steiner used the chance to play dirty, and made an 'example' out of a few worlds that were loyal to Davion and not her.
I'm more interested in Clan Politics than the Inner Sphere, so the storyline of this whole game is pretty boring to me. Most other people are interested in the Inner Sphere, though, so they should enjoy it.
If you're not a BattleTech fan at all, though, and just want a shoot-em-up, then I'm not too sure this game is for you.
The introduction is a mini movie, then you have to put up with the Tutorial game having a plot, a nice long story intro to each campaign session, then in-game video and discussion petween the AI characters during each game! It's really, really, irritating to destroy a Mech, then find the game stops and a video section comes up. What is this, a game or a movie where you just get to push a few buttons?
Some of the instant action stuff is OK, but I prefer to play through the games, not just play instant action.
There is a multi player option, and this works quite well, although it is annoying to have the game try to get online every time you start it!
The game play is a lot like Mercenaries, but some of the controls are changed, and there's now so many things to press that you really can't play it seriously unless you have a joystick. Keyboard and mouse CAN be done, especially if you're used to all the other games, but it is rather cumbersome, and not recommended when you have loads of zippy litte vehicles shooting at your ankles!
It was great to see a bunch of new mechs, including the Thanatos and the Mad Cat MkII. The Mechlab is quite good, and gives you a chance to mess around with different configurations, including a few new weapons to try. It's a shame that the XPulse lasers from Pirates Moon didn't make it into this game, but there's plenty of other energy weapons in there, so I won't complain too much.
As usual, there's an invincibility option so that you can be a cheat and walk though the missions to see what's there without getting blown to pieces. Also, there's infinite ammo, and no heat, so you can fire your weapons without caring about those stupid little practicalities. Of course, you can't progress to the next level until you turn those off, but it's still fun for when you're feeling brainless, and handy for when you want to know what you're facing before you go in for real.
I have managed to experience a few lockups and crashes back to the desktop while I've been playing this game. A quick look around some of the forums related to MW4 reveal that this isn't that uncommon a problem, but it was made by Microsoft, so hopefully there'll be a patch or ten out soon.
The manual that comes with the game is well presented - it's a Training Manual for a young Mechwarrior, and it's complete with 'handwritten' notes about how each Mech handles in the field, plus stats for Mechs, Vehicles, and individual weapons. There's also a quickstart card with a list of controls that I SERIOUSLY recommend you keep within easy sight of the keyboard whilst playing.
I've probably managed to sound more critical than I wante d to in this opinion, so I'll give a quick re-cap to explain what I mean.
The game plays well, the graphics are BRILLIANT, as is the sound. The problem is, it's a HUGE installation, and the minimum spec is a Pentium II 300 with 64 Mb Ram, and believe me, it's slow even above that, so you'd expect good graphics when it's that hungry.
If you're a fan of the universe, then a game with a good strong plot, and where the Mechs are faithful to the tabletop game, will probably appeal to you. If you're not a fan, though, then you may find the plot gets in the way of a nice quick shooting session.
This is one of the best games in the MW series - it's certainly better than MW2, and MW3 Pirates Moon. I recommend it to people who've bought the others, but I'm not too sure about new players. I think you're better off just reading what I've said and seeing how you feel. It depends how much realism you want, and what you feel about telling a story instead of shooting a few machines.
