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From: Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: Re: Ooh! Mechwarrior 5: The Clans is Out
Date: Sun, 27 Oct 2024 21:41:48 -0400
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On Sat, 26 Oct 2024 10:29:43 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

>On 10/26/2024 10:05 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> Well, I admit it. I am weak. My ability to hold off on buying this
>> game lasted barely a week. The game is now in my library. But what was
>> I supposed to do; _not_ have a MechWarrior game in my collection?
>> 
>Yes
>
>> But more than that, I've broken my "never buy games at full price"
>> rule that I've held since... gee, I think since 2016. And I _know_ I'm
>> going to regret it; that as much as I will probably enjoy "MW5:
>> Clans", I'll likely not think it worth the price I paid.
>> 
>Then why did you buy it?

I thought that was clear: it has giant robots! Nobody can resist giant
robots!

>> It's installing now; I'll play it... well, whenever. I got enough on
>> my plate for now (so don't expect a review by our next "what have you
>> been playing thread", anyway). But it's definitely gonna get played.

I'm definitely not /really/ playing it yet... but I had to give
MW5:Clans a quick look. 

First impressions: wow, this is a pretty game. The best description I
can give -at least to other Mechwarrior fans- is remember those really
cool intro movies that preceded Mechwarrior 3 and 4? The ones that
mixed live action and CGI and looked absolutely incredible and you
wished somebody would make a Battletech movie that looked as cool? The
in-game visuals look /better/ than that. The robots themselves have
really convincing animation, and the rest of the world looks pretty
lush. It's gorgeous.

But...

I only played the first mission. Mostly I just wanted to see what the
gameplay visuals looked like. I didn't want to get involved in the
whole campaign. So maybe my observations aren't indicative of actual
gameplay. Still... halfway through that one mission, there was a
repair bay; a magical room where your battle-damaged robot gets fully
repaired. In terms of video games, it's not that unusual --it's a Doom
health-kit for your walking tank!-- but it's out of character for the
actual franchise.* It's an action-game trope in what is supposedly a
simulation, and it implies that -once again- the player will likely be
single-handedly facing off against dozens of enemies as the developers
rely on numbers rather than intelligence to provide challenge.

It's one of the things I disliked about the original Mechwarrior 5,
and -although I suspected it would reappear in the sequel- its
disappointing to see it introduced so early.

Still, like I said, the visuals are nice and the mechs /feel/ a lot
weightier and move more ponderously than in the previous game. There's
obviously been a lot of effort into creating story and atmosphere.
Having only seen a few brief cutscenes, I'm not sure the story will
carry any weight, but it's a hopeful sign it will be better than the
procedurally generated nonsense of the previous title. So I'm not
writing off MW5:Clans yet. It may be good, it may not. I haven't seen
enough to decide.

I've got too many other games to work through first. ;-)





* even if it has been used in multiple Battletech video games