MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries by Piranha Games - now on Steam and GOG

[MadMaxHellfire]

judging by the videos, it's mechwarrior online with terrible bots. how could it take years of development?

 

[warpig]

Jesus cristo what a fugly trailer, Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries or MW3 intros blow this thing away :/ What the fug is happening, 20 fucking 19 all this modern technology and they cant even make a cool trailer fucking lol :/

 

[Black]

https://www.gamerevolution.com/review/622541-mechwarrior-5-mercenaries-review

https://www.windowscentral.com/mechwarrior-5-mercenaries-review

MechWarrior 5 perfectly encapsulates the feeling of piloting a mech — with great gameplay to boot — but that alone can't hold up a game bogged down by bad writing, dull mission types, and a grind with little payout. This is one of the most forgettable games of 2019.

Our MechWarrior 5 review shows why this mech sim might be a major step back for the franchise due to bad design decisions.

Wow, what a great decade for Battletech/Mechwarrior fans.

 

[Edija]

Downloading from a totally legit Epic Store TM source. Always happy when I see that

Spoiler

RPG

Codex logo. Thanks Epic!

 

[Morgoth]

Mehwarrior 5.

Only Armored Core left to save mechu honoruble.

 

[CyberModuled]

Only Armored Core left to save mechu honoruble.

Implying that series isn't dead by virtue of FromSoft busy making nothing but Souls games for eternity. Enjoy Metal Wolf Chaos XD because it's as good as the dream's going to get anytime soon.

 

[Quatlo]

Only Armored Core left to save mechu honoruble.

Implying that series isn't dead by virtue of FromSoft busy making nothing but Souls games for eternity. Enjoy Metal Wolf Chaos XD because it's as good as the dream's going to get anytime soon.

Bruh, they already have teased new AC

 

[warpig]

MechWarrior 5 perfectly encapsulates the feeling of piloting a mech — with great gameplay to boot — but that alone can't hold up a game bogged down by bad writing, dull mission types, and a grind with little payout. This is one of the most forgettable games of 2019.

Current year game design. Even if they have decent core gameplay, the game is still fucked by the "dull mission types, and a grind" borefest design philosophy so you can have 60000h of "content" :/

 

[karoliner]

The IP is cursed there will never be a good MechWarrior game.

 

[Silly Germans]

Somehow even the small things turn me off from this game. The interface looks nothing like a war machine. The movement neither conveys the massive nature of mechs,
if my impression from the videos is correct. Without the immersion its simply a dull shooter with bad mission design. I don't know why other people play Mechwarrior but
i liked the military feel of the games and the heaviness of handling machinery of war. Does the game really lack all these things or is it just a wrong impression going by
the video material ?

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

downloading, but at the speed it proceedes i'd probably better just wait for the athletic lady's edition.
the mechwarrior champion will let you know his verdict in a few days u_u

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

Morgoth don't project on others, it's a bad habit.

 

[Alpharius]

Hint: MW2 upper body rotation is capped. It feels mechanical, like actual pneumatics and gears are rotating or someshit. You had to negotiate with the mechanics just to aim properly. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Some things are hard to describe. Don't you see how in MW5 everyone is so light on their feet? Do you seriously not see the difference? One feels like a mech game, the other is a goddamn FPS with slowed walking speed and tiny buildings.

Torso rotation is also capped in MWO both speed and maximum degree (depends on mech). You can see in the MW5 video that one of the reticules doesn't immediately catch up the the other, the slower one is for torso mounted weapons probably. Not sure if they fucked it up here, perhaps the caps suitable for a fast paced multiplayer game are not that great for a single player one.

 

[CyberModuled]

Only Armored Core left to save mechu honoruble.

Implying that series isn't dead by virtue of FromSoft busy making nothing but Souls games for eternity. Enjoy Metal Wolf Chaos XD because it's as good as the dream's going to get anytime soon.

Bruh, they already have teased new AC

Confirmed fake, it was an old piece of art from Verdict Day anyway.

https://www.dualshockers.com/armored-core-teaser-possible-fromsoftware/

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Last I heard I think Miyazaki in addition to Ogura has said that they've tried to find a publisher for a new Armored Core for years, but there's just absolutely no interest. I'm not exactly surprised, the subgenre is far too niche in comparison to the level of work required (but not niche enough that you could bilk train simulator prices).

Metal Wolf Chaos is honestly in the rare position of being able to get a re-release just because of its long-running meme status.

I've mentioned it before, but think of it like this: MechWarrior, pretty much the only name in the subgenre that has even a tiny sliver of mainstream name recognition, was without a new numbered entry for *nineteen* years.



Anyway, back to topic at hand, since I'm feeling lazy I'm outsourcing reading on the info, but did they deliver on that mod support thing they promised way back they announced their list of features?

(Also just to be cheeky, bad writing and dull mission types in a MechWarrior game? Someone call Captain Obvious!)

 

[Van-d-all]

Well, played for about an hour yesterday (that got me tutorial + first mission (x2)) and as a mecha fanboy I enjoyed it somewhat.

Plot is generic "bad mercs kill daddy" but given setting I still find it serviceable. Ability to walk on that tiny, 3 room drop ship is quite immersive even despite the absolutely abominable crew animations (or rather the lack of, since only their heads move), maybe aside the mechanic trying to assert his dominance with his low-key t-pose.

Spoiler

Economy aspects are solid, repairing and refitting stuff takes money and time, so that even smallest hits cost you. Don't know if ammo needs to be bought though.

Mecha steering is weirdly floaty, as the game relies the scale by a weird feeling of directional inertia instead of gravitational bulkiness, further fueled by being fairly unobstructed in movement as majority of obstacles crumble to dust at the slightest touch, with pretty much no effect on the mech's momentum. That said, destructibility is pretty neat, especially when demolishing buildings split into smaller separately calculated sections. Graphic quality is all over the place (and I have it all maxed out), mech models are nice but the textures on them aren't detailed but more like upscaled x20, so even the edges with chipped paint, are like half a meter in length.

Spoiler

Terrain seems to be constantly lacking shadows, except the times when something large like a mountain shades half the mission map. Model LODs are set really close and sometimes stuff like cars just below the cockpit, can look like ripped from a PS2 game. There's also nasty (think RAGE) model popping, where trees and rocks suddenly materialize upon closing. There are some good details, like windshield frost on an arctic planet. Overall, with this weird upscalling instead of feeling like a 10m mech, it seems like being minified inside the tabletop figurine.

Sound, again, aside from stable droning of moving joints, seems muffled compared to what I'd expect AC10 to sound like. Music is decent, instrumental heavy metal / rock, but might get dull in time like rewatching tv car shows with those try hard "manly" soundtracks.

Seems decent like HBS' Battletech, but without the glacial pacing, still nothing especially good though.

 

[CaesarCzech]

The IP is cursed there will never be a good MechWarrior game.

You mean there will not be any good Mechwarrior game in future, because i object to you shitting on 4 and 3.

Well, played for about an hour yesterday (that got me tutorial + first mission (x2)) and as a mecha fanboy I enjoyed it somewhat.

Plot is generic "bad mercs kill daddy" but given setting I still find it serviceable. Ability to walk on that tiny, 3 room drop ship is quite immersive even despite the absolutely abominable crew animations (or rather the lack of, since only their heads move), maybe aside the mechanic trying to assert his dominance with his low-key t-pose.

Spoiler

Economy aspects are solid, repairing and refitting stuff takes money and time, so that even smallest hits cost you. Don't know if ammo needs to be bought though.

Mecha steering is weirdly floaty, as the game relies the scale by a weird feeling of directional inertia instead of gravitational bulkiness, further fueled by being fairly unobstructed in movement as majority of obstacles crumble to dust at the slightest touch, with pretty much no effect on the mech's momentum. That said, destructibility is pretty neat, especially when demolishing buildings split into smaller separately calculated sections. Graphic quality is all over the place (and I have it all maxed out), mech models are nice but the textures on them aren't detailed but more like upscaled x20, so even the edges with chipped paint, are like half a meter in length.

Spoiler

Terrain seems to be constantly lacking shadows, except the times when something large like a mountain shades half the mission map. Model LODs are set really close and sometimes stuff like cars just below the cockpit, can look like ripped from a PS2 game. There's also nasty (think RAGE) model popping, where trees and rocks suddenly materialize upon closing. There are some good details, like windshield frost on an arctic planet. Overall, with this weird upscalling instead of feeling like a 10m mech, it seems like being minified inside the tabletop figurine.

Sound, again, aside from stable droning of moving joints, seems muffled compared to what I'd expect AC10 to sound like. Music is decent, instrumental heavy metal / rock, but might get dull in time like rewatching tv car shows with those try hard "manly" soundtracks.

Seems decent like HBS' Battletech, but without the glacial pacing, still nothing especially good though.

so basically game is solid, sound is solid, graphics are bad, story is servicable. honestly the problem might be mission types. and the fact the Mercenaries is begging for dynamic story where your decision matters and you being pawn on chessboard, i liked that in Mercs 4.

 

[Van-d-all]

so basically game is solid, sound is solid, graphics are bad, story is servicable. honestly the problem might be mission types. and the fact the Mercenaries is begging for dynamic story where your decision matters and you being pawn on chessboard, i liked that in Mercs 4.

Economy is solid. Piloting is arcade-y. Sound is mediocre. Graphics are good but flawed technically.

 

[Wulfric Pinewood]

Bigger the robot, smaller the penis.

 

[Alpharius]

I'd say piloting is as in MWO but with significantly nerfed rotation speed and maneuverability all over the place. That Javelin from the 2nd mission turned like a damn tractor compared to MWO light mechs. Though may be it would be the same in MWO with stock engines (cant swap engines in MW5).

 

[oldmanpaco]

So is this a beta release on Epic, full release on steam in 2020 situation?

 

[Chippy]

Looks like a graphically updated MW4.

Did they do salvage right like they did in MW3? Or is it random like in MW4?.

 

[I ASK INANE QUESTIONS]

So six hours in, and I dunno. It's not a good game. The core mechanics are okay. Maybe the TTK is too low so you can't have a decent slugging match, and there are minor gripes like mechs not reacting when climbing up or down a steep slope, jump jets that are anemic and completely useless, but it all would be perfectly tolerable, if everything aside from the core combat mechanics wasn't a mess.

What really torpedoes this thing is the mission design. It's fucked. Spawning wave after wave of enemies out of thin air with no regards to pacing or logic is the only thing this game seems to be able to do.
Even in MW4 they at least tried their best to design interesting encounters, and MW4 was a lot of things, but pinnacle of game design it was not. Compared to MW5 a it sure looks like a masterpiece though.
All the good stuff that came with handcrafted linear campaign just isn't there anymore. Ambushes? Attacking convoys? Slowly taking apart the base defenses? Having to engage the enemy that has the high ground? Varied and handpicked opponents? Having the freedom to navigate the terrain as you see fit to try and get a drop on your opponents?
Fuck you, enjoy your procedural generation. Here's another wave with two VTOLS, several Scorpions and a mech or two. We'll add a medium if we're feeling generous. Here's your 60 hours campaign. Even the missions that are supposed to be handcrafted don't feel interesting at all. Instead of making at least an attempt at encounter design, it's the same bullshit you get in generated missions - you travel from point A to point B, once there, you need to destroy several waves of enemies. However, since this is the story mission, you also get to suffer through the B-movie writing and acting along the way.

But as bad as mission design is, AI is always there to make it worse. Tanks randomly driving around, mechs just running at you with no attempts to hold position or engage at range, the list goes on. Fighting them just isn't fun. This was always a problem, but now there are no handcrafted encounters, so there's no getting away from it.

Finally, everything between the missions feels very amateurish.
The campaign interface, for example, is borrowed straight from Harebrained's Battletech, but they didn't improve on it, they actually made it worse. Even the completely unnecessary planetary transition sequence looks like somebody barely familiar with the engine tried imitating HBS and failed miserably. And then there's the combat interface, barebones and barely serviceable, it really exemplifies the approach they took with this game. The funniest part is that they already had a nice workable interface in MWO, but for no reason at all they decided to change it and replace everything with solution that look awfully cheap. Remember that nice radar screen from MWO? Now you get a top down screenshot of the map. And it's not in the in lower part of the screen, in the center of the screen near the other readouts, it's in the upper left corner. Enjoy.

It all feels very weird to me. This doesn't look like a game developed by actual paid professionals. It doesn't even feel like a minimal viable product. It looks and plays like a mod, an asset flip, or an early access release...oh. Oh wait. Good job, PGI.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Procgen is the Great Satan.

 

[Van-d-all]

Upped my playtime by finishing the initial story missions plus a few generated ones, and oh boy, is this a mess. Mission structure isn't even bad, it's nonexistent. It's basically Cannon Fodder

Spoiler

, but even there, map variety actually required some unique gameplay. In MW5 you just go between the waypoints getting spammed by waves of enemies spawning from thin air, and it's essentially embedded within the gameplay loop - you slowly trudge along, scraping money and prestige to get better stuff and maintenance. The entire difficulty comes from the fact, that enemies spawn in a way almost guaranteed to get the first shot, slowly chipping away your mechs as the waves go, without any reasonable way to circumvent it, thus requiring said maintenance. AI is trash and just runs in circles, but given how combat goes, you need your lancemates, because they simply soak the damage between the machines making it less likely to get anything severely damaged. Repeat ad nauseam.