Battletech. A classic table top game, and it's universe has been visited repeatedly by the video game industry. A few winners and a lot of sadness has ensued.
This latest iteration of the classic table top game to video game really delivers a fantastic battlefield experience. I got to really hand it to Paradox and HBS. They really did their homework on the battlefield simulator. Hand's down a diamond of video gaming.
But the good ends right there. The rest is so disappointing, I'm not even sure I can justify my positive review on Steam. This game has so many problems, the least of which is this: This game is a 2018 version of mechwarrior mercenaries. On it's face, this statement seems fine and good, but then you realize, they really dropped the ball. They replicated a great game, but brought nothing new to the table. NOTHING. It's essentially the same frigging game. More mechs, sure, but there's just literally nothing new. Master of Orion's latest iteration did the same thing, they took the best MOO of the series (MOO2) and replicated it, nothing new, same game for all intents and purposes, just a fresh face.
And while the battlefield is fantastic, it's too small. And too predictable, and too stupid. Enemy mechs typically head straight for your lance, even if they have no legitimate reason for knowing where you are, or that you're even there. Battlefields should be much larger. There should be a scouting element, where is the enemy? This is why lance deployments are so stupid, cuz there's no point to having a scout in your lance. Sit there and wait for the enemy to find you. Mission objective pointers are literally cheats telling you exactly where the enemy is.
The merc company sim could have been something new, something innovative, something fresh. But alas, it's just Mechwarrior Mercenaries with a new skin, new story, but same friggin game. You guys did a great job on the meat of the game, the battlefield sim, but the rest is a disappointment. Which brings me to the other issues: The coding quality. Abysmal. This game runs so slow, and for no good reason that I can detect. It's not overly complex in terms of what it has to handle, I just plainly do not understand why is has to take 1-3 minutes to start a mission. I know my computer is disturbingly fast, more often than not, when I hit deploy I hear that "Mechwarriors, prepare for battle." It's often cut off cuz my PC gets to the next screen really quickly, but even with that, it's still loading soooo slow. And it just gets worse as you progress into the game. Shoddy workmanship.
Next comes the available binaries. Paradox is known for releasing their stuff for both Windows and Linux. Stellaris and Europa Universalis IV are two prime examples of really good games being available for Windows and Linux. This game is even using Unity, supposedly a multi-platform development library. No linux binary for Battletech. Inexcusable from a company known for releasing to Linux.
If I were writing my review today on Steam, it would be negative. I'm not going to bother changing my review at this point, but now that I've had this game for a week, I just grow more and more disappointed with it's lack of innovation. Every day makes me feel like I'm back in the 90's playing Mechwarrior Mercenaries, then I realize, I've been here, done this and I'm bored.
This latest iteration of the classic table top game to video game really delivers a fantastic battlefield experience. I got to really hand it to Paradox and HBS. They really did their homework on the battlefield simulator. Hand's down a diamond of video gaming.
But the good ends right there. The rest is so disappointing, I'm not even sure I can justify my positive review on Steam. This game has so many problems, the least of which is this: This game is a 2018 version of mechwarrior mercenaries. On it's face, this statement seems fine and good, but then you realize, they really dropped the ball. They replicated a great game, but brought nothing new to the table. NOTHING. It's essentially the same frigging game. More mechs, sure, but there's just literally nothing new. Master of Orion's latest iteration did the same thing, they took the best MOO of the series (MOO2) and replicated it, nothing new, same game for all intents and purposes, just a fresh face.
And while the battlefield is fantastic, it's too small. And too predictable, and too stupid. Enemy mechs typically head straight for your lance, even if they have no legitimate reason for knowing where you are, or that you're even there. Battlefields should be much larger. There should be a scouting element, where is the enemy? This is why lance deployments are so stupid, cuz there's no point to having a scout in your lance. Sit there and wait for the enemy to find you. Mission objective pointers are literally cheats telling you exactly where the enemy is.
The merc company sim could have been something new, something innovative, something fresh. But alas, it's just Mechwarrior Mercenaries with a new skin, new story, but same friggin game. You guys did a great job on the meat of the game, the battlefield sim, but the rest is a disappointment. Which brings me to the other issues: The coding quality. Abysmal. This game runs so slow, and for no good reason that I can detect. It's not overly complex in terms of what it has to handle, I just plainly do not understand why is has to take 1-3 minutes to start a mission. I know my computer is disturbingly fast, more often than not, when I hit deploy I hear that "Mechwarriors, prepare for battle." It's often cut off cuz my PC gets to the next screen really quickly, but even with that, it's still loading soooo slow. And it just gets worse as you progress into the game. Shoddy workmanship.
Next comes the available binaries. Paradox is known for releasing their stuff for both Windows and Linux. Stellaris and Europa Universalis IV are two prime examples of really good games being available for Windows and Linux. This game is even using Unity, supposedly a multi-platform development library. No linux binary for Battletech. Inexcusable from a company known for releasing to Linux.
If I were writing my review today on Steam, it would be negative. I'm not going to bother changing my review at this point, but now that I've had this game for a week, I just grow more and more disappointed with it's lack of innovation. Every day makes me feel like I'm back in the 90's playing Mechwarrior Mercenaries, then I realize, I've been here, done this and I'm bored.
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