Written by Edwin Francisco
Mechwarrior is a classic to me. I’ve been playing all of the PC versions ever since the first one came out in 1989. Mechwarrior is based on a tabletop war game called Battletech which was originally released in 1984. The game focused on combat using giant tank-like two-legged walking robots.
I was excited to play this game since they released the teaser trailer in 2009. I did hear about the news that Piranha Games was going to develop it, but I didn’t know much of their previous work except that they did a lot of ports. In general, it didn’t matter to me who made the game, since each version had a different developer and publisher. Previous games were made by Dynamix (Activision), Activision (Activision), Zipper Interactive (Microprose), and FASA Interactive (Microsoft). So, a new developer is not new news. All I wanted to see is a new Mechwarrior game.
It was a long wait.
To my surprise, they released Mechwarrior Online in 2013. And I thought that’s it? I’m not a fan of online games, mainly because our internet at home is never consistent at the time. I played it a bit but I was mainly disappointed because of the limitations of being an online game.
But when Mechwarrior 5 on the PC was announced. I was excited again plus it was made by the same developers. I thought that it’s possible that developers were building up to this moment, and the online game was just practice.
It was a surprise to me that Mechwarrior Online was using Crytek Engine 3 while Mechwarrior 5 using Unreal Engine 4. The shift, I heard was because of how hard it was to work on the Crytek Engine even though it was a very good engine visually. Unreal had lots of resources and support which was much more preferred by a lot of developers.
Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries has originally released the game in 2019 for the PC through the Epic Game Store and Windows Store. It was only released on the Xbox One and the Series X/S on May 27, 2021.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get into Mechwarrior 5 early since buying games was not part of my routine at the time. So, I was not able to get into the game until I got the Xbox Series X.
The Story
Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries doesn’t start too well though. You start through a training mission with your father. Your father trying to teach you the ropes on how to use your mech. Right after the mission, somehow your character wanted to loot a nearby city even though your father said it was too dangerous. But for some reason, your character was able to convince your father to follow through. It turns out that this was an ambush, which results in the death of the father. Because of this, you in turn were promoted to be the commander, the leader of your father’s mercenary group called Nik’s Cavaliers.
Review: Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries by Piranha Games
I would have thought that it would have been a bad start for your character. It seemed a little ridiculous that your father’s people just assumed that your character would lead. But anyway, the story continues trying to figure out why and who would want the death of his father.
The story goes on for a while, but it doesn’t give me the interest to do much of the campaigns. I think this is one of the flaws of the game. It’s trying to tell a story, but I had very little to no intention to understand it. I love games with wonderful stories, but this game is lacking in the ability to give me the motivation to get into the story. But I do like the fact that it will force you to go around the galaxy giving you a chance to see everything that the game has to offer.
It’s a large Galaxy
The galaxy map is very huge in Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries. In other words, there’s a lot of places to go to. But when you are starting, choices will be very limited. You won’t be able to travel far nor will you be able to get into higher-level missions.
But you will need money to be able to travel around, so you’ll need to do some missions before you’ll be able to get anywhere. The farther the planet, the more expensive it gets. You’ll need to manage your money early on in the game.
The problem here is that you won’t know what missions there are in a specific area until you get near those planets. You should see icons on top of the planet. You should only see this if you are close range to the planet. Icons indicate the type of mission that is available on the planet. Certain areas will also indicate your popularity and in turn, this will also indicate that you will expect a higher level of difficulty.
So, if you travel too far blindly, you might find out that there are no missions that you can safely do. This is wasting your money since you might need to travel back. This can be discouraging since the risk is high that you might not be able to do anything when you get there.
Review: Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries by Piranha Games
Homebase
When you are not in a battle, everything you do is inside the dropship. There are several things that you can do inside there like customizing your mech, buying and selling mechs and equipment, hiring pilots, choosing your mission, and checking out the galaxy map.
You can walk around the dropship and look at your mechs that are on standby for battle or being repaired. Although walking around is mostly for eye-candy, there is nothing significant to do when walking around since everything you need to do in the dropship is done on a menu screen. The only time you need to walk around is when talking to some characters which at times, doesn’t seem that necessary.
Customizing your Mech
The first few missions will be straightforward, but after some of those, you will have to get a little more focused on buying and customizing mechs. Each mech will have a specific weight that you can’t exceed. You will need to maximize what you can do with your mech. Each weapon will have weight, heat, range, the strength of damage, and a specific slot to where you can place them.
Mechs will have specific items that you can use. So, if you remove a missile from a slot, you can only replace it with another type of missile. The customizing part is what type of missile will you use? Do you plan to use a Long-Range Missile (LRM) which is only effective for long-range attacks but useless in close combat, or do you want to use Short Range Missiles (SRM) for close-range attacks but useless for long-range? Then you have to consider how much heat this weapon will give off since it can overheat your mech. Once your mech overheats, the mech can temporarily shut down to cool down. Which can make you vulnerable to attacks while waiting for the system to restart.
If you do decide to use an LRM, what version of it will you use? Do you use the expensive ones for better damage, or do you use the cheap ones so that’s it’s easier to replace later on? If you think that it might be getting too hot, you can install some heat sinks to cool it down, but you’ll need to be able to handle the weight. Do you have spare weight, you can add armor to the mech so that it can handle more damage.
Review: Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries by Piranha Games
Once you are done, you must not forget to set the weapon groups. There are 4 weapon groups where each group will use a set of weapons. You might accidentally set your groups to 1 group only which can in turn possibly overheat the mech. Remember that you have to manage how to use your mech. Note that the PC version has 6 weapon groups instead of 4, so far even if you have a keyboard attached, it won’t activate the additional weapon groups.
Also, you can paint your mech any way you want. Painting is optional, it won’t cost you anything too. If you want all your mechs to have different colors, that is your choice.
Customizing the mech is part of the experience. It’s something that you can’t ignore. It’s part of the fun trying what fits and what works. The only problem I think here is that you have to start a mission and see if your custom mech works. It’s such a satisfying moment once you do get that mech that works for you instead of against you.
Being a Mech Pilot
When controlling your mech, it can get a bit confusing especially when you are used to playing a lot of action games using the gamepad. The first thing you’ll notice is that moving your legs is different from moving the torso. It takes a while to get used to, but this is important because you can’t be running forward all the time. You’ll need to be able to walk in a specific direction and you should be able to look in any direction at any time. When moving forward, it doesn’t automatically stop when you release the analog stick, it will feel like you are moving a tank, which is as it should be.
As I mentioned earlier, you do have the option to fix your weapons’ sets. This will set your weapons on the gamepad’s shoulder buttons (LT, RT, LB, RB). Depending on how you have set it up, your weapon set will determine how you will be able to manage your battle.
There is also an option to use the keyboard and mouse. Even though I didn’t get deep into this, I was still able to test it. I know it did feature some controls that were not available using a gamepad controller. Using the keyboard and though will be a bit experimental since there are no instructions in the game on how to use it. No keyboard and mouse guide.
I love that you can customize the way you want to play in Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries. You can change the controls if needed, you have the option for the keyboard, you can even change the basic view from that of the cockpit (first-person mode) to that of the drone (third-person mode). So, your enjoyment would depend on how you customize your mech and your controls. If you don’t take your time with this, it will hinder your progression in the game.
Managing your money
Since you’ll start with just yourself and one mech, it’s going to be difficult to get anywhere without doing some missions first. It’s a good thing that one of the first missions will provide you another pilot and a mech. But if you need more, you will need to hire pilots and buy mechs which are going to be expensive pretty early in the game.
Review: Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries by Piranha Games
If you are not careful, you can get stuck in the game. You have to monitor your money and expenses. In each mission that you do, there’s a huge chance that you’ll be paying for repairs or replacing parts. And after some time, you’ll be paying for your hired pilots. You’ll need to buy and sell mechs since you’ll need to upgrade lots of them. Tougher missions will require bigger mechs that your starter mech can’t do. If you have to pay or make repairs and ended up with a low amount in your bank, in a location without any missions that you can do, you won’t be able to travel. You can get stuck on a planet. It’s a good thing that there is an autosave.
The Missions
There are a few mission types in the game. Namely Warzone, Demolition, Raid, Defense, and Assassination. Before you start you can choose a mission if the planet does give you that option. Before starting that mission you have chosen, you may also use your negotiation points to either get money as payment in successfully finishing the mission, salvage items dropped during the battle or equivalent money for repairs after the battle. Negotiation points will depend on how you are loyal to a particular faction. The more missions you have done for a faction, the more negotiation points can be used to maximize the benefits in taking on that mission.
Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries can feel redundant because the missions only rotate with these 5. It doesn’t have that element of surprise. You always know what you are getting into.
Missions do get difficult if you try to explore the galaxy. The farther you get, you will have to challenge yourself and get better mechs to accommodate the requirements for the mission. You can either save up and buy mechs for the mission or try to get a mech from your salvage.
Also, some missions have multiple missions which must be done in a specific order without the ability to repair your mech, but you go back to your dropship in between the missions and organize what you need for starting the next one and you are allowed to change mechs.
I wish that they did some set pieces here where there are trigger events to make the missions interesting. Star Wars Squadrons did great with the missions since each one tells a story and can make the game feel like you are in a movie. While this one doesn’t have that kind of impact which makes the campaign missions feel dry and uninteresting.
Review: Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries by Piranha Games
I don’t like the fact that the maps are strictly rectangular or square. Although this is a minor issue since you barely see it when playing. It just pulls me back to reality when I look at the map when I’m really into the game. A portion of the map is always in view while you are playing, but you have the option to see the entire map but it won’t pause the game.
After each mission, you will get a salvage list. You can choose items that you can pick up based on the mission you went through. It does feel great when you can get weapons that are difficult to find or expensive, or you might get a hard-to-find mech.
Regardless of how I feel about the missions, playing them is still fun for the main reason that, it’s cool to be walking, toppling over buildings, and running around destroying things.
I just wanted to get the biggest mech in the galaxy and to try missions which can be a bit challenging for me. It’s what drove me to keep playing and I was enjoying Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries.
Slight Bugs
Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries is not free from bugs like most games. Especially in today’s age where bugs are always expected, and developers will patch them later.
I encountered a bug where my mech just got stuck moving. It seems that I may have stepped on something I shouldn’t have. And my mech seems like it was floating but it won’t budge. This bug is game-breaking because it won’t let you reach the dropship even if you are done with the mission. It’s a good thing that the auto-save is very reliable. I had to reload my mission just to get out of the situation.
The game did crash several times, but it was not bothering me too much though. I like that the game auto-saves regularly, it’s the saving grace of all the bugs I encountered.
There is one instance that I was trying to install heat sinks on my mech. It indicated that I still have more than I need. But when I installed one, it somehow indicated that I had none. So, to install the heat sink, I had to buy one apparently, and it did install properly then. It’s another bug that I discovered recently.
The bugs are a few and far between that it didn’t bother me heavily. It was disappointing, but not enough to keep me away from the game. I enjoyed getting back to play that big giant walking tank each day.
Review: Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries by Piranha Games
A Pretty Nice View
The graphics look great on Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries, but not outstanding. Not enough to make it feel that it’s the next-gen game. I know it’s not the next-gen game, but each time you see a label “optimized for series x/s” you would expect something that will make it stand out. I really can’t say how different it is from Xbox One since I don’t have that system. But I can say that the game looks great.
The mech, cities, factories look great. It has lots of detail. The mech themselves, if they are fully repaired, have a look that they seem like a slightly worn die-cast toy and I love it. Each time you get more damage, a part of your armor will look charred and worn out. Each footprint of your mech will be embedded on the ground. When you go to the city, there are cars, parks, trees and such.
It’s just weird that the cities don’t have people running around, although we do have to presume that these locations are evacuated because these planets you fight on are at war. Rain and snow look amazing, and when there is a heavy storm, it makes the game a little more difficult because of the bad weather which feels great. At night you will have to use night vision, and it works great in certain situations.
Although, the game does stutter. It’s not smooth when things get a little busy onscreen. Some graphic elements pop in but it’s far enough not to be bothersome. While in the dropship, you can catch a glimpse of textures streaming in which can be distracting for a split second, but with games these days, it’s a common thing to see.
Review: Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries by Piranha Games
Overall
I haven’t gotten into the Heroes of the Innerspace DLC yet, but I am enjoying the experience of playing the base game alone. It will entertain you for several hours to a few days. It will depend on how fast you want to progress. It’s fun being a mercenary in Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries and usually, I don’t want to rush the game to get through the story. I know some people play this game for months at a time and still enjoy it. I usually just try to save money and get better mechs and equipment before going for the campaign.
I know when the game was released on the PC a year ago it got mixed reviews. But my experience with the Xbox Series X was positive. It’s also possible that the delay in releasing the game helped, since compared to the original Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries, the latest version of the PC has drastic improvements too, which seems to have been incorporated on the Xbox Series X/S version.
So, as my final rating for this game, I give it a 4 out of 5. It still has flaws, graphics stutter at times. I didn’t feel too interested in the story, but I love the gameplay and it kept me engaged for a long time. All in all, the game captured what I enjoyed about Mechwarrior.
Game released on December 10, 2019 on Windows Store and Epic. May 26, 2021 on Steam. May 27, 2021 on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Published and Developed by Piranha Games
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