This intro cinematic proves, to me at least, that with the right people in charge, a really good MechWarrior show or movie could be made. Probably will never happen, but a man can dream...
@@depholade That's probably the best way to describe MechWarrior/BattleTech to newcomers. Now that I think of it the Clans have pretty much the same role as the White Walkers: a common and powerful enemy for bickering nobles.
I agree with the lord inquisitor. In the right hands this could have been a Promising television series or, otherwise. perhaps maybe we can seek out the aid of of the primarks...
If you listen to the radio chatter, the perimeter defenses and lances were getting annihilated and fell back. The two surviving pilots didn't catch it because of all the shit going on around them. It's very understandable. There were far more units than shown, this was simply centered around a single lance - that suffered heavy losses before even reaching the main engagement. It was a surprise attack with subterfuge and lies on both sides.
@@holybacontoast9615 Most likely it was one of the fast response lances of the palace guard. Maybe even an infiltration unit, it would fit the lore having fast response lances for quick fielding.
@@tbone9474 I'm in my 30s getting pissed off and ready to jump back in the cockpit. Plinking those little trucks like that. That ain't soldiering. Thats murder.
I remember going in like “if my leader is going out in a blaze so am i” watching him blast at them being the last one alive truly made me want to fight these guys i just wish the story was better but this was the only cutscene i needed to see 🔥
@@Figitman >takes literally 15 years to finally get revenge, assuming you know what you're doing >more like 20 or 30 years if it's your first run it is just so mediocre.
@@phantomechelon3628 most critical part is to not only build it around the battlemechs but make the battle mechs a minor part of it... like tanks in a WWII movie in example
I remember that even as a 10 year old kid, I thought it was chilling that he continued to relay his actions even though he knew his superiors were dead.
It's epic, though to play devil's advocate... He could possibly have gone passive sensors and fled the area, link up with resistance, fight a guerrilla war. Rather than waste himself in a futile last stand. Though easily said than done i suppose.
@@Commodore22345 If i remember right Central Guard was protecting the royal family, the second he lost contact with them it should have been safe to assume the royal family was dead also, however in the heat of battle its extremely tough to think things through.
tho i didn`t knew english back then i had an understanding that something was just wrong... no order no call of any unit (basicly dead comms).. no nothing (something is up) then 3:16 happen Me: oh no they are gone RUN Him: I`ll hold them here has long has i can ME: 3:35 NOOOOOO Also me : 4:23 well fougnt rest in peace.
@@goose-stahvegg6608 Why wouldn't it make sense? They're Davion forces, and Davion captured a huge pile of Clan Smoke Jaguar's materiel during Operation Bulldog.
The MW4 games were my intro to the BT universe. Mercenaries was the one that really made me fall in love, but I don't think I would have made it to Mercs if this intro hadn't been so awesome. Also, whenever I'm the last one on my team alive in MWO I also want to say, "Any receiving unit: I have contact with main enemy force. I'll delay them here as long as I can."
Still gives me chills. Every time I get a new improved sound system, I crank this up right at the moment the Mad Dog takes that first percussive step. That moment is the moment that defines mechwarrior for me.
@@tastycookiechip "Mad Dog" is the Clan name for the mech people in the Inner Sphere call Vulture. Like what the Inner Sphere people call a Mad Cat is actually called a "Timber Wolf" by the Clans who built it. Most (but not all) Clan mechs have both 'original' names among the Clans, and whatever reporting name Inner Sphere people started calling them during the invasion, before they learned what they were actually called. Both sets of names stuck around afterwards, with different people and organizations in-universe calling them different things. Mechwarrior Online uses Clan names, Mechwarrior 4 used Inner Sphere names, board game players or people from other Battletech products tend to be less consistent about their use.
So cheesy, yet unironically great. Everything from the radio chatter to launching lrms into hell unfolding in front of them to making his last stand. Good memories.
Idk what people are talking about with the acting and dialogue. They're 'Mech commanders' not some Hollywood drama queens... In fact I think it's actually one of the few games I've played where the real time footage didn't immediately un-immerse me from the gameplay. It was spot on for real time footage in a video game with a serious plot.
I thought the voice acting was great. Really suited the game well. Best voice acting in all the games I have played to date have been, The mechwarrior games except the current mw5 and TBS one, they stunk and instantly forgettable.. even Duncan Fisher in Arena was a nice welcome break that didn't detract from the whole experience. Freespace 2, your wingmen , and when paired with Lt.Sykes "what, do i look Shivan to you?", in the covert missions deep in enemy Shivan space had probably the coolest voice ever in a game.. and Ground control's. Sara Parker had great voice. Better then Lara, Ellie or anyone else I can think of in fact.. although, maybe Quiet..?. Good voices really help to immerse the player and create the atmosphere I think.
The only problem I ever had with this opening video is its violation of canon. The actual invasion by Steiner to remove Dessari's militia lasted 3 days and Kentares put up one hell of a fight because a lot of the pilots were battle hardened against fighting the Clans as well as having access to Clan tech which you can see here. Plus Davion trained pilots are much better in quality than Steiner's.
@Weirdiocrow: Lol - I'm divided. This spectacular live intro blew my mind when it first came out; the MW3 intro was kind of flat. But the campaign opening, when the Blackhammer is taken out was utterly riveting; it showed the fear and uncertainty of a mission gone horribly wrong. I will say that Sigma 2 - the girl in the Shadowcat - has quite possibly the prettiest eyes I've ever seen!
he's right. UrbanMech is just like its name suggest, built for urban combat. He's built short to hide himself in between building, and armed with AC/10 or AC/20 means he could sneak behind you or hide in the next turn, pop in front of you, shot your cockpit until you die, and then run away into next block.
I love how the old MechWarrior videos have the mechwarriors in sleeveless suits, and how the cockpit looks very warm because of the fusion reactor of those mechs.
According to lore, it was not uncommon for pilots to be wearing almost nothing as they're literally being cooked when the mech overheats. IIRC, when Grayson Carlyle first met his future wife Lori Kalmar (prior to them creating the Gray Death Legion), she was literally just only in her panties when exiting her mech as her mech had insufficient heatsinks.
@@bentencho Her mech had the standard heat sinks used for almost 500 years at that point. The only other gear pilots routinely wore other than "almost nothing" was water cooled jackets, and those were very rare after the first succession war.
MW4's pretty limited like that, but there are absolutely ballistic-armed Mad Dog variants in Battletech. Some maniac even fitted out a version with gauss rifles.
You have to admit that they did a very good job with the intro quality. I wouldn't mind seeing a movie of that style. It'd be like a BattleTech version of the Starship Troopers movie (the first one). As corney as it was, it was still entertaining.
A Battletech movie with the same budget and production quality of Starship Troopers (there are no others, shush, they dont exist...*cough*) Would be amazing!
Are you serious? It looked like some Design major's university project -- acting and all. Yes, this was 15 years ago (when I was in university doing my design degree at that) -- but they _did_ have access to better 3D composition and effects back then. But now that I think of it, even Blizzard's CG was on par with this (think SC BW cinematics) so I guess this was still uber awesome at the time. I know I would have been impressed. Back then : P
The Animaster Ironically enough, 15 years ago, I too was in the middle of my CG animation course. Was there access to better software and quality - undoubtedly. Was this intro still of high quality compared to its peers at the time...remarkably so. With my nostalgia glasses on, it still holds up rather well. I get a chill when I see this play out. Try not to be too hard on this one, unlike most movie houses, this team was probably a lot smaller and had a lot less time to get this done and out the door.
@@theanimaster Compare this CGI with the hobbit and other modern films... Not really much quality going around here in termsof CGI. This was amazing for its time. IF they made them even better, I think it would distract from the gameplay. The in game graphics were not even close to this, so its a bit of a tease.
@@theanimaster Are you serious?? This cgi is absolutely incredible TO THIS DAY it still holds up. Some of the best cgi of the era looks better than any game at the time
Nuckin' Futs Since the Copyright war with those Harmony Gold wankers is over, it's doable. Only question would be where to start. Adaptation or reboot?
Ahh nostalgia. I remember thinking this intro was the coolest thing ever when I was a kid. In retrospect, the acting and dialogue wasnt that great, but the CGI and visual direction is still really well done.
+Alias fakinami I've never seen this before. I was getting hypechills. I wish I could make sense of the story, though. I loved MW4:Mercs, so this is next.
@107981830587541029269 From what I remember, the story was that a large portion of the main character's faction was succeeding and randomly attacked their base all at once, so now the heir to the throne has to take it back, or somthing like that :P
+John Madden (NO SPOILERS) Vengeance is about a coup within a royal family during the start of the much larger FedCom Civil War. Basically the war started because Katrina Steiner I signed a peace agreement with House Davion, but there was a secret clause which married one of Davion's princes to the Steiner successor. So this merged the two nations. Those nobles had children, Katrina II and Victor (plus another), but Victor was going to become the king. The Steiners liked Katrina while the Davions preferred Victor. Katrina became power-hungry and influenced the Steiner lords to support her - she secretly assassinated her mother and framed Victor, then assumed the throne of the Federated Commonwealth. Obviously the Davion lords were outraged and did not trust Katrina, while the Steiners hated and distrusted the Davions. She was a ruthless ruler who favored the Steiner planets while persecuting the Davions. Eventually rebellions started forming and they elected Victor as their leader, while other planets defected to Katrina. This division lead to infighting within many of the smaller families under the FedCom alliance. MW4 is about one of these conflicts when William Dresari takes advantage of the civil war by betraying his Davion-friendly family on behalf of Katrina Steiner. The trailer is the start of the coup and murder of the Dresaris.
Unfortunately, he was in a very weak mech, and so was his companion. Now had they been in real mechs like the Timber Wolf or the Summoner, then he would have been able to do something! His mech just didn't have what it took to win.
That Uziel must have had some pretty nice heatsinks to fire that PPC 6 times in like, 10 seconds... Certainly looks cool though. This made me want a BattleTech series or movie so bad as a kid.
To be fair there are a trio of Nova Cats with that Uziel. With a Nova Cat Prime carrying a pair of PPCs, the Uziel likely only fired twice. The other 4 shots probably came from some of the Nova Cats. The main question I have is, even in MechWarrior 4 the Uziel's MGs were mounted in the shoulder area/side torsos, why is it firing ballistic rounds from its arms in this?
@@ELITESrBAMOFOS945 Clan mechs have two names. One given by clans, another given by Inner Sphere. So the Vulture is the Mad Dog. The Timber Wolf is the Mad Cat, and so on...
I remember as a young teen seeing the shot at 3:52 and thinking about how amazing that shot looked, almost like it really captured from a helicopter camera. Loved this intro.
Damn... If Hollywood could actually be trusted with this stuff, I'd say that this intro PROVES that a good MechWarrior movie could be made. Even after all these years... Still one of the best opening cinematics for a video game I've ever seen.
I remember playing this years and years ago. The writing was decent, even by today's standards (which may be lower?), and the game itself was well crafted. Two things that I find vaguely interesting, that I didn't realize as a child, is that the lance we are watching is entirely clan tech. A vulture in lead, a shadow cat (which is strangely just as large), followed by a cougar. The attacking force is also mostly clan tech, nova cats and such, but with a few uziel mechs in tow, which is a bit odd. I think the designers wanted to show off a little bit of their newer designs that weren't in previous games. I remember this fondly.
I loved this game so much. I still remember a random background line when a pilot stepped on an enemy tank "Eugh stepped in some steiner." Freaking had me dieing laughing and I still quote it in Mechwarrior 5 mercenaries on ps4
to be fair, all the mechs left the hangar with not much urgency :/ if the battle is to scale, I count 6 medium mechs vs 8-10 light (scout) mechs. Scouts would of won if they left faster. btw, is the cougar mech the face of the MechWarrior/MechAssault franchise? I wouldn't be surprised if it was; its basic but awesome. just wonderin
The cheesyness was what made it fun, like the best b-movie sci fi's. It's so much better than the typical silent protagonist in a """"first person cinematic experience"""" you get these days. Seriously, I miss live actors.
@@Protagonist To be honest, with today's technology, I'm sure we could actually make something really nice looking, like not some B-movie thing (even tho I would still love it >_>), but actually some really high grade big movie levels of quality... I mean look at how many millions there are in those games, I'm sure it's possible...
What an awesome intro, I appreciate even more the cinematic quality as an adult than I did as a kid! Even though I didn't appreciate the arcade-ish mechanics of the game compared to Mech 3.
I got a copy of this game free with my first desktop back in 2001. I remember being scared shitless after watching this intro and didn't touch the game until 2 more years had passed lol
эх... ушла эпоха когда в играх использовали ролики с живыми актёрами, святое было время... это интро мотивирует на игру, лучше чем всё что вышло после, во всех играх вселенной battletech
You know, to my recollection, this was the first video game i ever played. i was 4 at the time, mashing buttons on a joystick, no idea what was going on, but i remember loving every second of it.now im 16, and still enjoy playing this game from time to time.
***** appeals to a small group PRECISELY because it isn't put on film."Decision at Thunder Rift" would be a excellent introductory movie.alot of people are tired of robots who shoot a laser and annihilates a entire army in one blow,plus the teen whining and teen drama,and hoh,they happen to be students at some school.(sigh)but yeah,people don't want to strain their brains too much nowadays.
I so agree. They made Pacific Rim, which was fine in its own way, to best Transformers when they should have just let Mechwarrior stand on its own like it always has in the face of other competitors like Robotech and even Gaint Robot.
Fear is what rules Hollywood. The logic the executives follow is the more expensive the movie, the higher the return if it succeeds. Failure can kill a studio. We were lucky to get Pacific Rim as it is, because the studios do not like taking chances. That's why most blockbusters follow the same tropes and story structure. The paying audiences liked it, surely they'll like it again and again. The Battletech universe had that nonsense legal problem from those hacks at Harmony Gold and it made touching franchise risky. Now that's it's over, we might see something in the future.
example "best mech gets damaged from last mission... cant use your best mech for even harder level, not to mention lost mechs from ejecting allies. also HARDEST DIFFICULTY OR GTFO, lol makes the game more awesome.
TheRumChum Thats coz it's a real military campaign with consequences :P. Not some space pirate gallavanting around the galaxy working for the highest bidder ;P.
enemy forces: (6 visually @ 3:22, 8 on radar @ 0:27) - Uziel (3:22) - Nova Cat/Wendigo (3:22) - Nova Cat/Wendigo (3:22) - Nova Cat/Wendigo (3:22) - Nova Cat/Wendigo (3:22) - Hellbringer/Loki? (3:24) - unknown (probably Nova Cat/Wendigo, might've died off screen?) - unknown (probably Nova Cat/Wendigo, might've died off screen?) hero forces: (5 visually, 10 based on hangar size) Left Side of Hangar (closest to furthest from exit): - Corvus/Raven (0:45) - Corvus/Raven (0:45) - Owens/Hackman/Shadow Cat (1:50) - unknown (probably Corvus/Raven, if not empty section) - unknown (probably Corvus/Raven, if not empty section) Right Side of Hangar (closest to furthest from exit): - Mad Dog/Vulture (0:49) - Owens/Hackman/Shadow Cat (0:49) - Corvus/Raven (0:49) - Corvus/Raven (1:36) - Cougar/Puma (1:50) this breakdown comes from a person whos really just a fan of the mechassault games; i dont really like the mechwarrior games but this live action intro cinematic is my favorite cutscene, not only in the mechwarrior games but also mechassault and any battletech stuff that I've ever seen. With this breakdown being made, I do wanna say that if the hangar had not been blown up (or the mechs made it out before the explosion), I think the Lance unit would of won, if not taken out all but maybe one or two Nova Cats.
I like your breakdown but I don't agree. The two lances of attacking forces we see have 1 medium, 5 heavy, 2 unknown, while the defenders have 5 light, 2 medium, 1 heavy, 2 unknowns. Even if you set the unknowns to be entirely in the defenders favor (attacker unknowns are light mechs, defender unknowns are heavy), it's still not a battle in the defender's favor. The defenders might have a numbers advantage but by tonnage they are way outclassed here. Those ravens do not have the firepower to handle equal numbers of nova cats....especially once you get inside the palace area where it's going to favor mid to close range brawls over the long range maneuver warfare the raven/vulture mix is suited for. The only way I see if being an even fight is if the two defender unknowns are assault mechs...and then you would easily spot their bulk poking out of their places in the hangar and they wouldn't be unknown.
Well, in my case, it reminds me of Dune, but with giant robots and no spice. Even in this game's story you are a duke's son and you have to revenge your family, like Paul Atreides and Duke Leto Atreides. The final confrontation in this game is against Ian's cousin, which also reminds me of the final battle between Feyd Rautha Harkonnen and Paul Muad'dib, who are technically cousins.
HBO, If you're wondering what to do after Game of Thrones . . . Battletech. It's exactly like Game of Thrones, but in SPAAAAACE and with BIG STOMPY ROBOTS!
This is some derp non-canonical Vulture Mk II. No spec sheet i can find has this weapons configuration. Were i too guess though, those would be clan ultra 5s in the arms, with clan rotary mgs underneath them. Pulse laser turret and lrm 15s.
Aaaaah, thank you for uploading this. This makes me a super emotional guy, MechWarrior was the first game series i played that i can recall. Mechwarrior 4 Vengance, then i dug up the older copies of MW2 Mercs and MW3 that my dad had. Then of course, got MW4 Mercs when that came out. And now, i have access to the CBT of Mechwarrior 5 Mercs which is going to be open in, as of the time i send this comment, two hours. It is a good Day.
I actually have MW4 Vengeance, MW4 Black Knight, and MW4 Mercenaries. it's probably one of my favorite campaign games ever, and this is going by 2020 standards
I never counted what they did to Ian in the expansion. turning him into a tyrant was so out of character and it flew in the face of those of us that made the choice to save Joana. It also felt tacked on completely
It’s implied Ian chose to get the weapons instead of saving his sister in the sequel In the eyes of the rebellion, it’s the best choice But to choose weapons over a blood relative, is equal to a death sentence to his sister, and Ian pulled the trigger. Now if you chose the sister over the weapons - it’s likely the story went Ian didn’t like his sister’s way of rule and did a coup since he had only known war, war is how he ruled At least that’s how I explain that scenario
Sometimes i wonder...do those modern game developers at least played and wached game intros they do sequels of... I played planty of MWO as all old Mechwariors and MechCommanders ...and MWO has none of climate or haracter... nothing that would made you "sink into game" ...only fights and poor economy...fucking F2P. I could pay 300$ for good game, exiting single player story ...multi is for fun and has no depth as it stends, maybe titanfal-like aproach combining single into multi will change aproach of developers, but as it is PGI has just wasted potential not less than Colonial Marines...remember MWO trailer? ...lies =/ I miss those old games and their spirit so much =(
The new community warfare mode that just got introduced to MWO does a piss-poor job of address your complaints. It is still a shell of a game with barely any heart or soul to it. Such a waste of the IP.
MWO is basically multiplayer of a Mechwarrior game, and nothing else. MW5 (original) got canceled because of Harmony Gold shenanigans. Then there are the various balance changes that were required because direct translation of the tabletop was piss poor for the game (Time to Kill during the pre-armor rework made Call of Duty look like it was standing still). MW4 had this major issue of 'laser pop tarting' where you essentially slap as many lasers with as little armor as possible because you're using so many lasers that armor is useless since lasers 'stick' where they hit. Nothing else mattered in the multiplayer meta back then. MWO's 'time on target' lasers made that impossible. AMS is actually scary as they should be to missile boats (especially after the tabletop rework made them actually useful), especially if you got a bunch of them together. The cockpits are rendered faithfully to the source material... and it didn't help that the company that published MWO was discovered to be right bastards trying to kill the game with P2W crap. MWO did a lot of things right despite its missteps at the beginning.
If the Vulture pilot would've just escaped rather than commit to a Final Stand there would've been plenty of units on Kentares who would've loved to have a good Heavy Clan Support Omni-Mech in their ranks.
You mean retreat when you don't know if the people you're sworn to defend got out safely? For all we know this guy might be the reason anyone survived at all.
satannstuff Perhaps but if Command was gone then it would've been safe to assume the Palace has completely fallen. Steiner may be idiots but they know how to pull off a surprise assault.
I'd say it's subjective as I will always hold the Mechwarrior 2 intro (despite it's age) to be a timeless introduction to mechwarrior. 4 is definitely well made though, just not imo the best.
Bill Hamilton Ahem, it seems my dog hijacked my youtube there (multi accounts, yes my dog has a channel now... dont judge me) Anyway, yeah I can recall the day I was about 5 or so years old, We'd just got a new graphics card for the family computer, a 'Matrox' 3Dfx which came with a free 'enhanced' version of mechwarrior 2 , basically detailed textures. The intro was the greatest thing my tiny 5 year old brain had ever seen. Was blown away and probably became instantly obsessed with the franchise. Go youtube it up :P. It's still great.
The live acting in this intro is a nice touch... but the directing (or the script) is meh. This intro pales in comparison to the Mechcommander Intro IMO. If you've never seen it, watch it, because that's how a freaking intro movie is done :)
Haha I just watched an old one and a new one and I gotta say the old one was way better for sure. The new one didn't get that right emotion from the environment. My favorite intro has always been Command and Conquer Red Alert 1 Intro. But I ended up joining the Marines at 18 so I might be biased. If there was a place to enlist into a Mech Corps like Mechwarrior even as a mercenary I'd go right back into enlisted life haha.