MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries Review 

Reactor online, weapons online, sensors online, all systems nominal!

I remember playing this on a windows 98

I'd like to see mech assault come back to. And chrome hounds

BattleTech is one the nerdiest franchise ever and I adore it for that. The obsessive attention to detail, the subtle (and not so subtle) satire and especially how sincere it all is.

Me and my cousin used to play MW2 on windows95, now THAT was a game!

It's wierd, played old MechWarrior when I was a kid and now I am a dad!

I'm having a riot playing it and the Business aspect of it is well flushed out...never thought I'd be charging into battle screaming IDGAF IVE GOT INSURANCE!

damn that self deprecating humor 4:27 lol, great to see such a franchise still being alive

"Part of me likes this feeling of being broken, desperate, and hungry for the next job, maybe it's relatable as a freelance writer." lol, the self-awareness in this review is off the charts!

Mechwarrior 3 was the first game I got when I was 8 and we had just bought a Windows 98 PC. I was allowed to choose 3 games, and because I'd read a review of this in PC Gamer that gave it like 9/10 or something I went for it. It's pretty much all I played that year. 30 years old now and just treated myself to a new gaming laptop just to play this!

I played mechwarrior 2 so much back in 1994 (it was still the demo and it used to lock my computer after each time i finished the only mission it had lol). In 1996 (or 1995, cant remember) I finally bought the full game and played it so much! There were some incredible missions. I manage to get the ghost bear legacy expansion some years later and loved it as well, even the weird last stage.

The reason Electronic Warfare and StealthTechMechs aren't in the game is because it takes place in the succession wars. That's stuff that is LosTech until the Clanner Invasions. Their OmniMechs are what brought all that back.

ive been playing mechwarrior for thirty years, and finally being able to walk around outside the mech is so thrilling...so far i just played the tutorial level, but im digging it so far

This makes me so happy. I grew up with Mechwarrior 2 back when we had it on DOS. I've played every version of it and also other unrelated game like Heavy Gear series. Needless to say, I am a huge fan. I remember I used to shut my engine down to avoid detection for my ambush with online game. And customizing a one shot mech which over heated every time I shot but it killed most of the mech with one shot. I am hoping these things are still there in the new game.

I grew up on mechwarrior since I was 4, so it's hard to describe the pure joy I feel at seeing this finally being released

Direwolf and Stormcrow have entered the chat

Front mission, the next series that needs to get back to its roots. I miss those games.

I remember Mechassault lone wolf

I could never remember this title that I used to play when I was 7 or so on windows 98! GLad to see it's back. Gonna get it just for the nostalgia, now to find my old joystick

I used to play Mechwarrior 3 for many hours at a time always with Tool's AEnima album playing. It was the perfect soundtrack for lumbering machines smashing and blowing up stuff and each other. Now I am loading Mechwarrior 5 and I am already listening to AEnima. I found its on my game pass! Nostalgia here we go, lol.

This reminds me, when are we getting a new Armored Core?

You cant pick up chicks in a tank. But you can pick them up with gaint mechs.

Hope the "critical hit" sounds and voice will return in a patch, really miss em

"or there's a handy deck me out fam button to fill in the gaps" absolutely had me rolling 🤣

Now to wait for the Clan invasion DLC.

as a battletech fan, this looks AMAZING

Damn this is bringing me joy for the season I need to pick this up, love space and mech battle's

the opening cinematic for MechWarrior 2 is the greatest thing ive ever seen in my life

I'd love if this had a VR port - would just be so cool with the peripheral vision, especially if they kept the only momentum based piloting like in MW2

Wow... I didn’t even know they still made this game!

Just got myself a Blackjack and kitted it out with level 4 AC-2 Burst Fire cannons. That thing is a beast, especially when you find a hill to go hull down behind.

i totaly missed that release oO one of my fav games as i was a kid :D

Give this man more reviews

I still play Mech Assault on the og Xbox so it’s interesting to see how the mech games have evolved in the last almost two decades

This...this is like a remake of the original MechWarrior, I'm so getting this! And the entire Inner Sphere to go through! Finally!

This was a pretty great review, could you guys do another one for the PlayStation release?

Can't wait to get my hand on this this weekend

I remember playing MechWarrior on an IBM aptiva my favorite one was called the Nova it was a little guy with jump Jets

One of the best games on Xbox GamePass right now. Total surprise for me.

Me and my family used to love playing mech assault back on the very first xbox. I remember as a kid pronouncing it as "Mega-salt"

Would love a remastered lone wolf for console. Or just a new mech game in general. Loved the mad cat!

The one word I would use to describe Mechwarrior 5 is “serviceable”. It ticks most the boxes, but lacks any wow factor or polish. The UI is bland, the VO seems like they used friends and family after spending their whole budget on Adam Jensen. Mission designs are not only repetitive, but ultimately just a horde mode of tanks, aircraft and light mechs. It lacks the lance on lance action I had hoped for. It doesn’t help that many of these swarms of enemies can spawn in almost right on top of you. By contrast, I love the BattleTech game by Hairbrained Schemes. I have over 1200 hours played in that game, and it has much more personality and polish. I was really hoping that MW5 would be the FPS equivalent of that game, but it just falls short. It’s “fine”. It’s competent. I hope people enjoy it, and I hope it does well. I’d hate to have to wait yet another 20 years for another MechWarrior game.

I wish they would have stuck with the load out style mechwarrior online was utilizing for customizing the mechs. Instead they went with a hybrid of MWO and mechwarrior 4.

Mechwarrior age demographic has got to be male 30 and up who are either engineers, mechanics or miltary ive only known older guys that play it.

Kinda disappointed that there isn’t a goos story. Considering how story heavy the Battletech universe is.

i have mech warrior 2 on my ps1. I really want this game!!!

With the way time flies by so fast with a month minimum almost between jumps you will likely be over two hundred years old by the time you get around to finishing the storyline mission. Can you even die of old age?

Gentelmen we're home :)

That skit or whatever it was meant to be at the start was so unfunny it hurt.

lol when the 57 days L&I guy was in a Jenner I salute thee, light pilots

Cant wait for next year!

Major nostalgia from playing Mechwarrior 4 on a Pentium 4 back in 98 with a joystick!

I use to play this at chuck e cheese hahah inside the big cockpit

I really like this game and still have a lot of fun with it. I was a little disappointed at the mechlab after playing MWO and fell the first person walking around the dropship was a wasted opportunity after the early preview video.

Just looking at that map feels like the first Mechwarrior. No big part in a small conflict here.

O CLÁSSICO VOLTOU!

Who remembers heavy gear

Im in love with MechWarrior 5 its awesome,,,😍👍 Graphic and Gameplay is really Amazing

Xbox in a few weeks can't wait

This is a very fun game. There are issues with the enemy spawns and some of the market UI (like not being able to sell mechs from cold storage) but overall the game is a huge thumbs up for me!

Mechwarrior really makes you FEEL like mechwarrior

Is there a controller out there like Steel Battalion's for the original Xbox where I can actually feel like I'm piloting a mech?

Flight controller with throttle plus vr headset = ultimate mech pilot sim .

I miss my force feed back joysticks 😥

I'll be happy if it is exactly like 4 but with just improved graphics!!! Loaded 4 the other day. Latest version of 4 had a new level of weapon variety I did not know about; especially when it involved SMRM, Thunderbolts, Continuous Laser, Continuous Auto Cannons. I loved MW4 so much more than MWO when it came to game mechanics!!! I'm still playing MW4, haven't touched MWO for a while...

Looks a lot closer to MW 1 than 2-4.

King Crab with PPCs, autocannons and flamers is da bomb!

no melee attacks?? WTF is that nevermind apparently they added it in! great review btw. poor freelancer.

Actually you can't really change them that much. Because you cannot stick multiple small weapons in a bigger slot (like 2 small in a medium or 3 in a large) ala MW4 you can down gun or pick different versions of autocannons but that is mostly it. Drop your jump jets and maybe a heat sink or ammo for max armor and go start fighting.

If there's one thing I learned from Battletech (the 2018 pc game) is that there's no job too small if it brings salvage and money to the table

great game, hard to get used to, but once you are up and running it rocks.

Great game, just one thing that bothers me: in a "mobile hangar" craft there's room for 4 mechs, and the size of it is barely to support 4 mech with pulse travel, and you can have 12 active mechs... it reminds me of 50 rabbits in a hat...

Haven't played this franchise since the Crescent Hawk's Inception. Might try it

Is no one gonna mention the quality of this review?? It sounded great to me. And i didn't even know this franchise before. Amazingly well written! 👍 *EDIT:* 4:27 , that was so funny to hear 😅

There is only one important criteria for me to get this. Can I perform a Highlander Burial?

1:28 and mwp from 2012 is still more advanced in that department. just glad that there are mods

My first pc was a Pentium III 700mhz 64mb SD Ram windows 98 SE and it came with MechWarrior 2 CD

Going to need my load out of PPC

Bought the Mechwarrior-2 game, for my son. Pentium 4 Windows XP. Went from pirranha controller to wingman gamepad then finally a saitek joystick. MechWarrior-6 Evolution?

The map that was removed from the bottom center is certainly less intuitive.

I was totally sold until it got into being a money manager, debt simulator. That wasn't part of MW3 and 4 right? I feel like you just set up your mech and ammo and did missions?

Haven't enjoyed MechWarrior like this since the closed beta for MWO or when the Living Legends mod for Crysis Warhead blew up. The last time I had fun in single player MechWarrior was probably in MechWarrior 4. My introduction to the IP was by way of the animated series, seeing people play the arcade version of MechWarrior 2, and the original Gray Death Legion trilogy in the paperback books series at the age of 8, lol. Then my next door neighbor bought MechWarrior 3 on launch day, right before his birthday. 6 months later, I had it for Xmas, and the nightmare of trying to join and maintain connection to multiplayer games over dial-up began. I preordered MechWarrior 4: Vengeance, along with every expansion, and got all sorts of excited when MekTek re-released it for free along with their community 'mech pack. Ahh, the days spent pop-tart sniping with a Fafnir on custom maps... To enjoy such things again, and now the environment is destructible... preordered the community edition asap, and even after the EGS exclusivity fiasco, I'm glad I didn't get a refund. Oh, the nostalgia, the tinkering, the planning, the failure, the success, the challenge, the fun -- it's been too long. This hard sci-fi nerd is finally Home.

I'll wait for steam release.

honestly, it sounds amazing

Did not know they still care about this game! Old XBOX days.

I was so excited to get this game only to find it causes severe motion sickness when I play.

Looks like a mid-2000's game. Why do the MW games continue to rely on barely pixelated terrain and arcade-style mech physics?

Wait, did he just say Co-op campaign? Sign me up!

Walls. Walls are just doors waiting to happen.

This would have been a great return to form... in 2006. Today it's pretty obvious that something is really missing from this formula. There really is no reason at all to choose a smaller mech, or fewer mechs, for example. There should be, and it seems like there is, but there isn't. The strategy for every mission is the same, and the bad AI guarantees that the most your teammates can be is a meat shield while you run around completing actual mission objectives. Want to rush in behind enemy lines with a light mech, avoid heavier enemies and destroy key targets before they can respond? Fine, but your other mechs will walk right into a firing squad while you do it. If you actually do get involved in a stand-up fight, it all boils down to circle strafing and trying to focus on a single target without losing any weapons. The mechs themselves are too generic and cumbersome to do anything else. They can't support each other. They can't fill unique roles. They really are just big walking tanks, which is fun, but only for a while.

We need operation Damocles

Loving the vintage PS2 graphics look

I want another Mech Assault, I miss that game...

So basically it's the new Battletech but shinier and polished, and not a 3d tactical but instead a first person simulator???? SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!

Need some lore placing here, im new to the battletech universe, where is this located un the timeline? Before or after Battletech? (As in harebrained schemes game)

really wish this would be on xbox or playstation since my PC is out of date and can't run any new games plus on xbox it would be like reliving my mechassualt days

Does it have the amazing music it used to?

IGN got this one right, games a blast for those who loved MW2-4

Seeing that it has controller support I wonder if they'll port it to the Xbox that'd be awesome

I was more of a heavy gear guy! Windows 95 along with dark reign. I'll still give this a shot