[Singh]

Mech 3 was much better than Mech 4 or Mech 4 Mercs...
Dunno; mech 4 mercs just felt.....wrong when it came to all the mechs there.......

[MicroPsycho]

MW3 had its weaknesses (customized mechs shot weapons from an 'invisible gun') and its strong points (briefing, powerful feeling) where as MW4 seemed more action based putting you in the centre of the action with more mechs in battles.

[Flaser]

Both Mech 3 and Mech 4 suffered from a poor user interface.

However what Mech 3 got perfect was the mech's feel of size and inertia. I always remember the moment I played the tweaked demo for the first time with a Madcat pumped with dual PPCs - and got knocked down by some light clanners hitting me in the side with LRMs.
That feeling of running 75 tons downhill while the LRMs smashed into my side tearing my aim off-course and pinching the whole mech sideways as it struggled to keep running - it was phenomenal and priceless.  That moment instantly left me hooked.

What turned me completly off in Mech 4 was the apparent agileness of Mechs - they turned the whole complex battle into a simple action game. It just didn't feel right.

I liked the idea of weapon slots, it also solved the problem of invisible guns, but the whole gameplay was severly lacking.

Both Mech 3 and 4 suffered from poor control customisation - 4 is still prety much unplayable compared to my standards, Mech 3 had much better default controls - which I only like in the mouse/keyboard variant.

The ability to aim guns on their own was a great invention of Mech 3 and Mech 4 put me off with going back to the Mech 2 / Merc formula.

Those games were fun, but simply put they are outdated.

My gutfeeling is MS will buthcher the series...

Sum line: Mech 2 was great for its time, Mech 3 is still the best battlemech simulation.

....and all of you underestimate the close-combat potential of humanoid mechs in close-range.

Ultra-AC 20 + Dual PPC / PPC + LRM on a Thor - all range long fight winner. Jump jets are a must for sufficient mobility. - and you haven't come face to face with Yen Lo Wang yet.

BTW I recommend checking Renegade Tech - it fuses the Renegade Legion damage system into the Battletech table-top game. That was another fun system. (Leviathan was posted here a while back). Renegade Tech is ultra coolness.

[Cyker]

Mech2 and 3 rocked.

I hated Mech4 - MS turned the damned thing into an arcade game instead of a Mech simulator!

Mech2 had great detail (Did you notice that when you fire an LRM20 on a Timber Wolf the missiles actually come out of different holes in the rack?!?!), and the FMV and voice acting (Hehe, the instructor guy cracks me up ), not to mention all the Clan Wolf and Jade Falcon 'flavour text' available in-game was just great

Mech3 felt really awesome - You could almost believe you were piloting a bipedal 15m tall robotic killing machine
The laser effects were definitely the best of ALL the MechWarrior games by FAR... Hell so were the rest of the weapons! I was a bit skeptical about the PPC (Being used to el Big Blue Ball O Doom from Mech2), but it grew on me, and now I actually prefer it!

The storyline, briefings and voice acting were and are IMHO unsurpassed. The game just felt so... *polished*. The only other game I've ever played that felt anywhere near that... I dunno, integrated? Polished? was TIE Figher.

It was a pity Pirates Moon was so crap, I was very dissapointed with it.... even the original actor's excellent voice acting couldn't save it

Things I didn't like about Mech3 were the firing points for all the weapons (Missiles coming 1m below the missile racks etc.), and the Lancemate command system was really ****. The Lancemate AI blew chunks too...
I also missed things like the IR-mode and the Enhanced Vision, but these are very hard to implement *well* in 3D Accelerated games by the looks of things (I base that on the fact that not one recent game has had a decent IR-goggle mode )

Mech2 had the most awesome Starmate command system ever (You could even get them to move with you in different bloody formations!!! How many other games have you ever seen that in?!)

The only thing Mech4 had going for it was the slightly-more correct modular weapons system, but everything else was rubbish. Mech4 Mercs was better but not by much. Holly Harris (Your dead Merc boss from Mech2Mercs) would be rolling in her grave if she saw what modern Mercs were like!

[Cyker]

That reminds me, does anyone know if the Neuromancer is a real Mech? If so, WTF is it?!

[Flaser]

I wish the Mech 3 code would be puclic and a more sensible control configuration could be implemented along with the Mech 4 weapon modularity. (+ accurate firing points).

Just imagine what it would be like if I could bing movement control to my joystick (throtle , turning  + full torso?) with weapon management (left-hand setup for a Cyborg ) with a mouse based aiming and command interface in a panoramic cockpit you only got when using joystick controlled aiming.

[Saturn2004]

ahh those  were the days  running in a mech  blasting your  enemies with LRM-20
i wish i could  have a decent pretty  well rounded mechwarrior 3 Lan party
If  anyone is interested in playing aganist me  just  give me a  shout

[Unknown Target]

Mech 4, while the general feel of it was crap, multiplayer ruled. It was probably one of THE most fun games out there when it came to multiplayer, which MW3 severely lacked. The lag on that game was atrocious, causing you to have to aim about 15 or 20 mechs in front of an enemy to hit him.

[Getter Robo G]

Since they had aircraft in both games I wished they brought back LAMS!!! Yes land-air-mechs like the phoniex hawk, stinger, and wasp (all veritech fighters from Robotech). Of course they can't use THOSE designs anymore legally but if they made up 3 NEW designs that would rule! Fly around the map with impunity and set up ambushes...  

[Deepblue]

Mech Assualt destroyed the mech "feel" I can only hope they correct (ADD A COCKPIT DANGIT!) this in MA 2. (looks pretty nice)

[ChronoReverse]

I personally enjoyed using the light gauss in Mech 4.  Nothing beats a headshot at 950 meters.  Especially if the headshot consisted of an alpha strike of four light gauss.

[magatsu1]

there was one medium/light mech that could carry just one gauss with room for nowt else save jump engines. Perfect little sniper, especially for city missions.

Long Tom was fun too.

[beatspete]

I played the Mechwarrior 3 demo a lot.  There's nothing like shooting a hole in the ground then hiding in it!

[Deepblue]

Whoah, where did that go in the full version?

[Deathstorm V2]

Sorry to drag the topic back a bit, but there's only one 'mech that counts:

Deathstorm's Daishi. (MW4Mercs) 4 MLas, 1 STRK6, 3 CGauss, 19.5 tons of armour, tons of ammo and a LAMS.  Makes a mess of anything stupid enough to come in range.

I agree with the rest though, MW3 was the best, esp. the way it handled missiles - an LRM20 felt much bigger when you fired it.

[Mad Bomber]

Originally posted by Unknown Target
Mech 4, while the general feel of it was crap, multiplayer ruled. It was probably one of THE most fun games out there when it came to multiplayer, which MW3 severely lacked. The lag on that game was atrocious, causing you to have to aim about 15 or 20 mechs in front of an enemy to hit him.

Now, why are you using the past tense there?

I swear I'm going to get into my Rifleman or Warhammer and blast you for it. Oh wait, the Rifleman isn't out yet. I guess my Hammer will have to do for now.


For those who haven't kept up, a group known as Mektek (the site is temporarily down) has made free mech-packs for MW4:Mercenaries. (Nothing has been made for Vengeance, so )

The first mech pack (MP1) is nearly universally used since its release last November, and included the following 9 mechs:
- Warhammer (Yarr. My favorite mech aside from the Argus. B))
- Urbanmech (The trashcan is back!)
- Urbanmech IIC (The Clan trashcan makes its debut!)
- Stalker (Redesigned to no longer resemble something phallic)
- Strider (Making a triumphant return from MW3 as the annoying little bastard of choice)
- Marauder (Yes, original artwork, and no lawsuits!)
- Blood Asp (The fearsome 90-tonner comes to Mechwarrior for the first time)
- Avatar (Back from MW3.)
- Ares (Custom Mektek design by VeryBad, a Clan 60-ton jumping Omni -- interestingly enough there were no canon designs with that ability. Hardish to load out, but quite speedy and difficult to core.)


Mech Pack 2 is due out quite soon (however exact date is not known by ANYONE). For secrecy purposes a lot of info has been withheld. I am one of the alpha/beta testers but, rest assured I won't leak a damn thing specific, so don't bother, it'll be out soon anyways.

What I can tell you is info that's been publicly released already.

Firemoth (Dasher) - The lagbastard comes back in a blur of motion!
Commando - Pinko's rejoice, for the Commie returns...
Hollander II - The gun on legs. A great asset to IS forces.
Nova (Blackhawk) - Tho it had to be redesigned a bit (please do not argue about this point, it was necessary) it's Clan Wolf's signature medium. Yarr.
Brigand - A mech just for the pirates! Arr, matey!
Grim Reaper - Plenty of missile and energy goodness to go around, on a sturdy IS 55-tonner.
Gesu - A new 45-ton Clan mech designed as an "interceptor". Another custom MT design, this time by Insidious(Blastradius).
Cyclops - The command mech of the Inner Sphere is making a comeback...
Rifleman - Eight years after the lawsuit, the mech makes its return. Not truly the Unseen model, but it stays true to its roots (i.e. it's not the boxy, crappy-looking DA version.)
Canis - Finally, for the first time in 8 years, a Clan 80-tonner!
Argus XT - 65 tons instead of 60, replacing the little-used missile pod with another gun arm, tho no longer Heavy-Gauss capable. Referred to as "Gecko" for short. (Argus XT -> Argex -> Gex -> Gecko)
Thanatos XT - Similar deal as the Gecko, tho no up-tonning.
Annihilator - I don't think I need to use a sentence to describe this big daddy, so let's go and*


And then there's MP3 after that, with even more goodies.

I probably missed something in the MP2 section (sad since I'm supposed to be testing the stuff) but eh

The total number of mechs as of Vengeance was 22. By Mercs it was 44. Mektek is trying to outdo Microsoft and ultimately provide at least 44 new mechs total.



Also, for those who want to return to the "old-school" feel, a project known as IS3025 is in the works (based on the scrapped MPBT3025 engine IIRC). Head to http://www.is3025.com/ , it's worth a look, tho bear in mind it's not finished yet

*Joke mercilessly stolen from Bonus Stage.

[.::Tin Can::.]

That is some good information there. I'll look into it.

Mechwarrior 2... ah yes, I remember playing that when it hit with 3DFX! OOOH! UBER GRAPHICS! Well yeah, now it looks like crap of course, but it was fun! I loved it, and I played it very crudely at my age, but I still loved it. Have, and always will, love the Mad Cat. Mechwarrior 4 was enjoyable, but seemed to lack in some areas, like mission design. There was no stealth, nor any use for guns outside of lasers and missiles, (though some ballistics came in handy if you had slots to fill) and... it ended with a cliffhanger, so, yeah...

[Grey Wolf]

What annoyed me most about MW4 is that I went the altruistic route, with my sister ruling the planet. Then I play the expansion, and my old character's evil.

Well, at least I got to rip him apart in a Daishi....

[mrfun]

I HATED mw4 multiplayer.  The name of the game was nothing more than grab a Daishi, put a bunch of Gauss/PPCs on it, point and shoot.  I tried to find ton limit games, or stock mech games, then you got into some nice fights where skill and playstyle count more than tonange.  The mw4 demo multiplayer ruled all- only 3 chassis, and I had a Cougar that could rock all but the best made MadCat.  Unfortuantely all that went down the dump when everyone rides in 100 ton monsters with enough forepower to slag half an atlas in a single shot.  Manuever, swerve, use terrain, none of it works, and when they only need to hit once all the gaming goodness goes down the tolet.  Perhaps if I joined a clan, coordinated team battles would have been awesome, but i never had the patience to find one.

I miss netmech, even with it's lag.

[Zarax]

MW3 Ruled, and about the source... Making a try won't hurt...