Here my feedback:
The core gameplay is pratically identical to MechWarrior 2 and 4 (I played also a demo of MechWarrior 3 but don't remember very well the feeling I got when piloting a Mech). You pilot the BattleMech like in MechWarrior 2/4. You have 3 axis (X & Y for the torso and Z for the legs) + the throttle.
Like MechWarrior 2/4, you can group weapons, change fire mode, have Jumpjet, can overheating, etc...
You began the game with 20 000 Credits (enought money to buy a Light Mech or any vehicles (tank, aerospace and VTOL). The more you destroy enemy Mech/Vehicles, the more money you earn and you increase your Military Rank, and the more you can pilot heavy stuff like Atlas, Mad Cat Mk II, Awesome, etc....
However, in MWLL, we can't customize our Mech (weaponry, armor, weight) or at least for this Beta.
Concerning Missiles, we have 3 kinds:
- the SRM (Short Range Missile, 350 m), which fire straight toward. You don't need to locked a target
- the LRM (Long Range Missile, 1200 m), which fire on arc. You really need to lock a target from your Mech/Battle armor/Vehicle or have some TAG/NARC beacon confirmation to fire them
- the Arrow IV (3000 m), like the LRM, it need lock confirmation and do much much more damage (Nuke explosion when hit a valid target)
Like previous Mechwarrior, you have all kind of features:
- Active/Passive Radar (1250 m vs 300 m radar range). When using Passive radar mode, you are invisible on radar upper than 300 m and since map are pretty large, you can flank your enemy easily.
- Coolant system to suppress your vehicle overheating from your weapons/enemy hits
- IR vision
- Light
- detailled Targeting system (distance, armor status, vehicle type, etc...)
- Repair mode in Hangar Bay
- Automatic Shutdown due to Overheating
- and so on...
And after 15 hours of playing MWLL, I'm still loving it despite some crash & some bugs. Personnaly, it's the best MechWarrior I played for age.
Here some videos I made:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfy4o9WR4eghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdSz0z4-jFQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDtrRFTdZvAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qGpGaAZamA