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Mech Warrior 4: Vengeance
by Jolex Del Pilar
Tuesday, December 5 2000
Microsoft Games releases the highly hyped continuation to the Mech Warrior series with Vengeance. With an excellent multiplayer aspect, Mech Warrior 4 may have made the necessary jump to the next level.
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Title:
Mech Warrior 4: Vengeance
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Platform:
PC Windows, Pentium II 700, 128MB Ram, 1.4 GB of HD space, 32 MB video card.,
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Publisher:
Microsoft Game Studios |
Developer:
Microsoft Game Studios |
#
of Players: 1 - 12 |
Genre:
Action
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Origin:
United States
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Expected
Release:
November 2000 |
Grapevine:
Microsoft, always a master of PR, began the "publicity blitz" for Mech Warrior 4 by holding a nationwide beta test. |
FASA's Mech Warrior universe has stirred the imaginations of PC gamers for the past decade, gaining widespread adoration in Mech Warrior 2, and teasing 3D accelerators everywhere with the subsequent sequel, Mech Warrior 3. The Mech Warrior series has had a turbulent past however, when you look at its publishing history. Mech Warrior 2 was done by the excellent folks at Activision. However, after losing the FASA license to the Mech Warrior Universe, Microprose picked it up and released Mech Warrior 3. Microprose, now Hasbro Interactive, was not able to pick up the license for another title. Hence, good old Microsoft picks up the reigns for part 4.
Microsoft, always a master of PR, began the "publicity blitz" for Mech Warrior 4 by holding a nationwide beta test. The beta was only a multiplayer demo, but awed gamers with its impressive graphics engine and intriguing "squad based" gameplay. The beta test was moderately successful and more importantly showed that Microsoft could make a Mech Warrior game, maybe better than Activision and Microprose before them.
We did a preview of the game when the beta was released and we thought highly of the games graphics and multiplayer potential. However, annoying random log offs, and a few graphical glitches had us worried. It was, admittedly, a beta test though, so not too much to fret about. Also, we had no idea what Microsoft had planned for the single player portion of the game, an aspect of gaming still very much alive in today's gaming society.
The CD installs at a hefty 1 gigabyte of disc space for the full installation and about half of that for the partial install option. Disappointing is the game's lack of "spawning" capability. Spawning basically means, being able to install multiplayer files on different computers to allow multiplayer play between friends without purchasing multiple copies of a game. It seems to be a trend with Microsoft software to not allow spawning, and Mech Warrior 4 loses a few points for not including that capability here. The near 100 page manual the game comes with explains the gameplay details rather nicely. Overall, the package is pretty adequate.
So what's new since Mech Warrior 3 ? How about 7 new mechs, and 21 mechs overall ? There are 26 new missions to put your mechs to the test, along with a custom mission mode where you can set the parameters. The game plays fairly well with controls mapped to the keyboard and shooting and aiming handled by the mouse, a widely accepted control scheme for 1st person action games. Which brings me to Mech Warrior 4's camera. There are 4 views to deal with including the 1st person, 3rd person, and arcade external mode. The views that are here are certainly adequate, but the ability to customize your view would've been best.
The games 26 missions are a mix and match of Search and Destroy, Search and Recon, pure recon, escort etc. Your missions begin with only 1 or 2 lance mates, but that'll eventually grow to 4 as you progress through the game. Each lance mate will have different skills and abilities and will give you subtle hints as to which is there forte. Some will be better with lighter mechs, some with heavy weapons. I've found personally that pilots who are good in close quarters combat will be most beneficial since most combat engagements in this game eventually lead to, short distance, heated, knife fights. During missions, you'll destroy mechs, but sometimes you'll damage them enough to put them out of commission, but leave them still salvageable. In these cases, after the mission you'll receive a list of what mechs you salvaged and can use in proceeding missions. Repair bays are located in some stages if your mech ever gets into too much trouble. One problem I have with the gameplay is the A.I on both sides of the ball. On your side, your lance mates will often not follow you to certain points and run off to do battle with distant mechs, throwing out a "stealthy approach" a lot of the time. The enemy A.I shows some real lapses in intelligence as they will allow you to lure them out of a pack of their buddies so you can viciously destroy them one by one. Lapses like these are annoying and take away from what otherwise is a great action gaming experience.
Visually, the game is a looker. Hardware T&L is utilized to the max in this game and it shows for you lucky Nvidia GeForce card owners. Stages have many weather effects to complement the sharp (although repetitive) texturing, and dynamic lighting. Snow, fog, and rain will grace your screen as you battle through the stages in Mech Warrior 4. The sound in the game is pretty "kick butt" too. The lasers and gun effects all have a nice bass addition to them for extra bump. The music, while better than Mech Warrior 3, is not nearly as dramatic or inspiring as Mech Warrior 2.
Mech Warrior 4 the second best game of the series behind Mech Warrior 2. While Mech Warrior 3 was basically an action shooter dressed in mech clothing, this new addition to the series has many simulation elements from part 2 (better heat simulation, more accurate gun modeling). No more blazing away at will, and your mechs size definitely affects its abilities. The smaller the faster, the bigger the slower. Bigger mechs carry more weapons and can take a bigger beating, while one well placed Auto-Cannon shot can disable smaller mechs. With 26 missions, the game will keep you occupied for a long time. Hopefully mods and expansion packs will roll out soon, because this is a great game, worthy of its respected heritage.
--- Jolex Del Pilar, VGLN Warlord
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