I wondered where to post this review, for I wished to make a brief summary of what Mechwarrior is in GENERAL. Mechwarrior is said to be a male-fascination series, but as a female I'm not really much into destruction and firing my lasers, but the story behind it all.
For years, since very first BattleTech game FASA company released, we've been introduced to grand world full of political conflicts, plotting, treason, trade, and all in atmosphere of futuristic idea of monarchic societies, which I also share, as a realist (The idea of Democracy's self destruction is obvious for every well educated sociologist, politologist or economist) - People from FASA created awesome fresh universe with ideas, stories from local and space-wide. IF someone was to put it all into books, we'd receive over a HUNDRED of novels that would easily force every other pro Sci-Fi or Fantasy writer to blush in shame and go away. Think Tolkien created a big world? Nope... Mechwarrior's (Battletech) universe is something way beyond expectations of anyone.
But why Mechwarrior isn't that famous? Well, because it is AMBICIOUS world, demanding, not simple, cheesy mass like Star Wars or Star Trek, but a world of moral mid-grounds, greyness, where nor good or evil exists, where powerhouses struggle for political domination and SIMPLE people got to prove their worth with hard work and long service and not some absurdal childish super-powers. It's fresh in world where all pop-culture get's dominated by clichés, stereotypes and badly made reruns of cheep ideas. Mechwarrior stands out with characters who needs to create their own depth by deeds and not flashy clothing, silly over-sized haircuts(check J-RPG's) or ridiculous powers. It helps me to assimilate, to get into this world, cause I know it is a place of normal people and their chance to show what their real role is in a conflict they got involved, by 100% professional piloting of super-sized war-machines.
That's what I like about this game too... Mechanoids ain't same thing as Humanoids - and game creators know that. Those are not some almost femine looking stick figures like those from Japanese games about robots, but true robust steel daemons, that move and react as they should. You can customize their armament, got to keep in mind heath management is a factor too - if you overheat your machine's reactor it can blow up! But most of all, tactics! You don't run in and shoot, you got to play it out reasonably, as you got an ammunition to take care of - don't waste it too fast, cause you can replenish it only before a mission.
I know why it has so few fans - cause it is games for people who really care, for those who like to dig in the universe full of conflicts, stories, and well designed plots - it's a real joyride. In fact reading Mechwarrior novels, rulebooks from old Battletech RPG's and such, kept me really up for long weeks and discovering secrets of some intrigues were better than some of crime-novels I've read recently.
Thank you, FASA... Thank you, because you simply prove with every Mechwarrior game that you care and respect mature and serious players, not only giving them a simple fun of blowing something up, but you care for such little details like the story and background - a tiny part of a game, but you show you really love what you've created.
Thank you and I hope for more... HAIL House Davion ^^ and Loyalists of His Majesty Duke Hanse of New Avalon!