Overview

Publisher: Microsoft
Official Page: http://www.microsoft.com/games/mechwarrior4/

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For those not in the know

Mechwarrior is a pen and paper RPG developed by FASA, for use with the Battletech universe. Battletech is a futuristic combat simulator where giant robots called BattleMechs (or just 'Mechs for short) reign supreme on the field of battle. 'Mechs range in weight from (typically) 20 tons to 100 tons. They are further divided into 4 classes: Light (20-35 ton), Medium (40-55 ton), Heavy (60-75 ton) and Assault (80-100 ton).

Mauling a desert

Oooh... somebody got a boom-boom

The board game and RPG spawned several computer games. At first, both Battletech and Mechwarrior appeared on the PC, but it was the Mechwarrior series that really caught on. Despite the fact that each and every single Mechwarrior game was developed by a different company, each succeeded in at least being "very good." The original Mechwarrior was developed by Dynamix, the sequel by Activision, the third version by Zipper and this latest rendition by a former team at FASA Interactive which was recently acquired by Microsoft. Read our Mechwarrior 3 review to read more about Mechwarrior's tradition of change.

Once again, you find yourself fighting for a different side in this latest Mechwarrior. You're not a mercenary, a clanner, or a military unit anymore. This time, you're fighting your own private war to liberate your world from its Lyran Commonwealth oppressors. You jump into the system with a small force, land on the moon and begin your preparations to free your people.

Guassed!

Come to papa

How the story is told

The storytelling method in Mechwarrior 4 is more similar to Mechwarrior 3 than any other game. Some very amateurish full-motion video clips show conversations between you, your lancemates, other fellow rebels and sometimes even intercepted enemy communications. Given that the Mechwarrior franchise is one of the most cherished by gamers, and the vast resources of its current publisher (Microsoft), you'd think more effort would be put into the plot and video. The acting and even the image quality of the videos are both atrocious, to put it mildly.

Yet in a very strange way, the very primitiveness of the FMV has its own charm. While this charm in no way makes up for the clear lack of effort put into it, it does help offset the bad feelings over time. Instead of seeing slick, well-dressed actors presented with glorious videos, you see people who don't act well but look like your everyday Joe. There's a strange, semi-realistic feel to this. Like a really good B movie, the FMVs can grow on you.

That's actually a bird	He's not going to last long
How's that for perfect timing?	Roasted to perfection