Graphics

Googly eyes

MW4 has an AutoConfigure program which selects a nice eye-candy/performance balance for your system. You can also venture into the 'Advanced' menu and pick from dozens of graphical options - effects level, LOD level, lighting effects, shadows, water, texture details - all varying between low, medium, high and sometimes ultra-high. You set up before you play the game, so if you want to make any major changes you have to exit the game and launch the program. There is one small quirk, the program forgets your previous setup and resets your settings to the default every time you launch it.

I've been playing some good looking games lately such as the Team Arena demo, a Tribes 2 beta, and Sacrifice. I can say that Mechwarrior 4 is able to hold its own. On one hand, it really doesn't have much to show off. After all, you're running around in big, blocky contraptions. How do you put detail on that?

Look like we're back in Kansas, Toto

Aunty Em!

For one, you can texture it very nicely. Paint looks chipped off, there are marks of wear and a real 'painted' appearance on all the textures available for your 'Mechs. Some are downright gaudy, others are perfect for some environments. The textures also change as the body part takes damage. They get darker and scragglier from laser and rocket blasts, before going totally black as the part gets destroyed.

You can also make those 'Mechs look good with some sweet animations. Quite honestly, I don't think I've seen any game that features animations with as much detail as a BattleMech from Mechwarrior 4. The motions are so smooth, so natural and fluid that you'd think they're motion-captured from real machines. Of course, it's easier to animate a moving machine than a moving human being or other organic creature, but even with that in mind we can't help but be impressed by the effort put into the game.

A 'Mech tilts as it turns at high speed, and it rotates its torso very cumbersomely, having to deal with immense momentum. Similarly, a blast from an LRM 20 will jolt its torso around. Blow one of its legs, and he'll be limping and dragging it around. Blow an arm, and he'll have a useless stump with wires hanging from it.

Worse than any tornado

Bring on the wicked witch

Combat! Terrain!

Weapon effects are nicely done. Smoke trails from missiles, the blinding barrel flashes and the way the projectiles weave about as they turn to face the target... it's jawdropping. Autocannons and LB-X autocannons are much more impressive than the piddly fireballs of MW3 though the damage doesn't seem to correlate to how cool the weapon effect looks.

More impressive are PPCs and Gauss guns. Both are rail-gun like blasts, but unlike the railgun, they are not hitscan weapons. This means that the bolt travels as the graphic moves along, instead of being an instant-hit weapon. On the other hand, lasers seem... weak. Pulse lasers, especially, lack the impressiveness of the triple-strike of MW2 or the long blast of MW3. Of course, the Mechwarrior 4 rendition is more true to the rules. Unfortunately, even when a laser hits, it doesn't look as good as in MW3 - there's no bright little flashpoint where light and metal collide. Small gripes, overall.

In the valley of shadow(!!) and doubt	Strut yer stuff
That's how things go boom	Look at all those charred remains