It's the 10 min IGN MW5 gameplay video featuring your
Now, there are a lot of things that I like, but at the same time... you know.
Let's start with some positive/neutral observations:
1) This is basically your Force Awaken. It's the classic Mechwarrior single player experience. Giant stompy robits, kicks a bunch of butt, very cool. A fairly accurate rehash of what made past Mechwarrior single player games great.
2) The visual is amazing. I like the gun barrel recoil. I wish that's something in MWO, but alas.
3) The sound element is proper. It's not distracting with music only appearing at the appropriate cinematic moment.
4) Maybe the pilot is just not very good (so I actually don't know if this is by design), but I like the fact that not all the shots are "precise" or "meta convergence." It's more of a... "let's aim at the general direction and watch things explode" feel. That to me, is something brand new after 3 years of MWO. (Again, maybe that's not intentional simply because the pilot wasn't very good, but hey... you know)
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With that said... here's some of my more... critical points:
1) Let's start with the mission design. The whole point is to blow up that building at the end right? So... really, would that not be easier to simply fly your big @ss ship at 500 mph and do a flyby with your on-board canons? It apparently doesn't take much to destroy, as a few AC5 rounds took it out. So why is this mission design the way it is in the first place? I mean, you only landed like less than a mile away from the objectives anyways...
2) Which leads directly to my second point... if you play MWO, facing off against a solo Catapult/Locust duo with your SHD is not a walk in a park. (retraction, depends on how good you are, I guess) What's the point of all those static defense and mech escort defenders if you are able to do what you do so easily? I mean, are you a Gundam??!?!?
3) The in mission objectives. It's another stickler point for me. The first time of hearing "hey take this out for extra cash" is nice. But in a short span of 3 minutes to hear the exact same dialogue 2 more times? Couldn't it be... "hey again, taking this out will rake in extra cash." You know, something to mix it up to acknowledge that the same thing has been said already. Cause, the repetitive objective dialogues actually is very noticeable.
4) It's nice to be the Force Awaken. But it's not bold or new. You are playing the same game where you are towering over everyone else like a freaking Kaiju. Example.
Even if Manticore tank is a light armor vehicle. There is NO WAY in hell that it's only about your ankle height and that you simply just walk over it. (also, say you drop a boulder on your car right now. Your car will not explode. It will be deformed REALLY badly. But simply walking over something doesn't make it go kaboom) I had problem with this scale issue back in the trailer, and it's pretty much still here.
Now, I get it. You are a "mechwarrior" (whatever the hell that means) and you are able to take down the Empire by yourself like Dak. But at some point, sticking to a rehash of the old formula kind of takes the tension out of the game, as you can't fail as a Gundam pilot. There's nothing dangerous about wrecking 3 outposts with heavy static defenses with tanks that you step over and facing off against 2 mechs with 1 of a heavier chasis.
I mentioned before that it may be neat to undo all of that hero complex and embrace the more gritty nature of how we interpret wars now a days. Things are a little more to scale. You are not as giant as you are. Hazards are... well... hazardous. Your opponents fight as your equal and really build on that tension. But I guess we are not getting that in this game. (I mean, I guess I kind of got that feel in the Alpha testing video, so it's not a huge shocker, but o well)
5) It's not an easy issue to fix, as it's unfair to judge a product for something that's never been done. But, say you are a Manticore driver in the above scenario, on approaching battlemech, would you...
A: try to maneuver a little to make yourself hard to kill
B: just sit there like a turret
With that said, I do recognize that the AI is hard to program, and we not going to get craft AI enemies. So it's more of a minor point in my analysis.
6) Yea, I have to agree with a few of the review video that I've watched. Why did they switch the HUD screen from the pre-Alpha? That was a lot more innovative and far superior than this.
7) That hilarious tree at the end. Cause, crashing into concrete buildings... no problem. Stepping over 20 tons of metal... not an issue. Wood... o the ultimate nemesis.
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All in all... am I still going to buy it? Hell yea. Do I think it's a game that will kill MWO even if there is COOP? Nope. Not by a long shot. You can binge watch the 80s notalgia popcorn flicks for a few days, but ultimately, it's not something you can do everyday. It has no staying power. Even as toxic and horrible MWO is, the "O" aspect at least make the game unique. You are not fighting pushover opponents (unless you are uber tier, then... everyone is a pushover to you) and it's a lot more tensions as a result.
Simply... it's fun once in a while to play a game on uber easy mode. But only games with high difficulties will bring back someone for more. I can see myself playing on launch for 2 weeks straght, then probably rejoin my units for more drops in MWO (or other games, who the hell knows. haven't bought a mechpack since last... July. Is the game dying a little bit inside me???)
Edited by razenWing, 15 January 2018 - 02:02 AM.