MechWarrior Online Previews

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Written by BuckGB on October 6th, 2012

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Players will start with trial mechs and as time progresses, start to fill their bank accounts with virtual money and have the option to purchase more mechs and customize them with different types of weaponry. Yes, players will have the option to add all kinds of toys to their mech. From long-range missiles to in-your-face autocannons, there are multiple high-tech ways to absolutely annihilate your enemy.

Unfortunately, MechWarrior Online is a little lacking in ways you can destroy your opponents on the battlefield. As far as I've seen, players are paired into two groups of eight with the mission objective to either destroy all your enemies or destroy their base. This is where a little more love needs to happen for MechWarrior Online. Adding more modes and missions to complete will have to happen if MechWarrior Online wants to shine and attract more players to the MechWarrior universe.

And speaking of mech damage, that is one aspect of the franchise that I've always really enjoyed: the strategy involved in shooting your opponent. Sure, it's fun to shoot people in the face in most FPS games, as that's really your only objective: shoot them dead. For the most part it doesn't matter where you hit them. The only real difference is head shots tend to do more damage resulting in faster or instant kills. In MechWarrior games though, you're just scratching the tip of the iceberg with head shots. Concentrate your fire on an arm to disable it and take away one or more of your opponent's weapons. Target the engine to diminish or completely remove his mobility. Take out a leg and well. timber!

There's just so much more strategy here than in most FPS games out there. You think tea-bagging someone in Halo is insulting? Find some noob in MechWarrior who has all of his weapons on his arms, blow them both off, and then leave him to wander the battlefield unable to do anything but walk around. And if that wasn't enough to worry about, you also have your own heat and ammo levels. Lasers and PPCs don't have ammo, but they do generate heat. Generate too much heat and your mech will shut down to cool off, leaving you sitting defenseless with a giant (fire missiles here) sign over your head. Sure, it's tempting to hit the (fire everything I have at once in a barrage of awesome destruction) button, but you better be damn sure it's going to kill the person in your crosshair, because otherwise.

Going back to that currency thing: C-bills are the game's currency, and they're the bit where the free-to-play aspect is going to help Pirhana actually make money. They're slow to accrue if you're paying nothing, and so buying in will give you access to a wider range of mechs. That's not to say you won't be competitive with the free mechs (you definitely will) but just that some people you know who you are will want that fatter, shinier Atlas. Folks are already buying the (founder's packages) that give access to all this sort of stuff. Is it worth the money? Frankly, I don't know, and I expect it'll change anyway before the beta is up. Conclusions on that front will take some time to be drawn.

Anyway, to date I've stomped my way through several dozens games, and I am well pleased with both the controls and the balance of the game. An intuitive variant of the kinds of controls we had back with the older Mech games and immediately comprehensible. And once the fight is on things are ferocious. Whilst any mech is a tough creature on its own, exposure to a broadside from multiple enemies will put you down like a wind-up toy under a baseball bat. Learning the lay of the land, keeping under cover, and working with fellow pilots all become instinctive behaviours thanks to this tough learning curve. I can see this is going to be a game that a few people are going to master, and that many more are going to revel in as they struggle to best those masters. It's just that kind of gig.

Another level of tactics comes into play with weaponry and overheating. The weapons fitted onto a mech are highly dependent Heavier mechs are equipped with a harder-hitting arsenal. Consequently, it's more difficult to circle strafe in combat and hit opponents that are fleeter of feet. Overheating also prevents you from firing your weapons endlessly to your heart's content. Firing a weapon brings up heat levels in your mech, and constantly alpha striking (firing every weapon in your mech's arsenal at once) is a good way to bring heat levels to a critical level. Overheating causes a mech's safety mechanics to kick in and initiate an automatic shutdown, which is something you probably don't want in the middle of a firefight. Shutdowns can be overridden, but you risk overheating your mech to the point of explosion.

Though MechWarrior Online has made some amazing strides, I'm wondering if Piranha Games' release window for 2012 is a little too ambitious. While Piranha's done an amazing job of capturing the deeply embedded nostalgic "feel" of piloting a mech from the old MechWarriors, there's still plenty of work to be done. Right now, free players have to battle a long grind before being able to actually delve into the deeper and (what I think are) the more fun aspects of gameplay. There's nothing that strokes your ego more than knowing that you've managed to put together a mech that both handles to your liking and holds up well in combat. Since factions and different gameplay modes are still a work in progress, there currently is relatively little content keeping new free players playing and converting them into paying customers.

That all started to change when I got involved in the portion of the game that will pay for all of your hard work: the mech and pilot customization system. Like most of the F2P games out there today, you charge some amount to your credit card in exchange for tokens for the in-game store. Those tokens buy you different mech chassis which offer different configurations of weapons and defensive attachment points to fit to various gaming skill sets. You can still buy new mechs with in-game currency but it will take a lot of playing before you can afford a new mech.

I found my skill set was in firing long range weapons from just inside the range of my missiles and then getting the heck out of the way. There are several types of mechs with different variations. Each variation is built for a specific types of combat. For example the catapult mechs have several variations that are built about engaging enemies at long distance with long range missiles and variations where those missile pods are replaced with powerful projectile and laser based weapons for close range combat.

Combat in MechWarrior Online also contains everything you would expect from a proper entry in the series. Rain down destruction from far away with your LRMs (Long Range Missiles). Burn off your opponent's armor with a shot from four fire-linked medium lasers. Blast off the arm of an opposing mech with a direct hit from your dual Ultra AC/20s (autocannons). Again, Piranha has done an excellent job of capturing the look, feel, and practical functionality of the different weapon types, and you can outfit your mech with your preferred methods of destruction.

Veterans will be happy to learn that many of the more advanced combat options also make an appearance. Want to make a long-range missile strike from a hidden location? No problem. As long as one of the mechs on your team has an enemy target acquired, you can target it as well. Need a little help dissipating some heat? Go jump in a river or a lake. Sick of missile strikes coming out of nowhere? Load up an antimissile system on your next run.

Mercenary Credits are real life currency which you can also use to purchase parts for your mech instead of in-game currency. There isn't really a limit to what you can buy and it's not quite just cosmetic items. While I'm sure Piranha Games is already on it and has some plan in place, Pay to Win does come to mind. Granted there's always the Play to Win method as well, which I can definitely see coming into play as well. For those of you that don't know what I mean by that, it basically just means the more you play, then the more you'll get. After playing several matches duking it out against other mechs you'll get a decent amount of credits for your mech, so it's not impossible to get parts.

Fret not, adding parts to your mech isn't the only thing that'll make you the best on the field! As you continue playing matches you'll earn general experience and mech-specific experience. You'll have access to the Pilot Lab which lets you unlock skills and abilities in the Mech and Pilot skill trees. Currently the feature to earn experience isn't in the beta, but when available down the road you'll be able to further upgrade your mech in tune with your parts. After creating a good balance between your skills, abilities, and parts, you'll be able to take down your enemies quicker and survive longer!

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