welcome back to my blog. I thought I would start by saying I'm going to be taking a bit of a break away from World of Warships. I have been going a bit overkill with it and thought I should look at some other games other than just this one. I was going to be doing a review on the Kawachi Battleship in the Japanese line but have lost a bit of my momentum with the current research trees in World of Warships. I don't want to feel forced with my reviews to get out content so though it was best to take a little break away from playing it so often in a bid in revitalising my passion for the game.This does not mean I don't like the game and this ship has sailed, I will return to reviews soon after a short break.
On Shore Leave... Be Back Soon
I have started to look at some other Youtube channels as to see what might tickle my fancy. I just wanted something different to play for a while whilst I 'rearm and regroup' as it were. I happen to stumble across the No Guts No Galaxy Channel which specialises solely on Mech Warrior On-line Content (which is unsurprising as they are devs for the game). This title is a long running franchise and I am a completely new player to it. This games goes way back to when I first started playing games on PC, originally having its roots in the 1980's as a tabletop board game.
The 1980's Table Top Version of the Game
The games was originally done by Battletech but has now been taken over by Paranha Games for its current release, Mech Warrior Online. I do confess that I have a deep seated love for big Mechs, having growing up watching Gundam and playing Armoured Core. Why I haven't come across this title is a bit of a mystery to me, however I guess its better late than never. I started my Cadet Period (a kind way of saying noob friendly starter period where you get more cash for your first 25 games) with some pre-built trial Mechs (trial mechs are in game to try before you buy and regularly rotate so you can get a feel for what you want before purchasing your very own machin). The initial trial Mechs span across the four classes of Mech, from speedy lights to heavily armed Assaults. Each jump provides a different style of play whether it be harasser, brawler, long range sniper or just being versatile in your approach.
The Iconic Symbol of Mech Warrior: The TimberWolf
The type of class outlines your play style but this isn't entirely true as what Mech Warrior was famous for was your ability to customise your Mechs to your specific play style. The Class of Mech you choose acts more as a base until you get your grubby hands on it and adjust the load out to what style of play you want to go down. Even lights have the ability to carry big weapons which lends to a less handy capped style of play. After your Cadet period this should give you a good idea of how your play style is going before you go ahead and buy your first Mech. I played across the board between lights, mediums, heavies and assaults and found qualities in all that I liked. Playing with the Raven with 2 long range large lasers I could play the scout harasser having the speed to relocate when I drew too much attention and also with the Zeus getting up close and personal brawling it out with other mechs. I quite like the high mounted weapons of the Raven light but also liked to close the range getting in the action.
Raven 3L Light Scout Mech
The good thing with the Cadet period is that you get a lot of C-Bills (In Game Currency) so by the time of finishing your starter period of 25 games you have enough to buy almost any machine you like. From so internet trawling most players end up with about 8 million C-Bills but I was lucky enough to get just over 10. This meant that the Assault line of mechs were more accessible to me and their was one in particular that I had caught my attention. This was the huge King Crab mech that looks truly terrifying on the battlefield. Not only is this a well designed piece of art its got a huge arsenal of fire power to finesse its charmingly rugged good looks. The draw back to such a large machine is the reduced manoeuvrability where making a mistake means you just have to deal with it. These mech's don't stop easily so sometimes its better to just gun it rather than stop and face the music whilst trying to reverse.
The Meaty King Crab 0000
The good thing about a assault class is its ability to house a butt-ton of weapons of different types and for me not knowing what any of these weapons are/can do this was a perfect platform to experiment with. I choose the King Crab 0000 that has 2 ballistic, 4 energy and 4 missile hard-points as I thought this would give me some room to play with different set ups (and also it was the cheapest of the range as well, which also helps... these mechs aren't cheap). I thought whilst I am learning the game I probably needed the ability to take a few hits if I inevitably get it wrong so it just seemed a good choice.
My King Crab 0000 Build
The main thing about Mech Warrior Online is the option to customise your robot how you please, whether this is visual or physical, the game accommodates to that. For this particular mech there isn't a huge amount of custom skins like other machines such as the Ebon Jaguar Mech (this is probably because its still fairly new but im just guessing) but you are still able to customise your outer primary, secondary, tertiary colours, interior and sounds relating to your build.
Flashy Custom Skins for the Mechs
The real customisation comes with your load out screen and the weapons you choose to load. This is where you balance your speed, armour, weaponry and modules. Each Part of the Mech Structure is segregated into compartments where each has a certain amount slots to mount things within them. As you can see from the image below I have mounted AC 20 in both the left and right arms. Due to the size of the weapon it has occupied all of the available slots for the arms. These weapons also weigh quite a substantial amount so add on to my total weight limit I can carry. I am allowed to equip weapons in any part that has a weapon hard point so I have choose to go with 4 energy weapons in my right torso. I could have gone with missile weapons in my right torso as an option but generally feel I get on better with energy weapons as a whole.
My King Crab 0000 Build Load Out
Having the heaviest mech in the game allowed me to experiment with different load outs to see what was effective. My build is ment for short range brawling with pulse mediums & dual AC 20's. The AC 20 is kind of like a tank shell and hits hardest at close ranges, being the largest of the ballistic class, it has a hell of a punch. The draw back is to get the most of this weapon you have to be almost face to face with the enemy at a optimum range of 275m. The can hit enemies up to ranges of 500m but the damage tapers off from its optimum range to its maximum effective range. This goes for all weapons such as missiles, energy and ballistics. Normally combats starts at ranges of excess of 1000m. My ER Large laser makes sure that my machine at least has the potential to hit back before I close the distance for my closer range weaponry.
The weapon hard points will effect how you engage your enemy too. These mechs are huge and where a weapon is located determined how much of the machine you will have to show to be able to get a shot off. For my Mech I have high mounted lasers so I can peak a mound without having to show the whole of my mech to the enemy thus reducing the chance of being hit. If I wanted to fire my arm mounted cannons I would have to expose the large bulk of my mech above a edge to be able to use them so this dictates my engagement style with each individual machine.
Hell Bringer Mech is a Great Example of High and Low Weapon Mountings
The game play its self lives and dies on the teams ability to play together. This is not a game where you can run into the enemy by your self and kill the whole team like many popular first person shooters have driven towards. All mechs are hard to kill one on one and being able focus fire working as a team to flank and get better firing solutions is a key to success. The matches aren't hugely fast paced so lends to a more thoughtful approach to battlefield awareness and tactics. Employing effective electronic counter measures, anti missle cover, intel on enemy locations and their machines status enables a team to be precise in its split second decision to act. Whether this be getting a well placed shot into a identified weak or damage part of a mech, flanking an enemy attack with your lance (4 person team in your company/total team of 12 players) while they are busying themselves with the rest of your team or provide locks for missiles, team play is crucial to your success as a mech pilot.
Over all this game is very fun to play and I would say its a solid 7-8 out of 10 at the moment. The visuals are nice but not as good as some of the Mech games currently on the market such as Hawken and Titan Fall but I find the gameplay much more enjoyable than these titles. Game play is and should always be the most important aspect of a game other than solely just judged on visual quality. Visuals do help with immersion but the core game is what makes anything fun. The game is improving even as I have started playing with the development team just adding quite a major patch into the game and adding more new mechs to the game. I feel this title has a good amount of room to expand and improve but the core game play is there and that's what I like. The Training area for the game has just been completely overhauled so now makes alot more sense than when I first started playing a week and a bit ago. The learning period for completely new players should be a lot shorter now as a result but I picked a fair amount up from just watching game play the game on You Tube.
One thing of note to mention about this game is the design style for the mechs. The designs of the mechs have a very functional feel about them. The designs aren't flashy or graceful in some instances but most weapons of war are designed with functionality in mind and this is definitely conveyed in their style. Each design looks believable and as if it could be used and really defines the attention to detail in this simulation games. I have just bought a mech on their premium store which looks pretty awesome. It's a classic mech called the Mauruader. It was a orginal design from the board game that has made its way into this game but has had a serious modernisation to its look by their concept artist Alex Iglesias.
The Impending Marauder Mech
I hope I have sparked your imagination or at least some interest in this game as I feel its a really good game on the Free to play market an definitely worth taking a look at. I have pre ordered my copy of Fall out 4 (Coming out in November) so as I've enjoyed writing this review I think I might try doing reviews for different games as I play them as a change to my normal posts. Spice it up a bit as it were.
I hope to catch you back here for my late week post on my Tiger Tank. Till then take care and I'll see you here for the next one.
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