Mech Warrior 3

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

In my mind, the best MW game is still far and away MW2: Mercenaries. MW4: Mercenaries was good, but it just wasn't the same. Not even close.

[Chris OFarrell]

MechWarrior 2 is my favorite gaming experience though MW4 is the only one I've really been able to have a good time with in multiplayer.

The first time I slapped quad AC/20s on a Daishi was fucking hilarious.

"We are Clan Wolf. Children of Kerensky. We carry the honor of his name on our shoulders as our fathers did before us. The Rememberence speaks to us of the evil of Man's will; of the reasons for Exodust; and the rites of the Traveller. Arcadia is our destiny and our right. Enlightenment is our gift.

By the Bloodnames of the Founders we must return. Return and protect that which is unique among the stars. Terra awaits us, as it was written. We are the last of the Warders. The sole hope for the Earth."

Hehe. I just finished playing through MW2 as the Wolves. Damn it really FEELS like your fighting through the refusal war. And I love the ending cutscene for the wolves with the Timber Wolf slowly walking across Luna...

"
This verse has ended.

Our destiny is now sealed to a once unthinkable fate.

We have found new allies in an Ancient Foe....and enemies in our siblings.

The honor of the Warden way, like a pyre in the blackness of space has guided us to our home on Terra.

Kerensky told us of this Eden with a promise of deliverence.

We will defend it to the last! Let the next verse begin!

"
*dropships streak overhead towards Earth*

MW2 got me into Battletech. When I first played it I really didn't understand that much about the universe so I went and found out everything I could on Battletech.

Then I played Mercs. I assued it was just an Inner Sphere game and had a lot of fun with the gritty atmosphere.

Then of course I take a contract that sends me to extract a few IS mechs from some pirate band. Just after pulse laser technology and arrow 4 missiels are available to buy

I should have taken note of the date me thinks, but instead I arrive on planet and quite quickly see five enemy contacts closing on my position. Swtiching to my targeting system, I note the first one reads as 'UNKNOWN' and looks suspeciously like a Jenner II C. My stomach just sinks as I flick around and note a Firemoth, KitFox and Timber Wolf all closing in....

I manage to blow them away with a little luck.

Then the very NEXT contract I blow away some pirates, then suddenly two unknown dropships appear and one of them calls:

"Inner Sphere barbarian; call your name, family, and unit designation!"

Then it starts to rain Omnimechs, so I level my guns and start blasting.

None of the other Mech games EVER gave me a 'Ohhhhh SHIT' moment like THAT.

[Silver Paladin]

None of the other Mech games EVER gave me a 'Ohhhhh SHIT' moment like THAT.

The moment that will stick with me the most out of any Mech game is MW4: Mercs. It's the beach fight mission where you challange the Clan to a Trial of Possession over the planet so you bring your 8 mechs to slug it out with their 10 mechs. Fast, Furious and even though I brought 8 Assault mechs to the fray (4 Atlas, 4 Daishis IIRC), I ended up getting 1 Atlas and 1 Daishi completely destroyed and most of the others were heavily damaged. The fight was probably no more than 5 minutes, but every second had a minute's worth of decisions packed into it as you're trying your best to dodge return fire from 2 stars worth of mechs.

The kicker was after you win the fight, you claim the Clan Star Commander as a bondswoman and it was awesome!

[Chris OFarrell]

None of the other Mech games EVER gave me a 'Ohhhhh SHIT' moment like THAT.

The moment that will stick with me the most out of any Mech game is MW4: Mercs. It's the beach fight mission where you challange the Clan to a Trial of Possession over the planet so you bring your 8 mechs to slug it out with their 10 mechs. Fast, Furious and even though I brought 8 Assault mechs to the fray (4 Atlas, 4 Daishis IIRC), I ended up getting 1 Atlas and 1 Daishi completely destroyed and most of the others were heavily damaged. The fight was probably no more than 5 minutes, but every second had a minute's worth of decisions packed into it as you're trying your best to dodge return fire from 2 stars worth of mechs.

The kicker was after you win the fight, you claim the Clan Star Commander as a bondswoman and it was awesome!

Meh it wasn't a bad fight at all, but it wasn't really anything of an 'oh SHIT' moment for me at all.

Still, I went back later after I reinstalled Mechs a few times and used a trainer to buy 7 longbows. Then I used said trainer to include more LRM racks then they could possibly hold in real Mechs.

It was fucking funny. Our eight mechs crested the hills, then the Clan mechs came up from their staging area....and about a billion LRM's roared over my head and started VAPORISING mechs left right and centre...

[Prozac the Robert]

Then the very NEXT contract I blow away some pirates, then suddenly two unknown dropships appear and one of them calls:

"Inner Sphere barbarian; call your name, family, and unit designation!"

Then it starts to rain Omnimechs, so I level my guns and start blasting.

None of the other Mech games EVER gave me a 'Ohhhhh SHIT' moment like THAT.

Ah, that mission. I've tried it quite a few times, but I don't think it's possible to escape. I absolutely hated the next one witht the hover tank. It's right up there with rescuing the POWs in a Striker that was 10 tons under weight and always exploded unless I jetisonned the ammo near the start, and the mission where you are fighting three mechs at once inside that pocket of ice inside the flying chunk of ice.

Mech3 is cool. I have more good memories of 2 and mercs, but 3 is still good, if sometimes a little easy.

[PainRack]

Ah, that mission. I've tried it quite a few times, but I don't think it's possible to escape. I absolutely hated the next one witht the hover tank. It's right up there with rescuing the POWs in a Striker that was 10 tons under weight and always exploded unless I jetisonned the ammo near the start, and the mission where you are fighting three mechs at once inside that pocket of ice inside the flying chunk of ice.

Mech3 is cool. I have more good memories of 2 and mercs, but 3 is still good, if sometimes a little easy.

You can defeat all the Clan Mechs(if you use the old Cicada trick again) but ultimately, you still get captured as a bondsman. The ending is different, that's all. Instead of the Clans saying you are their prisoner and that, they say you are worthy to be their bondsman.


As for Mech3, despite the impressive graphics and gameplay, as well as cool quotes, the AI just sucked too badly for it to be replayable. Hmmm........ I never actually completed the game though, so, I shouldn't be talking.

MW4 was ultimately the best in terms of AI, but I agree with Chris though. MW2 and mercs had to be the best in the series. I loved actually losing certain battles, so as to get alt endings that are more...... interesting.

[Chris OFarrell]

I also just played Mercs though a few days back before starting on Mech 2

The Clan invasion mission made me grin wildly, this time because even on difficult....

Well lets just say I had 3 Atlas's in my Lance, myself with five pulse lasers (3 medium and 2 large), two AMS's with three tons of ammo each...
And as many heat sinks as I could sink into the damn thing.

And both the Atlas's who were with me each had twin Arrow-4 launchers with plenty of ammo.

It was funny telling my lancemates to fire upon a stormcrow and Nova, then watch the missiles streak downrange to blow their legs off and send them crashing to the floor half burned to death.

Inferior freebirth indeed

By constently turning image enhancement on and off I can prevent the level from ending when I kill 3 of the Omni's, meaning I can kill all six of them and THEN let the mission end.

Not that it lets you live of course, your still captured.

Still, it was fun. The Clan commander (some Star Colonel, the mission was supposed to be a nod to when Phellen Kell was captured by Vlad) says that although they overcame you, they were impressed by the fight you put up and that perhaps they had underestimated the mechwarriors in the Inner Sphere. That now you are a part of Clan Wolf and will share in their glory when they reach Terra and claim their rightful place as ilClan yada yada.

Not on my watch Truebirth.

If you fail to knock out 3 Omni's however, he says Pirates and Mercenaries are no match for warriors and as you have put a price on the most NOBEL of pursuits, he will kill you for it.

Seriously. Even though MW4 had full video and everything and even more cutscenes and in game audio....MW2's scrolling news reports, mission breifings and after action reports brought me INTO the Battletech universe.

Not to mention the music in MW2, GBL and Mercs is simply head and shoulders above the rest of the series. 4 had some good tracks, action pack I really like, but nothing like the Mech 2 saga where they had perfect music for every enviroment. From the spooky music with the 'unknown' clan mechs closing in on you at twilight. To the heavy rock music of trying to seak out a Draconis strike lance in the middle of a massive sandstorm where you can't see fifty meters to the frantic 'hold the line' music as you stand in the Kado-guchi Valley, with a DC commander shouting 'Here they come! Stand ready Mechwarriors!' as Assault Omnimechs stride into weapons range....

[Vympel]

MW2 & MWM were the pinnacle of the MW games. Unfortunately, they didn't age too well- the nostalgia doesn't maintain it for me unfortunately.

[Prozac the Robert]

Not to mention the music in MW2, GBL and Mercs is simply head and shoulders above the rest of the series. 4 had some good tracks, action pack I really like, but nothing like the Mech 2 saga where they had perfect music for every enviroment. From the spooky music with the 'unknown' clan mechs closing in on you at twilight. To the heavy rock music of trying to seak out a Draconis strike lance in the middle of a massive sandstorm where you can't see fifty meters to the frantic 'hold the line' music as you stand in the Kado-guchi Valley, with a DC commander shouting 'Here they come! Stand ready Mechwarriors!' as Assault Omnimechs stride into weapons range....

Hell yeh, the mechwarrior 2 music is amazing. Its actually on the CD as audio tracks, and I've been known to just listen to the cd from time to time.

[taz]

My personal favourite moment in MW2:Mercs was on Gravenhague (the desert planet) when you are clearing out the Dread Legion Mechs from some wreck or other. I'm running towards it, ready to unleash the fury, when I get a radio message offering double pay to switch sides. Needless to say, I took it.

[Prozac the Robert]

My personal favourite moment in MW2:Mercs was on Gravenhague (the desert planet) when you are clearing out the Dread Legion Mechs from some wreck or other. I'm running towards it, ready to unleash the fury, when I get a radio message offering double pay to switch sides. Needless to say, I took it.

Hah, I didn't take it. For my troubles I got my legs mangled and had to walk about 1.5km back to the dropship at practically zero speed.

And then despite my principles, I still ended up stealing that 100ton clan omnimech for myself later in the game.

[Hotfoot]

My personal favourite moment in MW2:Mercs was on Gravenhague (the desert planet) when you are clearing out the Dread Legion Mechs from some wreck or other. I'm running towards it, ready to unleash the fury, when I get a radio message offering double pay to switch sides. Needless to say, I took it.

Hah, I didn't take it. For my troubles I got my legs mangled and had to walk about 1.5km back to the dropship at practically zero speed.

And then despite my principles, I still ended up stealing that 100ton clan omnimech for myself later in the game.

That's because the Kodiak is fucking AWESOME.

[Prozac the Robert]

You can defeat all the Clan Mechs(if you use the old Cicada trick again) but ultimately, you still get captured as a bondsman. The ending is different, that's all. Instead of the Clans saying you are their prisoner and that, they say you are worthy to be their bondsman.

I was meaning to ask: what Cicada trick?