I’ve long been a fan of mech games of all shapes and sizes. Fond memories are always reawakened of MechWarrior 2 and 3’s ‘romp and stomp’ action and Mech Commander’s near impossible missions. With Battletech, I had a chance to finally get back to the strategic side of the franchise while still getting right up in the action, even without direct control of a mech. Building a successful mercenary organization turns out to be a tough but fulfilling job.

Abbreviated Review: https://youtu.be/sCL0zVjBSdg


When I first started out with Battletech, I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of lore that as presented up front. I know that the franchise and its tabletop roots have a ridiculous amount of lore available in a library of books, but I don’t really know anything about all of that. It turns out you don’t really need to know much, but in the beginning when you’re setting up your character and there’s videos and walls of text, it’s hard to establish much context without it. Yet if you really drill down on all of the highlighted bits of text and read all of the little tooltips that are presented, you can get a general grasp on what’s going on in the narrative. After you make your way into the core of the gameplay, lore takes a backseat to the rest of the game and story elements are comprised mostly things happening only in the present. There are a handful of past references, but they will become more and more familiar as you play.


Jumping straight into the combat – where I certainly spent most of my time – I have to address right up front that this is not a game for people who aren’t patient and really enjoy slow tactical turn based strategy. In a single fight against a between your lance of mechs and another, you can spend quite a bit of time trying to find perfect placement, movement, angles of attack, choice of weapons, and countless other little nuances in the actions of each character. While I’ve grown fond of this style of gameplay from things like XCOM and various 4X games, there were moments in Battletech where it really began to feel like it was too slow. One particular moment was an escort mission where four vehicles took about five turns to get where they needed to go across the map. Each one moves individually in one turn, then each one of my mechs move individually. That sequence of literal walking and driving felt like it took 20 minutes – though it probably only took like five or six.

Even with all of this, it’s hard to look past just how wonderful it can be to envision a specific strategy making use of multiple mechs abilities and weapons an having it executed perfectly. What may involve drawing out a single turn for several minutes, looking at evasion levels, cover, positioning, weapon hit chance and range, potential targets, looking at damage potential, enemy armor levels, and whatever else, turns into this beautiful tapestry of carnage as all of the weapons tear apart their targets.


I’ve never had a problem with developers borrowing game design elements. Also, you never really know what was “inspired by” and what just coincidently looks like it was. Still, there are a few parts outside of the “turn-based tactics” design that will look familiar to an XCOM player. Namely the whole “time progression” system that determines when mechs are repaired, injured pilots heal, lets you travel between planets, and even has a monthly financial report. It works pretty much exactly the way that it did in XCOM, minus the spinning Earth in the background. However, unlike XCOM, missions (both story and side) do not seem to be time dependent, so the driving factor is mostly whether or not you have enough money to continue rather than issues with waiting too long.

Outside of that, while some other areas may be comparable, a lot of the non-mission gameplay is what you’d expect from a Battletech game. You’re managing your finances, hiring pilots, outfitting mechs with parts that you buy or salvage, and upgrading your transport ship. The familiar screen of loading weapons into designated slot types, adding and subtracting armor in a fine balancing act anticipating where each mech will get hit most, and trying to keep the whole thing from overheating or just randomly exploding if an arm gets shot. Managing this from top to bottom with the money you earn and salvage you find gives you a sense of connection to each mech. Trying out weapon and equipment combinations (or being forced to because you lost everything else) is a strategic endeavor in itself and, of course, plays a role in what mechs you send out and how you end up using them tactically.


When I heard that a Battletech game was coming out, I was hoping that it would include everything that this game ultimately delivers. It’s great to see a developer so clearly understand what a fan of the franchise (even from the more action-oriented side) really wanted in this title. While it may be a little slow for some people, and even me in a few cases, overall it’s just so much fun to play that I lose myself for hours in it. The combination of a great strategic and tactical level with some beautiful detail in the combat keep me coming back for each mission. Then my not-so-secret love of management sims gets pinged every time I get micromanage the inventory buying and selling to get the best possible loadout with what I have available. I’ve been pretty good about limiting what games I buy on release, but Battletech was an exception that was worth the investment – so it’s a recommendation that is easy for me to make. Everyone who’s a fan of mech strategy, XCOM, or just turn based strategies in general should be playing this. I have a feeling that it’s only going to get better.

If you'd like to see more of my reviews, check out my curator page here: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/28346672-Endyo-Gaming/

I’ve long been a fan of mech games of all shapes and sizes. Fond memories are always reawakened of MechWarrior 2 and 3’s ‘romp and stomp’ action and Mech Commander’s near impossible missions. With Battletech, I had a chance to finally get back to the strategic side of the franchise while still getting right up in the action, even without direct control of a mech. Building a successful mercenary organization turns out to be a tough but fulfilling job. Abbreviated Review: https://youtu.be/sCL0zVjBSdg [h1]Lore for the Lore Lovers[/h1] When I first started out with Battletech, I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of lore that as presented up front. I know that the franchise and its tabletop roots have a ridiculous amount of lore available in a library of books, but I don’t really know anything about all of that. It turns out you don’t really need to know much, but in the beginning when you’re setting up your character and there’s videos and walls of text, it’s hard to establish much context without it. Yet if you really drill down on all of the highlighted bits of text and read all of the little tooltips that are presented, you can get a general grasp on what’s going on in the narrative. After you make your way into the core of the gameplay, lore takes a backseat to the rest of the game and story elements are comprised mostly things happening only in the present. There are a handful of past references, but they will become more and more familiar as you play. [h1]Take it slow… because you don’t have a choice[/h1] Jumping straight into the combat – where I certainly spent most of my time – I have to address right up front that this is not a game for people who aren’t patient and really enjoy slow tactical turn based strategy. In a single fight against a between your lance of mechs and another, you can spend quite a bit of time trying to find perfect placement, movement, angles of attack, choice of weapons, and countless other little nuances in the actions of each character. While I’ve grown fond of this style of gameplay from things like XCOM and various 4X games, there were moments in Battletech where it really began to feel like it was too slow. One particular moment was an escort mission where four vehicles took about five turns to get where they needed to go across the map. Each one moves individually in one turn, then each one of my mechs move individually. That sequence of literal walking and driving felt like it took 20 minutes – though it probably only took like five or six. Even with all of this, it’s hard to look past just how wonderful it can be to envision a specific strategy making use of multiple mechs abilities and weapons an having it executed perfectly. What may involve drawing out a single turn for several minutes, looking at evasion levels, cover, positioning, weapon hit chance and range, potential targets, looking at damage potential, enemy armor levels, and whatever else, turns into this beautiful tapestry of carnage as all of the weapons tear apart their targets. [h1]Borrowing a bit more XCOM[/h1] I’ve never had a problem with developers borrowing game design elements. Also, you never really know what was “inspired by” and what just coincidently looks like it was. Still, there are a few parts outside of the “turn-based tactics” design that will look familiar to an XCOM player. Namely the whole “time progression” system that determines when mechs are repaired, injured pilots heal, lets you travel between planets, and even has a monthly financial report. It works pretty much exactly the way that it did in XCOM, minus the spinning Earth in the background. However, unlike XCOM, missions (both story and side) do not seem to be time dependent, so the driving factor is mostly whether or not you have enough money to continue rather than issues with waiting too long. Outside of that, while some other areas may be comparable, a lot of the non-mission gameplay is what you’d expect from a Battletech game. You’re managing your finances, hiring pilots, outfitting mechs with parts that you buy or salvage, and upgrading your transport ship. The familiar screen of loading weapons into designated slot types, adding and subtracting armor in a fine balancing act anticipating where each mech will get hit most, and trying to keep the whole thing from overheating or just randomly exploding if an arm gets shot. Managing this from top to bottom with the money you earn and salvage you find gives you a sense of connection to each mech. Trying out weapon and equipment combinations (or being forced to because you lost everything else) is a strategic endeavor in itself and, of course, plays a role in what mechs you send out and how you end up using them tactically. [h1]Alpha Strike To Victory[/h1] When I heard that a Battletech game was coming out, I was hoping that it would include everything that this game ultimately delivers. It’s great to see a developer so clearly understand what a fan of the franchise (even from the more action-oriented side) really wanted in this title. While it may be a little slow for some people, and even me in a few cases, overall it’s just so much fun to play that I lose myself for hours in it. The combination of a great strategic and tactical level with some beautiful detail in the combat keep me coming back for each mission. Then my not-so-secret love of management sims gets pinged every time I get micromanage the inventory buying and selling to get the best possible loadout with what I have available. I’ve been pretty good about limiting what games I buy on release, but Battletech was an exception that was worth the investment – so it’s a recommendation that is easy for me to make. Everyone who’s a fan of mech strategy, XCOM, or just turn based strategies in general should be playing this. I have a feeling that it’s only going to get better. If you'd like to see more of my reviews, check out my curator page here: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/28346672-Endyo-Gaming/