Amazon.co.uk Review
Mechwarrior 4 casts you as Ian Drusari, the nephew of a powerful Duke, who returns to his home world from the Clan Wars to find it occupied by a rival noble family: House Steiner.
You must launch a civil war and reclaim your birthright as you command a ragtag army of awesomely armed 40-foot tall, 80-ton, 90-mile per hour BattleMechs across the remote battlefields of your hostile world.
Not a bad tale to tell and Microsoft made sure the telling would play as well as it looks. The graphics are flat out amazing. Lighting effects, smoke trails, smouldering 'Mech armour, laser discharges and missiles all look incredible. You can fight in deserts, arctic regions and forests and even on the moon: all look sci-fi-movie-perfect. Mechs have more animation than ever before as well. They stomp across the battlefield and reel from weapons fire convincingly, and when the cannon fire finally punches through their armour, they light up like Christmas trees. Thermonuclear Christmas trees, that is.
The 'Mechs are faster than in previous games yet you still feel like you're piloting a lumbering, walking tank--this is a 'Mech combat simulator, not Quake III in power armour. The controls have been simplified, but this is a good thing. It used to take a long time to learn how to pilot 100 tons of armoured death, but now the controls are much more intuitive. No longer will players have to cycle through weapons lists; now, each weapons group is controlled by it's own button on the joystick. We recommend one of Microsoft's Sidewinder joysticks to really get you into the swing of things as the game's controls were written with that 'stick in mind.
The enemy 'Mechs in the single player game play well. Both your allies and the enemy use their 'Mech's capabilities wisely and provide a challenge throughout the game's long and entertaining campaign. Multiplayer is offered via Microsoft's easy-to-use Gaming Zone and there is also an Instant Action mode that will keep you playing long after the campaign is over. Mechwarrior is back, and looming large over the gaming scene. --Bob Andrews
Product Description
Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance takes place in the BattleTech universe of the future where giant robots slug it out on far-away battlefields. The creators of BattleTech and the original MechWarrior game gave return to give
Mechwarrior 4 an all-new storyline and six new BattleMechs. You can customise any of the 21 available Mechs, though some features (such as the Mad Cat's missile racks) are standard.
There are 25 single-player missions spanning seven different terrain types: lunar, alpine, arctic, swamp, urban and desert. Before going into battle choose your lancemates based on three variable factors: their personality, their piloting skills and their mech. Full Internet support is included: create missions, host servers and participate in missions co-operatively.
