MechWarrior 3

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Review: Mechwarrior 3

What Mechwarrior 3 does right, it does better than any other mecha game that has come before--simulating the feel of piloting a giant, hulking, impractical weapon of war.

From the thudding bass sounds and swaying of the mech cockpit as it walks to the way it rocks back when hit by enemy fire, it just feels right. Your mechs can stand up after being knocked over. The camera jerks back and forth as the mech climbs to its mechanical feet and it attempts to balance itself again. It's all very convincing. (The only unrealistic modeling is the lack of collision damage.)

While the graphics may not be as distinctive as in the latest 3D shooters-the textures are a bit bland and the landscape rather barren-they lend themselves well to that on-target feel. Fire some long-range missiles at a mech and watch smoke trail from them missiles as they track their target. Then watch debris fly off in a shower of colorful fire and smoke when they hit. Lasers cut crimson swathes and autocannons chew up opponents as the shells visibly impact (and make your own mech recoil when fired). Watch the nimble Shadow Cat mech dance past heavier mechs or delight in the articulated motion of a Mad Cat as it is toppled by fire and then lurches to its feet again. Much of the landscape and buildings are deformable, and it's great fun to tromp over a telephone pole and flatten it or see your weapons leave pockmarks in the ground.

You play as part of an Inner Sphere strike force attacking the Smoke Jaguar Clan on their planet. The game is relatively short at 20 missions. A second campaign, even a shorter one, would have been welcome. Veteran MechWarrior fans will blow through the missions in a few days, I suspect, leaving them with only the instant action mode and multiplayer options to extend the gameplay.

And multiplayer is a mixed bag. The gameplay is smooth and it's certainly satisfying to lock horns with other players. However, Microprose recommends no more than six in an Internet game, and by current gaming standards that's disappointingly small. I would have hoped for games of up to 16 players. In addition, Mechwarrior 3 supports only deathmatch and team deathmatch, with no capture the flag or other interesting variants.

My biggest complaint is about the AI. Again we get a game with scripted missions where the AI remains dormant until you trigger it. Many of the missions are poorly designed, allowing patient players to hang off in the distance and pick off AI-controlled mechs that patrol back and forth as they wait to be triggered into action. They never react to being hit if you stay far enough away, and it's simply a matter of patiently tagging them with beam weapons or missiles to bring them down.

Still, Mechwarrior 3 is undeniably a lot of fun to play. I can't imagine any action or mecha fan not enjoying this one.

And who knows? What starts out as a weekend fling may blossom into a love affair.-- Mark Asher / GamePro