OK, only done the tutorial mission and introduction mission so far, and the game feels great. Comparing how I did in the intro mission (first one with you as part of the mercenary crew) to how one of my favorite streams did in the same mission shows just how important good solid tactics are.
Watching CohhCarnage when he played it for the first time, his mechs took heavy damage which meant large fees to repair and refit his mechs. But then he's new to Battletech (boardgame ruleset which this game uses) while being a fan from the old OLD MechWarrior games on PC. So he rushed in without regard to effective weapon distance, cover, and planning out an effective tactical approach to the battlefield, and a whole lot of other considerations.
Having played both the tabletop version of the game as well as previous strategic title on PC, I came out of the mission taking minimal damage and incurring very minor repair costs. While this is early in the game and the mission was meant to be easy, it's good to see that the tactical aspect of the game is most definitely there.
The enemy AI is generally good, but can fall apart sometimes. IE - it'll focus fire to try to take down a mech like a player would, but sometimes it's choice of mech target prioritization leaves me scratching my head.
Also really loving how much lore they've packed into just simple conversations. They provide highlighted words and phrases in conversation that you can hover your mouse over to get more detail on it (events, places, important characters in the Battletech lore, etc.) which fills out knowledge of the game world. It's a very nice touch to get new people into the fascinating lore in the Battletech universe as well as a nice reminder for experienced players who may have been away from the universe for a long time (like me
).
And best of all. Without a console version, nothing feels overly consolified. Mouse and KB works as you'd expect. Keybindings actually work correctly unlike most console ports. There are, of course, the expected graphics options.
So far, a very good impression of the game.
Regards,
SB