What's the word...on Mechwarrior 4?

Bloodshot Joe here. The Quarter to Three boys let me out now and then to do some recon and check up on the new games to see how they're being received by the ultimate critics, the players. One of the big games this season is Mechwarrior 4 from Microsoft and FASAi. Finally, the FASA team gets to do their own Battletech game. Were they smooth operators or was there too much heat buildup during development, causing them to eject a bit early? Usenet's always a good place to start to gauge reactions. Let's see.

Predictably, gamehawk and EB booster John Yuen was one of the first to raise the cry of giant robot sightings back on the 22nd, just in time for Thanksgiving.

EB just delivered MW4 this morning. I wasn't expecting it until after the weekend. What a nice surprise for the long weekend.

John may have been feeling festive with his message, but Maddog smelled turkey. Maddog promptly lived up to his nom de canine and bit into Mech 4 and found that it wasn't exactly his favorite slipper to chew on.

Arghhhhhh!!!!! I'm no Microsoft basher - they've done a lot of good stuff - my initial impressions however are that MW4 is a step backwards from MW3.

1. The HUD views provide more information but look cartoonish not like one would expect a high-tech HUD to look.
2. Mouse control like in MW3 was one hell of a control and targeting system when combined with sticky throttle and keyboard torso twist and mech direction. Either that is not available in MW4 or I haven't found it yet.
3. Mission Play seems really easy and I am decidedly no Mechwarrior. I get my ass kicked by both the AI and human players in MW3.
4. Terrain graphics are only marginally better and Mech graphics well, IMHO, they're just not right. I'd like to be more specific but can't - there is just something wrong with the way the Mechs look.
5. Even on my P3-800 at 800X600 the frame rate occasionally... stalls. Not often but often enough to be slightly annoying.

AND THE BASTARDS FORCE YOU TO INSTALL DX8!!!!

Ouch. I always tremble at the prospect of a new DirectX. Sometimes it seems like it's DirectXXX Poison. Hey, at least it didn't force him to install Windows ME though!

Craig J. Lipinski was another disgruntled mech pilot. In a thread entitled, "Mechwarrior 4: Is this a joke?" he had this to say:

Hmmm... Just got MW4 home, and I must say that I'm quite displeased so far... - It seems like the UI is not even finished. When you cycle weapon groups, there is absolutely NO visual or audio indicator that points you to which group you have selected. The Docs are a joke and are no help at all. How the heck are you supposed to know what weapon group you have selected? - I can't seem to change my weapon groupings... I guess I need to go into the Mech lab for that? - I can fire away and there seems to be no heat build up. Yes, I have the option turned on. - The default keyboard mapping is a total joke. There are several keys (like many on the numeric keypad) that are mapped to 2 different commands!

Craig didn't seem to be laughing much. Mad Cat wasn't laughing either in his reply to Craig.

And how about the now useless Chain Fire mode. Instead of cycling between the weapons within a group, it apparently cycles between each weapon on the entire 'Mech, but it cycles in the order in which the weapons appear on the weapon list. And as far as I can tell, though you can group weapons as you like in the 'Mech Lab, in the actual cockpit, the short range weapons are by default listed first, then missiles, then heavy weapons. So Chain Fire is effectively worthless.

Sinjin wasn't in a joking mood. He was too busy making lists and checking them twice as he replied to the thread.

Just add this to the RFC list. It's growing fast

At this point Maddog, perhaps drawn by the presence of Mad Cat, jumped in.

RFC??? What is RFC?

Indeed. Really fudged cockpit? Royally fried controls? Ralph F. Cramden? I understand the distress that caused Maddog to pound in those question marks in frustration. Knowing the acronyms is like knowing the secret handshake. No one wants to be left out. Thank goodness Sinjin explained.

R-ushed F-or C-hristmas just like ever year between Thanksgiving and Christmas - all the shit hits the shelves. 90% of these games need to be kept in the incubator for another 3 months.

Ah, it's the old Santa clause being invoked again. In the opinion of many a gamer, every game that ships between November and January should come with a lump of coal in the box.

So far, it doesn't seem good. However, the man who has charm built into his name, scharmers, was playing Mechwarrior 4 and jumped into the thread to do a complete torso twist and reverse the prevailing opinion.

I like the game, and how it changed from MW3.

* Mech building: mech-building has been simplified. In many ways, this is bad. I liked doing CASE placement, etc., like in the earlier MWs. However, there is one *HUGE* improvement: mechs now have "personality", like they are supposed to -- you just can't load any weapon you want wherever you want. OMNImechs gave you the LIMITED ability to do this in the PnP game; IS mechs didn't. This limitation corrected a huge balance issue with the earlier MWs (people loading up with like 4 LRM- 20s, etc.)

* Speaking of LRMs -- more difficulty in lock. LRMs were the ultimate weapon in the earlier MWs, even if you had AMS. Now, LRMs lock-on is far less "sloppy". Wow, the Catapult is no longer my favorite MW mech any more. Don't tell me I have to AIM now.

* Legging -- good design issue. No more, "Mech fawldown, go BOOM!" which was terribly prevalent in MW3. Now if BOTH legs are wasted, then the mech should "faw down".

* Jump Jets -- earlier MW JJs made Mechs into hovercraft -- no, it made them into AEROMECHS. A 65-ton Catapult should not act like an Aeromech. The new Jump Jet physics feel right on the money. Try getting a good running start before jumping.

* The joystick issue sincerely sucks. It only works with whatever joystick occupies ID#1. In my example, I have both a Saitek X36 rig (USB) and and MSFF (gameport)rig. The MSFF is stick #1. I hate twist- grip sticks with mech games. Both sticks show up in MW4, but only the MSFF works. In order to use the Saitek, I have to UNPLUG the MSFF and REMOVE it from the joystick control applet. This is Bad.

* Chainfire and grouping is...different. But to tell you the truth, I *prefer* the "new" way of doing things, i.e. different fire buttons fire different groups, rather than manually using a "switch groups" command. I have plenty of buttons on the Saitek, along with a Game Commander set up.

Now if scharmers likes the game, a flight sim fanatic who tends to hate just about everything, I'm feeling better about things.