Battletech First Impressions

BATTLETECH, a turn-based tactics strategy game released this week, was a game I had pre-ordered and have been waiting for with a lot of excitement. The game was developed by the original creator of Battletech/MechWarrior Jordan Weisman. Weisman, still spry in his late 50s, wanted to create a computer game that mimicked the original board game he created in 1980.

My thoughts on Battletech so far as I write this are complicated. Do I enjoy the game? Absolutely. I’m having a blast so far, and it’s definitely worth the money. The reviews are glowing so I’m not the only person feeling this way. Across the board the opinion is that Weisman has delivered a magnum opus, a carefully crafted, and definitive, MechWarrior experience.

However, there are a few glaring issues when it comes to reviewing the game – even a first impressions review such as this. It comes down to the word “accessibility“. BATTLETECH is a very complicated, deep game, and it has a gigantic if not outright cruel, learning curve for those uninitiated to the Battletech universe. The game’s tutorial section, a small 5 minute interlude to the campaign, teaches you only the basic mechanics of how to play the game: move, shoot, jump. It doesn’t teach you anything else. And given the difficulty of the first mission, I could see people getting frustrated and giving up on the game immediately!

Accessibility...See, the game assumes you know, what Moby knows. Moby has been playing MechWarrior games since he was 14 years old. I know when my mech has a “LRM 15, AC 2, SRM 5” exactly what those mean. They represent different weapons to be used in very specific situations (and not used in many others). I, as a long time player, know when and how to use those weapons, and it’s very comforting as I play. Like slipping my hands into an old glove. But the game teaches the new person absolutely nothing about those weapons. In this game, wasting ammo is a big deal and you will not only waste ammo, but overheat your Mech by shooting all your weapons at once. I think many new players will get caught doing that: and they’ll pay for it dearly. The game is TOUGH, I knew what I was doing and I still failed the first mission the first time I did it.

Additionally, the Battletech universe has long-established the Mechs that exist in it. Part of the fun for established players is using, and fighting, Mechs developed way back in the early 1980s and through the 1990s, dozens of popular chassis exist. The problem with this is when Moby encounters a Catapult Mech. I’ll know to bum rush it right away, knock it to the ground, then target its critically-weak cockpit and fry the pilot alive with my lasers or autocannons. If I encounter a Clint, which I did, I will immediately target his left arm because it holds a very dangerous PPC cannon. I will defang it, then destroy the rest of it at will.

But see what happened there? It was my knowledge of those Mech types gained over 20 years with this franchise that allowed me to beat them. If you think this game is going to tell you that Clint has a PPC on his arm or that the Catapult is only good at long ranges and has a weak cockpit, you’d be wrong. As I alluded to earlier, this is a very difficult game and I think it would border on unforgiving for new players. This carries on in the game once you get to the point where you have to outfit your Mechs with equipment and weapons. This is a tough process because the game doesn’t hold your hand. You need to balance the amount of heat sinks with the various weapons but you’re not going to know what heat those weapons generate unless you know the universe of MechWarrior well like I do. You’re not going to know why you need to stack weapons in your chest and shoulders, not your arms. New players won’t know why they need to keep ammunition dispersed in the vitals of their Mech.

Lastly, and unrelated to stuff above, the game seems to have poor performance. My gaming PC runs red hot playing the game only on the medium setting and to be honest, the graphics aren’t that great. I am surprised and disappointed the game so stresses my system for mediocre results whereas other games I’ve played with way better graphics (World of Warships, Resident Evil 7) do not tax my system nearly as much.

So my verdict at first glance? BATTLETECH is a hard-core experience that rewards long time fans with what they want. We have our old Mechs and tech/weapons we grew up with, it’s familiar, just in a new type of game with a new story. However, the game is punishing to newcomers and may dissuade new gamers from the Battletech universe entirely, which would be a tragedy for how good these games are with their original designer still proudly helming the ship 38 years since its creation. I’d give Battletech a “B+” grade on first glance.

-Moby