MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries Reviews
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries offers a surprisingly accessible action packed experience with an impressive amount of depth. The managing of resources and expenses creates an intricate and rewarding metagame that expertly complements the intensity of the game's battles. Despite some shortcomings in cumbersome menu design and lacking mission variety, MechWarrior 5 is easy to recommend for both series veterans and newcomers.
The combat is intense, frenetic, and never bogged down by the managerial aspects. The story is solid, and the characters are okay, but the BattleTech lore that begins to unfold throughout steals the show. MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries captures the essence so beautifully of what made the MechWarrior: Mercenaries games so great two decades ago. It’s a welcome return for a singleplayer campaign of this storied franchise. MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries skips all the pretenses, and lets you manage the finances and the intricate details of your own mercenary units to stomp around the galaxy at your leisure.
It may not offer the twitchest of gameplay, but getting past some antiquated aspects will yield an enjoyable time.
To summarize: Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries is exactly the game I’ve been waiting almost 15 years for. It ticks all the boxes. It made me feel like a kid again, stomping around in big robots in a sci-fi setting. I couldn’t stop thinking about what ‘Mech builds I was going to try out next, and just couldn’t get enough of the gameplay. I gave Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries the Thumb Culture Gold Award because in my opinion, it’s an absolutely fantastic game. However, it doesn’t quite get the platinum, but only because I know that the BattleTech universe isn’t for everyone (just the absolute coolest people, ha).
Patient gamers waiting for a new installment of MechWarrior will be pleased to find a graphically modern version of a classic franchise, but also a game that struggles to compete with the story, pacing and characters of recent action games that have learned to balance complexity and momentum with a little more panache.
MechWarrior 5 revigorates the franchise not only with its new visuals and procedurally generated maps, but also gives you a glimpse of the hardships faced by mercenaries that are treated not too different from gig workers that rose up in the last couple of years. A fantastic game through and through.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
A thoroughly decent-to-good mech game with some weird design choices and a not-always-good retro feel.
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries delivers a fun, combat-adventure game and a worthy sequel within the franchise. The movement controls, backing action music, and combat mechanics offer a thrilling, Mech-based action game. However, the inconsistent narrative design, demanding PC specifications, and frustrating repair mechanic detract from the game’s potential. In its current state, players may find Titanfall 2 the more appealing mech-centric choice.
While I cannot compare to previous entries in the MechWarrior series, I have to wonder if this is a giant leap forward for the franchise, or more like a lateral move. It has some fun moments, but these are quick-lived and generally get overshadowed by some of the more glaring issues present in MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries. Newcomers to the franchise may have a hard time digesting this as I did, but fans clamoring for more Mech goodness will likely find a lot to enjoy in Piranha Games’ latest outing.
MW5 is an amazing game that puts all its cards into the experience of customizing and controlling its mechs and I think the hand it’s drawn is a full house. With a little more work in polishing graphics and sound however they could easily find themselves with a royal flush.
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries focuses too much of its efforts in pointless filler, such as a milquetoast story and an annoying progression system. Its insane multiplayer is where it shines the brightest, but then again, I feel like this is best experienced on PC, with a mouse and keyboard setup.
It might be overwhelming for newcomers, but stick with it and MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries offers some surprisingly deep and rewarding giant robot combat. The management side might confuse, but stick with it, and you’ll enjoy the ups and down of mercenary life.
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is a welcome addition to the series thanks to its various mission types, online co-op, and a healthy roster of mechs and mech variants.
As we wrap up our review, I still feel there is a lot we can discuss about MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries. The career mode being one, but to do that, we’d almost have to write an entire review just on it as the Career Mode, while slightly the same as the story, does have some minor changes to its “story” as well as what it has to offer.
Enjoyable mech combat hobbled by poor mission design, unnecessary load screens, and a dull story
MechWarrior 5 is certainly a blast from the past, but I wish it was more.
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is a great introduction to the MechWarrior series and is primarily a PvE game. Players can expect to be rocking to an awesome soundtrack as they destroy their enemies on the battlefields.
Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries delivers pulse-pounding mech action. It just lacks the patches to make it truly shine.
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is a shooter with a considerable degree of customization, set in an alluring but static universe, with combat being its central and redeeming feature. The action tends to be generally fun and satisfying, although framed around repetitive missions. The missed opportunities are obvious - such as greater depth to your company's management, or having a tangible impact on the game world.
If you love big booms, this is your game!
Review in Turkish | Read full review