Heavy Gear Review: Backup Mechwarrior

[@divinuminfernum]

there is someone on Reddit i forget their name, who has made a complete all in one package for Heavy Gear and one for Heavy Gear 2, which both contain everything needed to run them both perfectly in windows 10 - look up Heavy Gear Repack windows 10 in google and you should find it

[@salokin3087]

I want to say to you sir, that you are a goddamn legend. They've packed it all up in a google drive so I can finally actually review HG2 properly

[@divinuminfernum]

@@salokin3087 happy to help - i just found it in the past week, i have been wanting to play heavy gear 1 and 2 for ages but never thought it would be possible in windows 10 (i did get HG1 working in PCEM recently at least) but these repacks are brilliant and i played them for a good bit and no crashes or graphical issues beyond a small one in HG1 that is easily worked around

[@mpo48]

@@divinuminfernum please please please telll me where i can find it give me links please i want to play it

[@mpo48]

@@salokin3087 please please please telll me where i can find it give me links please i want to play it

[@mpo48]

please please please telll me where i can find it give me links please i want to play it

[@cyberpunkgamer5866]

That's not texture pop-in. Our landscapes in Canada often fail to load properly, so it's actually just the devs being authentic.

[@Number-bj1yn]

Heavy Gear was a huge part of my childhood. Some people have shit luck but I never had any lag or glitches.

[@FeelingShred]

Interstate 76 (another game that uses the same 3D engine) has glitches along the years, what finally allowed the game to run in modern systems was a recent patch that locks the game's framerate to 24 FPS... this was the secret weapon to making the physics engine working again... (enemy AI becomes challenging again, as they were designed)

[@roguerifter9724]

I love this game, and I wish we would get a Heavy Gear 3. There are some major differences between this and the Mechwarrior setting though. One big one is the Gears. Even the heaviest Gears would be Protomechs in the Battletech/Mecwarrior setting which are substantially lighter and smaller then even a Light Battlemech. While there are heavier units known as Striders these have mobility drawbacks compared to Gears and even they are barely in the Light Mech weight class. Another is the role of Tanks. In Heavy Gear Tanks are much heaver then Gears or Striders and have much more armor and firepower. When I was first playing this I let some enemy personal running to man Tanks reach their destination thinking the Tanks would be no big deal because they usually aren't in Mechwarrior games unless you are getting swarmed, or one of the Heavy or Assault weight class tanks shows up. I did not survive that mistake because my weapons could barely make a dent in one Tank much less the two that I let get online.. In the Tour of Duty mode in this game I had multiple 100+ mission careers. Usually as the South because while I think both sides have major flaws I felt the main campaign was trying to make the South look like the worst of the two, I prefer the Southern gear design style, and my first exposure to Heavy Gear was the cartoon which had a Southern Gear arena pilot as its protagonist.

[@salokin3087]

I kinda regret not diving into the "tour of duty" more

[@wabbit234]

It's funny how many quality games were built on what is one of the jankiest engines ever created. Interstate 76 is another wonderful game shoe horned into this engine. You can practically see and hear the engine creaking and groaning as you play these games, built in an engine barely capable of containing them. I loved late 90s Activision.

[@calvinminer4365]

I seem to recall my Heavy Gear store box and CD case came with an Interstate 76 flier. I never saw it in the store, but I'm pretty sure I got Heavy Gear from the sale rack at Office Depot anyways. It's amazing to think of all the games I bought there- Roller Coaster Tycoon was another.

[@Rainbowhawk1993]

I remember the TV show. Shadow Dragons forever!

[@WindiChilliwack]

Yep!

[@RF_Drift]

When I was 7 or 8ish in the early 2000s my dad dug an old Windows 95 PC out of the garage and said I could have it. This game was on it and the graphical bugs you mention weren't there, probably because the ancient drivers played nice. Just moving it to a Windows XP laptop created strange bugs like the rapidly spinning Gears in the menu. Funny enough, I initially mistook it for another mech game I saw a cousin playing which must've been a Mechwarrior title, because I remember an Atlas mech fairly clearly. The music more than anything was burned into my mind and I still listen to the OST now and again.

[@idunno402]

The mecha genre of video games is a clusterfuck of legal problems between Japan and the US. Great video. I played the sequel. I'm sure it doesn't quite hold up, but it was fun at the time. Shame what happened to the franchise past few years.

[@salokin3087]

I'd love to review HG2, it just runs really badly

[@AlsGaming]

Good video man, I can't remember the last time I played a mech game. They're always so overwhelming with the stuff you need to manage. Anyways, congrats on 10k subs.

[@salokin3087]

Thanks man! Good work on the DX video, tis a great one

[@jacob_swaggerz]

Such memories... could you ever win the skirmish mode?? I remember playing it for weeks and never reaching the highest level/winning territory.

[@angel_of_death2940]

6:27 You can actually change the autopilot key by editing the gamekey file with a text editor.

[@sageofthetoadpath]

man i loved this game growing up. should play through again sometime

[@HYDRAdude]

You didn't seem to pay attention to the game's story. The reason you have such a high authority in customization is because you are the ships duelist, a highly prestigious position with a high degree of unilateral authority. Also, in the Heavy Gear lore most of the game's gears are actually manufactured by a neutral third party called Paxton Arms in the independent city state of Peace River. So in fact the high degree of customization is actually very beneficial to the immersion experience. Furthermore, the game is not really based on clunky chicken walkers of western mecha but small humanoid mecha of anime like Votoms. Even the table top games play completely differently. Also, how did you not spare a single mention for the amazing soundtrack by the great Jeehun Hwang?

[@salokin3087]

Not quite: you're not the ship's duelist till the very late game, youre just a Ranger. On the lore, like I said, I'm a Layman of the series, I dont know the finer points besides the manual and the brief excerpts of the wiki. Otherwise, good feedback

[@DiegoAlanTorres96]

The Gear spinning in the briefing menu always gets me

[@StarlasAiko]

I got into Heavy Gear with the old HO scale tabletop wargame, and the seamlessly attached RPG (unlike Battletech that is completely incompatible with the Mechwarrior RPG). Mechanically, I just prefered HG over BT, and lore-wise, it was a lot more relatable and sensible. Of course, i loved playing the computer game version, despite all it's bugs. Best Gear loadout is a Mamba chassy with sniper rifle and a medium sized misslile launcher.

[@FeelingShred]

7:50 Interstate 76 (same 3D engine) also has that problem... there's a gun called 7.76mm in the game that just kills enemy opponents in less than 3 seconds, it's crazy... it definitely feels like cheating and takes away from the game a bit... but then after some point the enemies are deployed on the map with these guns too, so you're left with no other choice of dealing with them (great replay value because you can try different gun combinations)

[@k-c]

I didn’t know anyone who knew or played this game in India back in the 90’s. The gameplay was actually quite good and the storyline was quite immersive.

[@TheFearsomeRat]

0:40 Heavy Gear is arguably closer to Votoms then Battletech. For reference the Hunter, which is one of the first gears ever made, stands at 4.1 meters tall, the Scopedog is 3.8 meters tall, this is shorter then any actual battlemech including the Flea, and about the same size as some of the larger protomechs if maybe a meter or so shorter. The Votoms influence is also far greater, for example many ATs have wheels on their heels and many gears barring mainly just Amphibious ones have tracks in their feet, even the Scimitar Strider from the North has tracks in it's feet, and if a Heavy Gear video game came out today, I'd wager it'd make players feel like their in Votoms not Battletech. 5:40 Customization has always been present in Heavy Gear, even the Wargame, Heavy Gear: Blitz has customization via making one of your Gears (or Striders if your playing Caprice) into a Duelist giving you more equipment options, etc., ontop of what the base gear has and in the 4th edition of the TTRPG, you have more or less the same amount of customization as you do in the game, ontop of having access to the standardized variants that the common rank and file would have to act as a base for your customizations, but modifying your Gear isn't uncommon, there was even a (to my knowlege short lived) TV series (tbf it'd be competing with Reboot since they aired around the same time and Reboot even to this day is generally loved as a show), and every character in it while they are Arena Pilots are piloting customized versions of the Gears you'd see in game, mostly from the North however I think there were a few South Gears and a single Gear from Peace River, all of which were customized and personalized by their pilots.

[@FeelingShred]

7:08 wow... these kinds of "early 3D" graphics is where the 3D should have stopped to me... look how charming these graphics are, they also leave up for your imagination to fill in the blanks... it's almost as these early 3D games have a Dream element to them, very artistic

[@onearmedbandit84]

Earthsiege review, when?

[@fuzzym30]

There used to be a huge community that played this on M-Player

[@kevobot9342]

Finally got hg1 to work (from the repack I just needed to have the dxwnd program open for the missions to play so now … LET’S CRUSH SOME METAL!!! (Man I love heavy gear the animated series)

[@solidustiger9639]

Played it loved it would fight on the south in the skirmish mode Also played the 2nd and that was fun especially the multiplayer remember the old cali server

[@KingPBJames]

I played the absolute crap out of this game growing up. Heavy Gear 2 was so much better though despite it ditching destructable part damage model for a basic health bar. Wish I had internet back then to play it online... HG1's soundtrack is great too. Thanks for reviewing.

[@newtypepunk9967]

I have the big boxed versions of both games and yes they are a pain to run on modern systems, so I've only played the first levels really, this is a series that needs that gog treatment, one day i will build a legacy PC so i can actually enjoy these games without hassle(amongst many other lost classics), even though they cause problems there too it wont be as bad as running them on modern hardware. Nice review.

[@salokin3087]

Thanks!

[@radium69]

No need to build a legacy pc. Download PCem emulator, use a good bios rom (socket 7, system) and setup win98. Works like a charm, and highly stable too, just redid the campaign after 15 years, felt great. Best experience i had in years again. 100% Jankyness satisfaction.

[@newtypepunk9967]

@@radium69 Wow that sounds awesome, I'm definitely going to look more into that, thanks very much for pointing it out and lol @ 100% jankyness, the old school way of things lol.

[@B.E.3.R]

4:20, 4:40, 5:23, 7:27, 8:14 WHEE SPINNY! Given the effort you put into making the game run, maybe you can add the how to on PC gaming wiki? Also, are you running Windows 7 or 10? I'd suggest 7 for old games without digital re-releases, usually results in fewer headaches. Although, admittedly, there's value in getting them to run on 10...

[@salokin3087]

Eh maybe, its about time, and I'm no IT guy. More importantly, time for you to make more videos

[@B.E.3.R]

@@salokin3087 I just bricked my main PC a few days ago with an overly aggressive undervolt. The CPU and mobo are being serviced as we speak. Also my secondary is not fit for intensive tasks. So, yeah, might take a while.

[@salokin3087]

@@B.E.3.R Well shit, sorry to hear man, best of luck in getting it sorted :/

[@radium69]

Download PCem emulator Download Socket 7 rom (see readme) Boot win98 floppy Install + Setup Win98 Install games via virtual passthrough Play No more rocket science ftw!

[@michaelbuehler3897]

Reminds me of Armored Core in some ways.

[@Indians-dl3to]

Has anyone tried running this game on Windows 10 ?

[@Cafaura]

Empire earth next please

[@salokin3087]

Nah, Mandalore got that covered

[@walt_man]

As a Canadian, I'm disappointed you just claimed Heavy Gear as a Battletech knockoff. It is in fact, sir. A Votoms ripoff! I mean inspired.. lol In addition, I have been a Battletech/Mechwarrior fan/collector since the 1990's. And that whole universe owe's a great, great deal to Anime like Macross, Dougram, Crusher Joe. The Dougram boardgame Battle at Stanrey and Kalnock are shockingly similar to what Battletech became.

[@FeelingShred]

my comment about DxWnd keeps being deleted automatically by youtube 🤣🤣 will try pasting it here broken down into segments

[@FeelingShred]

2:10 I'm so glad you mentioned DxWnd, that awesome little tool have been helping a ton to get all my retro games to work on Linux too

[@FeelingShred]

DxWnd helps not only in the case of games that do not work, it helps games run better. For example, before I used DxWnd Simcity3000 and Caesar 3 would make my CPU overheat, because it would make the CPU go to 100% without real reason. With DxWnd built-in framerate limiter and CPU limiter, I can play these games again and not fry my CPU, locked down to 30 FPS (or whatever amount you wish, 60, 20, 15)

[@FeelingShred]

if DxWnd doesn't work for a particular game...

[@FeelingShred]

...try another one called CnC-DDraw

[@salokin3087]

Thanks for thread/comment, didn't know youtube was being ass backwards on this.

[@TheArtkaw]

And they completely failed to reboot it for the modern era with that failed Assault spinoff.

[@dwalk9674]

Wow, knock off? You know battletech and mechwarrior are just knock offs of japanese big robots, right?

[@johncarl5505]

Not really, FASA the creators of Battletech, hired third party designers for their mechs from Japan. Those designers were lazy af and gave pre existing designs from previous projects they worked on like Macross. Harmony Gold had rights to the distribution of Macross in the US and sued FASA. FASA didnt want any drama and removed all third party designs from Battletech, even the ones that were original and not from any existing anime. By the time the Mechwarrior games came out, FASA has been using their own designs, such as the Atlas, Catapult, Timberwolf, Stalker, etc.

[@johncarl5505]

Also, he said knockoff because it literally uses the same engine and mechanics as the mechwarrior games.

[@johncarl5505]

Also Japan did not invent big robots.

[@ElZorroHonesto]

@@johncarl5505 More convoluted than that; FASA got the original designs from a company that imported Japanese miniatures into the US and very likely had no other rights over them. Harmony Gold spent the 80s threatening to sue but not actually suing. Then FASA went to Japan in the early 90s to have them redesigned into something more "anime" because they wanted to sell BT in that country, whereupon they learned the original designs had originated in anime in the first place. Then they sued Playmates Toys in the mid-90s over Exo Squad because there was an upcoming toy that was copied the Timberwolf. Then HG sued FASA. Then the whole legal disaster with Robotech happened...