Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries - Rapid Fire Review

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Delrith takes on the BattleTech Mecha standalone coop mecha game developed by Piranha Games set in 3015 during the final decade of the Third Succession War, how is it? Does it live up to the franchise? Find out!
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[@equs1586]

bless those souls who volunteer to be Tank drivers in this universe, they never stood a chance

[@iamhuffman]

have you every ran into a partisan or demolisher or SRM 60 Launcher they wreck

[@yonghominale8884]

@Crashie-J It's more like Clink Clink hey my arm fell off.

[@mariusdragoe2888]

I think the tanks in this game actually prove why mechs wouldn't be viable in real life. They deal a lot of damage and looking at their size you could build about 100 of them for the price of one assault mech

[@arbhall7572]

@@mariusdragoe2888 This is why when playing table top with my brother, I would never play with cost. Id bring a star of light and medium clan mechs and he would have dozens of tanks, helos, aerospace fighters and an Urban Mech. He shit kicked me lol.

[@EllenbergW]

@@arbhall7572 Savannah Masters for the win :)

[@abcj17]

"You are not a scout mech" That doesn't stop the Steiner Scout Squad.

[@yonghominale8884]

Good Grief, I'm tired of hearing this myth. Steiner actually has a decent scouting force of light mechs and fast hover vehicles and the Commando is a good all around scout mech that can punch above their weight. The only time I have ever heard of an Atlas being used as a scout mech was done by a Merc.

[@mafuletrekkie]

@@yonghominale8884 Yes... Steiner Mercs...

[@stormtempterf8058]

THERE ARE BEES IN MY COCKPIT!!!

[@FakeJeep]

I kicked an orphanage into the river, I do not feel bad for this, they are cappellans.

[@stormtempterf8058]

Still counts as stealth if you eliminate all witnesses!

[@wargamingrefugee9065]

TL;DR: Delrith really likes the enemy spawn system. 10/10

[@missnoncompliant6279]

I wish he would mention the spawn system. I can't tell if it was bad or not.

[@thefirstloser]

Hey I lost a Mission because of the wonderful spawn system. I was badly damaged and 4 feet away right below the dropship, a SRM40 tank spawned and ended me.

[@brock2364]

who remembers playing mechassault 2 lone wolf ?

[@drummerguy438]

Brock I remember that game. It was pretty fun. Though tbh it was quite a bit more arcadey. Mechwarrior 4 is very nostalgic for me personally. Still slow and tactical but not as unforgiving as tabletop or tactical games.

[@RogueFox2185]

I do and I even still have that game today. I always play it once a month just for the memories I’ve had with it.

[@iamhuffman]

we dont talk about this game and you shouldnt either it was blasphemy =0

[@x0xCRUSHERx0x]

Childhood nostalgia for me. Left the game on a good story to jump from too. Lack of these titles is what has caused me to sleep on titanfall....but Titanfall is where it’s at for me ATM.

[@Mecks089]

Both it and the prequel need to be Backwards Compatible.

[@puregibberish]

First- thanks for doing these reviews, great job dude! Second- thanks to Epic Store buyers for test piloting this one for us.

[@AvengerBB1]

Apparently that extra Epic money didn't buy much......

[@FunkyBaconArts]

Money doesn't magically make games and their developers better, it just makes the company more financially secure.

[@Marinealver]

why we get stuck with EA and Activision-blizzard

[@sawode8192]

The low game quality is probably why they took they Epic deal in the first place. No need to rely on game sales, or actually have a good game.

[@FerrickAnima]

it is PGI, so this low ass quality is par for the course, you're better off playing MW Living Legends instead

[@Apocal43]

Apparently Epic Games Store money bought the story lmao

[@willb9259]

Del has gotta have a strong back after all these years of carrying Joe thru every online game lol

[@phprofYT]

A thick skin as well. Putting up with AJ yelling all the time and cussing people out.

[@whistlerwade]

@Top Dog you fail at reading comprehension.

[@nilok7]

It sounds like it could use a few more months in the oven... so Steam release.

[@manniefaces]

They aren't going to fix this

[@nilok7]

@@manniefaces They said they would have more Mechs, so there is hope. That, or Steam workshop mods.

[@SPECTER1887]

@@thagomizer8485 seriously? Such a shame I've wanted a mech game for a while now, the wait never ends with these things.

[@Ueberdoziz]

@@thagomizer8485 really? shaaaaaaaaaame. will they do dlc's after that or sth?

[@DutchDreadnaught]

@@thagomizer8485 Seriously? Well i was waiting for the steam release, guess im not anymore.

[@andyshirvis5747]

It's astonishing that other reviews for this game neglected to mention that enemies spawn right on top of you. This is a major issue for me and as a result I won't be getting this until it's 75% off.

[@Cenot4ph]

yea they do this with tanks, it's annoying but otherwise i find it to be acceptable considering the price tag and the general gameplay is fun

[@TheNomnomnom0815]

I think it's because these issues only become really apparent as you play for longer. Many of the reviews I've seen where they don't mention it show footage of the early missions so I can only imagine they haven't figured out the spawning mechanics yet. And once you do, every semblance of immersion completely falls apart.

[@nahuelleandroarroyo]

Trying to run a difficult mission and having enemies spawn on six on weapon range while already fighting 2mech+support. Fun indeed

[@HitmannDDD]

Remember the original trailer for mechwarrior 5, with the cityscape and the atlas at the end? Whatever happened to THAT game? I wanted that level of gritty realism. Instead we got a regurgitation of the Mechwarrior Online assets and a cartoonish environment. The game has nowhere near the fidelity of even the destructable trailer. I have yet to see people fleeing my mech like they had in the trailer. Disappointed, to say the least.

[@vincer9960]

Thank you. I thought I was the only one who cares about physics and fidelity. That's the game I wanted too. Everything looks so simplistic like 99% of videogames out there. I was expecting some serious shit with the new MW. So many of the weapons feel the same, weapon shooting/mechanics, explosions, mech damage and destruction, environment damage & destruction, everything feels so simplistic and low fidelity.

[@Volothos]

Blame Harmony Gold for that. I'm fairly certain whatever ideas they had then were buried under legal bullshit and tossed out when they made MWO. Im assuming this was about that kickass 2005 trailer

[@_Dogberry_]

Sadly, I think this fame is going to be one of those “wait a few patches and it’ll be alright” I might pick it up in month or two.

[@ShyTentacle]

The story and atmosphere is not going to get patched, and it is a complete shitshow.

[@FakeJeep]

Aka the Steam release a year from now... also known as the full release and not the paid beta.

[@toxicholygrenadethg9906]

And as for it being eventually overhauled?

[@EdDaBawsh]

*game

[@thefirstloser]

and wait for the modding teams. I bet THEN it will be a great game. Right now it feels lackluster for me.

[@ToumalRakesh]

12:15 the particle trail of that weapon rotating with the view instead of staying relative to the actual game world bugs the hell out of me.

[@vincer9960]

Ya that's what you call simplistic physics with low fidelity, like 99% of every other game. It sucks that game makers prioritize shit like textures and 9 million different mechs and paint modes instead of making the actual gameplay more dynamic and deep by programming more detailed and complex physics.

[@calelsun]

Playing on series x and i am in Awe of this game, it doesnt necessarily look amazing in an obvious way but the way everything comes together is sublime. The crumble of rocks as you step on them, the fall/crash/explosion of a helicopter you shot down that lands 20 feet away from your mech, overshooting a turn only to smash into a building side and making it crumble, landing a perfect shot on an enemy mech making them explode in a blue fireball. And for some reason the intially awkward movement seems so insanely precise later on. I just adore the core gameplay loop and find myself playing the markets as best i can to get some cheap scavenged mechs to flip for a profit.

[@enachepauliulian5046]

Should have just remade mechwarrior 4 in the new engine with more missions

[@x4n0]

@Shurryy Namegenerator I believe that's what he meant, remake MW4 in UE4. Maybe he thought MW5 was built on a brand new engine

[@awesomefatBruceLee]

God if they had added melee, directional jumpjets, and epic engagements with dropships and hell... even a MODL

[@fishpop]

I played a MW4 demo all the time in my youth so a remake released on Steam would get my £30-£50 in a heartbeat. The Catapult is my favourite of the 4 Mechs from that demo.

[@caleb8659]

... I like it. Its exactly what I wanted from a mech game, and frankly after 20 years of no mechwarrior games I'll take literally anything to keep the IP alive.

[@ShyTentacle]

Might be the reason we keep getting shit.

[@arbhall7572]

Theres been a few...

[@Cenot4ph]

the game isnt bad, it just disappoints on the polish. The story is meh, the general world building is meh, the only thing that saves this game and made it worht playing is the gameplay itself. It's pretty addictive and the mechs handle well

[@caleb8659]

@@arbhall7572 the last mechwarrior single player game released was mw4: merc which was 2002.

[@caleb8659]

@@ShyTentacle we havent gotten ANYTHING since 2002 outside MechAssault.

When Epic store accidentaly becomes beta testing platform for steam :DDD

[@Maschinengeist793]

With MWO being a cheap cash grab, I am not surprised that this game turned out the way it did.

[@danielw3380]

Lazy is the best word to describe what they did to our beloved franchise. I can't even convince myself that this is a numbered MechWarrior. Its like playing an Alpha version of a game that has MechWarrior assets in it.

[@rylian21]

Had MW5 not been an EGS exclusive, I would have bought it. Had PGI not lied about it being an EGS exclusive and been otherwise dishonest, I wouldn't have been pissed off about it.

[@sambauman69]

Lucky for you! It's coming to steam (with DLC) at the end of May, and it's already on gamepass for PC.

[@Muu-Mei]

@@sambauman69 no one cares. No one wants to give money to PGI in any capacity. All they did was lie and fumble every chance they had. Just because it's coming to steam over half a year late, doesn't mean people want to buy it now. The unanimous opinion about the steam release is: unless it's heavily discounted (20-25$) no one is going to buy it. Nor should they.

[@rylian21]

@@sambauman69 I don't purchase games funded by EGS's Faustian bargain.

[@sambauman69]

@@Muu-Mei well that's a shame, I'm playing it on xbox gamepass (so I don't have to give money to the devs), and I think it's a lot of fun. Games are always ruined by bad devs, especially in this case, but if there's a way to enjoy the game without rewarding PGI for their bad decisions then I'd much rather be having fun generating mech combat sandboxes in an admittedly very janky game than never even giving it a try, if only to leave a bad review.

[@e2rqey]

They also announced that they aren't going to be doing regular patches to fix stuff. They will only be doing updates when DLC comes out. 😑

[@Damiv]

It's PGI. They wouldn't save their own children from drowning if they didn't get paid to do it.

[@chickmagnetwampaone]

Sounds like it will be great fun to play after some patching and I'll just pick it up on Steam by then. Good review Del keep em coming.

[@FerrickAnima]

too bad it is PGI, so it most likely will not be fixed, and that is the best case scenario, worst case they run it into the ground further

[@sonnycrockett9900]

The terms of Del's employment should say he has 3 months to stop being disgustingly fat or be fired.

[@YourKungFuSux]

i'd love chromehounds 2 honestly

[@ZeroOne130]

and a remake too

[@Texelion3Dprints]

Modern gaming, getting less for more.

[@koLourBlynd89]

Personally I would have given it a much better rating, especially given that it has already addressed many issues that were wrong at the start. In fact it almost seems to be a vastly better game when you really understand that, as a merc outfit, you won't be going around doing the biggest and most known of things, but admittedly it also ends up leading you to the obvious conclusion to the story. Is it the Battletech game we all wanted to see in the newest of graphics and mechanics and glory? Well, not really, but it lays a great foundation to start building out a good Battletech game... But it is set pretty much after the Succession Wars, when most of the interesting events of the Inter Sphere really happened, so it really doesn't do anything too much different from older MW games, and will bring much of the same experience of older games, but not really scratch the itch that many probably have, which is to truly run a Merc outfit during the Succession Wars and truly be a part of major operations for certain Houses, and maybe even participate in major events that occurred in canon... granted FASA pretty much denies any canon for and from video games, so it probably won't really happen.

[@koLourBlynd89]

After really taking the time to watch, I really don't agree with the review all that much. While I do agree that engine and structure customization isn't a thing, realistically they provided little in actual gameplay and added an additional layer to manage, which for adept users isn't an issue, but they wanted to be more simple for everyone to try out. PvP isn't necessary for a game meant for Co-op, at best, if not Single Player experiences, and as you said PGI has MWO for Solaris function. As for financial situations in the game, it is hard to really have issues with managing costs if you stick to the story and do High Rewards first before really "exploring" the conflict zones, as tbh campaigns are pretty static and Spin-ward in progression, providing you with plenty to keep your crew above serious challenges. However it does seem like you can explore and do as you wish, staying profitable and in business while finding other tech and progressing time, but as you will learn playing, the campaign is more-or-less unaffected by your actions. Repairs are, admittedly, almost unavoidable, but you can definitely get out of most missions and, even in conflict zones, have a repair bill of maybe 100K per mech, so long as Structure isn't a factor in repairs. Overall I still believe giving the game 5/10 and calling it merely Average, if that, is kind of steep; my personal rating is 7/10, point for Narration and VA work, point for AI being fairly basic with little to no real system in control, which in a game meant for single player play is seriously unacceptable in my book, and a point for the story being, well, kind of straight-forward and cliche, and from a lore perspective makes little to no sense, but the experience found here in this game is much more enjoyable than, say, MWO because you aren't really restricted to Tech trees or having to progress to really attain some item in the game, you can just play the game. As a basis for a new Mechwarrior game I recommend it and hope to see more work put into it.

[@koLourBlynd89]

And now finished with the game, I really disagree; 5/10 is way to harsh, considering how the game has fixed or addressed many of these issues.

[@gambitcbr9744]

I definitely agree with your assessment. As a long time fan of battle tech I wish there was less blurring and more clarity with the mechs.

[@theykeeponrising]

Del you forgot to mention how your friendly AI will walk through buildings on DEFENSE MISSIONS. They will LITERALLY DO MORE DAMAGE THAN THE ENEMIES.

[@EllenbergW]

Note: The spawns have been improved on with the latest patch (not great by far, but not as infuriating as it was) As for not being able to change engines as in MWO, this is actually pretty much according to the lore of the universe. Sure, you _could_ change out a 200 rated engine in a Centurion for a 250 rated one in the lore, but you would need access to a bunch of absolutely top-notch techs, a metric f**k-ton of resources (it'd probably be cheaper to buy a faster mech and mod it to your liking) and, most importantly, access to a full-blown mech-facility. You'll most definitely would not be able to do it in a Leopard's mech-bay and it'll take you perhaps a year or so to do it. So yes, if you'd absolutely, positively have to have your Centurion move at 80kph, sure, you can have that. It'll only cost you a couple million c-bills and take a year or two. Now the sized hard-points, I have a much larger problem with. More precisely, the fact, that each hard-point can only mount a single weapon, instead of being able to put, say, two medium guns into a single large hard-point - that's a bit of a bummer. Agree on the AI, it's dumb as a rock - and that might be in insult for all those rocks out there. There are ways to "trick" your AI lance-mates into doing what you want them to do. For example, order them to a specific point works great for medium/long-ranged mechs) and not mixing weapons with different ranges on a single mech also improves their behavior (LRMs + small lasers on a mech, you want to give to the AI is a baaaaad idea) but the AI most _definitely_ needs a lot of work.

[@thegreywanderer8427]

The multiplayer restarts when new players join, was fixed quite a while before this review came out. I think it only took them a couple of weeks to fix it. Enemy spawning has also been improved a lot.

[@grimmjowvsjaggerjack]

Del became, in his own merits, one of the most trustworthy reviewers on youtube, in my opinion. Thanks for putting up all these hours into these games.

[@uUuWolf16uUu]

35% of his statements in this video are false. I am playing the game and he didn't even understand the genre this game is in.

[@JustGrowingUp84]

@@uUuWolf16uUu He's not lying. This is one of the most accurate reviews I've seen. Please stop trying to trick readers, and if you're going to troll, at least make an effort to be funny.

[@uUuWolf16uUu]

@@JustGrowingUp84 Uh... I am not trolling. Delrith didn't understand what the genre of MW5M is... it's not a shooter, its a simulator for mech warfare. Thats why there are transaction fees from system to system and such. Please troll yourself.

[@JustGrowingUp84]

@@uUuWolf16uUu It's not really a simulator, it's something between arcade and simulator. And you said that 35% of the statements in the video are false - which is not true. He didn't lie about anything.

[@samanthatemplar4901]

My favorite was the bushwacker. At least in Mechwarrior 3

[@JoshRudis]

Del, you do the work. Don't let anyone tell you that you don't do the work/your reviews are bad. All your reviews are from the perspective from someone who deeply explored the game and it's obvious to anyone who watches your videos in their entirety. Thanks for your hard work in 2019 and I hope to see more as you get into your stride in 2020.

[@mrgabest]

Mechwarrior 4 is still available to download for free, and so it the MekTek 3.1 fan patch that adds dozens of mechs. There's literally no reason to buy MW5 if it's not better than MW4, and it doesn't seem like it is.

[@Absolynth]

Aesthetically MW5 absolutely desomates MW4 lol Hopefully patches can work out the AI and spawning issues here. Otherwise looks fairly solid to me. Depends what people are looking for I suppose though. MW4 gameplay holds up well enough.

[@scottl9660]

I actually got MW4 Mercs last week. Not a fan of the time frame. I think I like the clan invasions period better

[@ImAlpharius]

Same, got mercs 4 working. Is pretty fun tho, Warhammer is a fun mech

[@9ALiTY]

No end of the Year round ups am I the only one who who noticed?

[@WH40KHero]

...how does this look bad?! I mean...seriously!! The graphics in this game are perfectly serviceable and absolutely fine. I mean, come on, what do you demand/expect? Something that looks more real then reality itself?

[@b.o.b.1841]

Thanks again Del, Happy New year mate!

[@EcchiRevenge]

Imagine my shock.

[@SirAthiro]

We need a new Armored Core game.

[@No-sr5fb]

For real man

[@riptors9777]

Amen to that!

[@LordOfNihil]

"made it through testing" the release was the test.

[@mrbouncelol]

"Minimum viable product"

[@Mavairo]

It actually looks WORSE than mechwarrior online. That's impressive considering how much better the new engine is than their hacked, cobbled together and rebuilt cry engine 3

[@ActosMagus]

The game was delayed, and then I'm fairly sure it was rushed. The buy in beta period amounted to five instant action missions three weeks prior to the game's delayed launch so there was no chance to critique the campaign, the dropship, the npc gfx or voice acting. Even with the influx of Epic's exclusivity cash it basically seemed like they ran out of money and had to launch with what they had. As the first single player MechWarrior in nearly two decades (MW4Mercs released in 2002) it was decent, but, yeah, not exceptional in any way.

[@riptors9777]

Anyone who was around for the mechwarrior online launch can attest you.. this is normal for PGI. They didnt run out of money for the development since they never intended to invest any money in it from the beginning.. same as what happened to MWO. The only content you would get in that game on a regular basis was new pay for mechpacks. New maps? Game modes? Anything else that was no related to buying new mechs? Far and few inbetween and allways delivered half cooked, half baked and just sloppily delivered.

[@sambauman69]

The BEST FEATURE of the game wasn't even mentioned here: the Instant Action mode. Yes, all the missions are procedurally generated, but that's the point! You can engineer yourself a custom combat sandbox in the instant action mode and play through it with any mech!

[@DarkBykeTwitch]

You didn't show any spawn "on top of you" but rather, in front of you.

[@Falkdr]

especially, we don't see any, quote: "literal spawn on top of you"

[@DarkBykeTwitch]

@@Falkdr Literally!

[@JustGrowingUp84]

Yeah, I was hoping he would present the case when an enemy dropship spawns right on top of you, as has happened to me a few times. It would have been hilarious!

[@Paradoxbear]

I "genuinely" like this review! Keep up the great work Del!

[@joeldoxtator9804]

I listened to the developer podcast interview after the launch and it sounds like they really had no intention of making Mechwarrior 5 a fully fledged out single player campaign. They even stated as much saying that they were targeting a simulation more than they were a compelling single player story. This really does not make much sense to me as MWO is already a simulation focused game. The environments are repetitive and the A.I. is dumb as bricks, although I didn't have as much financial difficulty as the reviewer seemed to have. I have a feeling he was really pushing the max level content way too early in the game just to get through the story missions quickly. I had no trouble getting tens of millions of C-bills early on in the game, but you have to be willing to farm some easier content with mechs that basically make the missions target practice. For someone who was not interested in MWO's multiplayer and had not really played a mech game since mechworrior 2, I still enjoyed it. I just wish it had some more polish. It really does feel like a beta at this point still and that they are holding back the true story behind some future DLC event. Once again even saying as much in that interview, stating that new environments will be DLC features. So I imagine mech packs and story extensions will be DLC as well. An unfortunate business model, but maybe the game will feel finished in a year or so when you can pick up the whole game with DLC for the price people are paying now.

[@x0xCRUSHERx0x]

10:18 mech totally looks like buzz lightyear lol. If that’s the point then my bad! 🤣

[@ScarriorIII]

Marik Paint Scheme.

[@WH250398]

YOU ARE A TOOOOOYYYYYYYY

[@meerkat1954]

@@ScarriorIII It also kind of resembles the paint scheme that Hunchback IICs had in the old Battletech cartoon. Google the Tyco toy.

[@visorak168x]

Wish they would remaster Mechassault.

[@BigNothingMonsterMan]

i'm really enjoying the game but i can't deny that pretty much all the negative things he points out are true.

[@williamyoung9401]

Well, we're lucky the thing came out at all, with the 20 year law suit that followed the trailer for the original Mechwarrior 5.....

[@srslywhathappened]

Happy New year Del! Much support and love for continuing to do these. We are very glad somebody can get to the games and content that Joe does not have time for. We appreciate it!

[@Chad1836]

Any mention of how repair bays and turret generators are in the first defense mission and never appear again ?

[@Entrau]

Several times I've wished for a repair bay, no such luck.

[@Ueberdoziz]

well repair bays appear in the last story mission... but i feel you

[@iamnizorro9781]

Keep doing these reviews. I hate when these smaller games don't get covered. And I love that it is reviewed by a person who's genuinly good at videogames. I wish u a great new year!

[@billybegood466]

I was regretting my decision to not give in to any epic exclusives when this was released, but now I feel fine that I'm waiting until it's released to Steam.

[@awesomefatBruceLee]

Wait for mods to make it great just like Fallout:4 :)

[@shawnadams1460]

@@awesomefatBruceLee I have played through the entire campaign. Played through with co-OP and it was basic. Definitely looking forward to the mod scene getting ahold of it. But I don't have as bad of an oppinion as he did.

[@hugoegasaragundi4412]

Love your reviews and your style, glad to know you've reached a comfortable spot doing these videos. Keep up the awesome work.

[@ImYourS3npai]

This makes me sad. I was really looking forward to a next-gen experience out of one of my favorite series.

[@Cenot4ph]

the game is better than a 5/10, the gameplay is solid it's just not polished like a AAA game because the dev team is really small.

[@genesisswift384]

They also had to work with a new engine, not MWO's so its built from the ground. The future mod community and updates should shoot this game up.

[@chrisgibson8863]

You expected that from PGI? I hear you though. These guys have been ruining my own expectations for many years. I'm a legendary founder for MWO...

[@Arnuld15Governator]

You know the funny thing is MW:2 and MW:2 Ghost Bear's Legacy handle enemy AI spawning better than MW:5 Mercs. Mechs in that game would either rev up when you approached nav points or would come into your field of view in low visibility planets. Keep in mind that game was made in 1996.

[@hardlyaaron]

You've really grown on me, Delrith! I was kinda taken aback that you weren't Joe, but I appreciate your hard work on getting more reviews to us. Love seeing your videos in my feed and can't wait to see what 2020 brings for you.

[@ravendark666]

Love that the rapid fire reviews r much longer now

[@ikspe3618]

The fact Del had to do a review of MECHWARRIOR game just shows how much AJ cares about games those days!!

[@arbhall7572]

I was excited to hear this game was coming, then it launched on Epic. Oh well.

[@sambauman69]

It's coming to steam at the end of May, and it's already on gamepass.

[@CommanderActaeon]

I only recently bought the game on sale on PS5 and I am thoroughly enjoying it. Looks like they improved many of the issues listed here. Enemy spawns are improved. AI has improved some, seems like they can handle themselves reasonably in combat. At least I didn't feel the urge to yell "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" in my entire experience so far. The visuals have gotten MUCH better then what they seem to be in this review! Textures aren't so blurry anymore and the hud looks MUCH better now. The one DLC that feels almost "essential" is the "Heroes of the Inner Sphere" which adds a career mode which is basically a sandbox mode where you start with improved standing with a great house of your choice and a different variety of starting mechs. You can even import your mechs and equipment from another save if you want. Overall, the game has improved ALOT since launch. This is my first Mechwarrior game, though I used to watch my dad play MW1 and 2 when I was little, looked fun but never got a chance to play a MW game till now. I am in between Sonic Frontiers and God of War Ragnarok, but I feel stuck on MW5, lol. What I played of Ragnarok has been absolutely INCREDIBLE though, just this game has got me hooked.

[@grega.4562]

It's a feature, not a bug. The whole MW/Btech universe was supposed to be drab and low-def. But not with the clans, where everything is shiny and new.

[@jameslewis2635]

The trouble with this game is that in the past this has been a AAA game series but MW5 was made on an indie budget. As such the campaign has suffered because rather than actually hand crafting levels into a campaign route that makes sense (as previous titles in the series did) the devs ended up creating a random level generator. I am hoping that assuming they get enough money to make a sequel or expansion that they are able to make a proper campaign and fix the graphics issues we see in this version. Mod tools are included with the game so there is hope of a community graphics upgrade.

[@ParadiseDecay]

Angry 'Lets put in as many adverts as possible that are not even skippable' Joe!

[@WereCatf]

Ugh. Enemies spawning out of thin air instead of being already in the map is one of those things that REALLY grinds my gears in pretty much every game. I mean, it upsets me so much that just that alone would entirely kill this game for me, even if it wasn't so bad otherwise as well.

[@ImAlpharius]

Yeah, mw4 actually have enemies walking towards you from afar

[@homemacai]

What happened with all that epic games money? Also thanks for reviewing all the games that should get reviewed in this channel, nice job man

[@naomiwebber217]

Have they fixed the A.I. (enemies and teammates) just running up to the enemy and then running in circles until either side is dead?

[@Entrau]

No

[@Creepybusguy]

January is supposed to be a big patch.

[@riptors9777]

@@Creepybusguy Considering PGIs past work and their skills in "patching" stuff... you might want to keep a copy of the current patch on hand...

[@capncrackfiend]

It's an ancient game, but I really loved Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries, and was hoping this game would have an obviously updated but similar feel. Having played MWO a lot, the trailers and everything had me worried, and it sounds like those worries were well-founded. Thanks for the in-depth review, Del! Confirmed for me that I don't really need to get this game (at least, not any time soon).

[@igniatesch9664]

It feels and looks like MWO with bots. If you want this, and only this, you can have sone fun. The review is right, but the fights are good enough for a 6/10 in my opinion. Of course not what this cool universe deserves

[@riptors9777]

Released 1995.. had destructable enviroments, random gen missions... and a interesting campaign and tons of ingame fluff explaining things and bringing the universe alive (in the restrictions of the time ofcourse) All in all a superior product compared to 5 kept perhaps for graphics... from 1995.. cant make that shit up

[@cleverkitsune4302]

Story wise mech5 is mechearrior 1 story and gameplay copy pasted into a new game engine with better graphics

[@happilyendme3521]

In MW4M there was an escort mission where two Thanatos spawn far away and starts to follow you and sometimes take out one of your lancemates (which isn't a real issue though)

[@thebigbrzezinski3201]

I've been watching MW5 on streams, and it's EXTREMELY striking how much the gameplay still looks like MW2:M. I was hoping for Mount and Blade with mechs, part combat sim and part business sim. What we got just looks like sad nostalgia bait. I'm been looking for mech sims to make a comeback eventually. Guess I'll keep looking.

[@user-tj1qo7vw4y]

More of a curiosity question, but what were you expecting in terms of business sim elements? Or perhaps I should ask 'what do you feel would make a business sim?'

[@thebigbrzezinski3201]

What I envisioned for a modern Mechwarrior Mercenaries game was something similar to what William H Keith wrote about in his Grey Death Legion books. Constant skirmishing between the great houses would strain the economy and create holes a player entrepreneur might exploit. You'd start with only a few mechs and a contracted dropship, and possibly build your way up to having a vast army and infrastructure. You might even earn a fiefdom where you can set down roots on or in orbit of a planet, or carve out a new nation in the periphery with fire, steel, and particle cannon. I'll point to Egosoft's X series for the closest analogue. The games are huge sandboxes of dynamic economy and conflict simulation. You have to adapt to and exploit changes as best you can. You're a CEO as much as you are a pilot, starting with one ship and building your business through new assets and personnel until you're a major force in the universe. Simply flying around as a merc fighter squadron operating out of small carrier was an enormous amount of fun, but so was building a production line to supply a group of torpedo cruisers to counter the Xenon threat. MW5 just looks to me like MW2M with a higher polygon count. Slightly refined and expanded, but not at all evolved.

[@user-tj1qo7vw4y]

​@@thebigbrzezinski3201 Ah ok. I haven't seen any evidence yet that there is the possibility of getting some sort of holdings. Otherwise there are a few parts to the economics that are there. Most of the contracts are in contested areas which may be on the borders between the great houses or within the house territories which tend to be corporate contracts of various questionable morality. Even some of the regular and story contracts are on shaky moral grounds and you might take one path which will lock you out of doing another. How that impacts things later on I do not yet know but it all affects your reputation with the houses, corporations or independent entities which has flow on effects. The markets might have the items you need or they may not exist at all in the conflict zones, but you might find access to the black market. Costs will vary according to your reputation with the faction and that simple availability, or not, to items you might need to keep the mechs operational can see your unit getting into financial strife. Repairing the mechs in conflict zones will hike up the cost and time to get them completed so depending how badly your mech or mechs are shot up, it can be beneficial to jump out to an industrial or civilian system and do the repairs there. Given that all the time for travel and repairs is done via time skips, there is no real waiting around (which is good for co-op) though I do not know what this might mean in terms of the calendar timeline and story events etc if you are busy stuffing around in the arse end of the galaxy just having fun. Hard to say what level of effect you personally have on the shape of the inner sphere when you are literally a drop in the ocean but you do get some interesting missions that look like they tie into larger schemes. ie. Assassinating a Liao Governor for Marik so as to stir up conflict on that border..... and where there is conflict there are contracts so.... seems a little self serving. Because you can save the game and go back if you didn't like the outcome you can go through the campaign with only good results. But if you just keep rolling forward and take the bad results as well, it feels more genuine.

[@mrbouncelol]

@@thebigbrzezinski3201 They simply lack the vision or will to pull something like that off

[@unseereaper]

Thanks for the review Del! But did anyone expect parasite games to actually make a good mechwarrior?

[@wolffofwar]

"parasite games" Lol perfect name for that trash company.

[@Mainjay21]

woah. pause mechwarrior 4 mercs was their best game what other games allow you to have a team of 7 squadmates. can control the biggest and baddest mechs ever. Name one. Don’t worry about graphics

[@unseereaper]

They didn't make MechWarrior 4 that was FASA.

[@CharlesVanNoland]

Yeah, their explosions and blasts and whatnot all look like big stretched out low-res particles. They could really step it up with the explosion particles and use feathered particles so that they don't have a hard clip with the ground (and form just a horizontal edge). This would go a long way toward improving the overall look, especially if they added more detail to the particle/explosion effects too. The lasers and stuff look good but how hard is it to make good looking lasers. All of their textures need to be at least doubled in resolution (i.e. 4x the number of pixels) and model geometry. They could employ some parallax occlusion mapping on the ground to really flesh out the detail. They should pretty much be using POM on every single solid world surface.

[@pain7958]

I agree with most of what you're saying, but claiming that the visuals are outdated is kind of silly. It's not pushing boundaries, but it's certainly what to expect from a title of this size in 2019. Also saying that lights are worthless at higher difficulties and that you'll take damage regardless of how you play just isn't true. For one, there's the dodge mechanic tied in with pilot skills that increases the chance of avoiding enemy fire. That doesn't refer to aggro. That refers to the enemy simply not being able to accurately hit you. So the higher this stat is and the faster your mech is moving, the less likely you'll take damage. If you go into the MW5 Discord, you'll find that running lights is very beneficial on certain mission types, even at the highest difficulty levels. Also, most mission types don't have endless enemy spawns, so going through the map and clearing out enemies instead of rushing past them is a viable strategy.

[@liveish4396]

"I agree with most of what you're saying, but claiming that the visuals are outdated is kind of silly. It's not pushing boundaries, but it's certainly what to expect from a title of this size in 2019" I would agree if it was not priced so high, 30USD sure

[@D_Streamed]

Shame, Mech Warrior was great back in the day. Pushed the boundaries of graphics and gameplay. Like so many reboots of old IP, it's a shame to see it fall so short.

[@crusader-j4126]

7:35 We voiced our complaints. The thing is when I was in BETA they only had 5 missions. We had told PGI that there were spawn issues but they kept silent about it till launch day. There are a lot of messages in the MW5 discord talking about this specific problem. I myself have reported it 3 times

[@crusader-j4126]

@Crashie-J exactly. Im really dissapointed woth mw5 but they (pgi) seem too do things "too little too late"

[@crusader-j4126]

@Crashie-J pgi honestly did a terrible job woth mw5 but i cannot deny that mw5 is fun to play with friends. However they better be working their butts off too fix the issues

[@riptors9777]

BETA? You mean the demo PGI turned the beta into? The Demo PGI even named as such 3 weeks before release? The one they only pushed out because they made that promise and allready cought enough flak on going back on their word with the epic exclusive deal despite selling pre orders under the pretense of a steam release? That "Beta" ?

[@liordj2307]

Please make more of these 18 minutes and longer, Rapid reviews!

[@Cenot4ph]

Getting money is so easy in this game I've never felt i needed to make serious choices there. Generally the gameplay is solid and worth picking up for that alone

[@therakshasan8547]

Near end of Quest , Killed Kane who killed my father. In mid battle all the F key lance commands stopped functioning. After mission I am unable to do any repairs. No Markets have anything in it. No Pilots for Hire . and the only thing I can do is paint my busted mechs. Can't fix anything . Game Busted after killing Kane.

[@lionelwhiskerknot]

I like your idea of having hangars where the vehicles and helicopters spawn from. Also, mechs should be delivered by dropship only with spawning eliminated completely. It is technically still a spawn but at least you can see the mechs coming instead of them being at short range all the time.

[@iPuzzlePirate]

The first review I've seen that addresses the gameplay problems, that I've seen. Everyone else has been, "It looks good, buy it!"

[@SpikeRazzor]

Reactor online. Sensors online. Weapons online. All systems nominal.

[@MightyTachikoma]

Love Mechwarrior, but PGI has always been scummy. I went in expecting nothing from them, and was still somewhat disappointed by their obvious lack of effort.

[@WDxpanzer3]

did a defence mission in co-op and had a assault lance drop right on my head. got wrecked instantly. the spawns really are terrible lol

[@therandomdot2563]

yeah, the whole "hot dropping" mechs from atmosphere thing was abused in the video games. When rules first came out for getting mechs from space to planet-side it was either a) fly them in via dropship where they can take time to safely unload, b) hover dropship and let mechs jump out ready to fight.. but risk leg damage, c) attach hot-drop pods (which, IIRC, were like Star League / Black Box tech back then) to fall from high altitude, but roll a dice. if it hits certain numbers then you crater..., mech is insta-scrapped, and pilot makes a roll to see if they ejected on time. Basically, it was a huge gamble... sort of seen as a "last resort" thing to get mechs into play since it could be so abusive (eg: using it to call in an assault lance to plop right in the middle of battle quickly instead of making them spend game turns hoofing it across landscape where their speed is a handicap). But, the mechwarrior series went "fuck it, let's just hot drop mechs in all the time, no problem!" And, now it feels very abusive. "Oh, you're doing pretty good. Let's see how good you do when we drop an assault lance on your face." Completely unfair.

[@Jaasielaomdrech]

The game only needs a slight improvement in the graphical department. If we get more gameplay options/missions with a combination of custom mech building i feel like this game would be fire. Maybe even some base development with facilities

[@Ueberdoziz]

your review is pretty much on point... sadly some notes: you can get higher tier AI pilots through "high reward quests". i got 2 so far which have their cap in the mid 40's (apart from freeman) later on you can also get like 55/60 pilots and they make a HUGE difference. also the AI seems to "perform" the best when you use a lighter mech and give them bigger mechs with direct fire weapons like gauss and er pcc's and ordering them individually to go to a specific point on the map. even in the late game with difficulty 85-100 defense missions (where the spawning is the worst) i managed to to only get my mech damaged while the ai was pretty much untouched and repair costs averaging around 400-500 k while i get around 2-6 million cbills a mission depending on salvage. you can also give them srm brawling builds and they work great, but they will soak up damage quite a bit but yea, even i as a megafan would only give it like a 5-6/10. guys, get battletech on steam, there are some really fantastic mods out there for that game which makes it heaps of fun and interesting and wait for a sale or the steam release for mw5

[@silentphotographer117]

We miss you Del!

[@fightwithonefilms]

Literally spawning on top of you should mean if you look up you see feet not spawn yards away perpendicular to your location

[@cbeaulac]

spawning is fixed and alot of issues brought up, but i think mods will be needed to actually make this game really good.

[@BaltimoreActual]

since angry reviews don't come out that often anymore I like forward to these rapid reviews, thanks Del!

[@alpine1600s]

My Mech themed game growing up was Mission Force: Cyberstorm. It was also one of the first games I played with a friend via dial-up connection! Lol

[@ScarriorIII]

That was from the Earthsiege franchise, which was created when Dynamix, the studio that made Mechwarrior 1, lost the project to Activision.

[@Hiznogood]

Love your reviews, man! I don’t have to constantly adjust the sound volume!😉👍

[@ShimmeringSword]

I think you were hard on the economy system when most fans will find that to be a positive. A problem with previous Mechwarrior economies was you were never truly under any financial pressure. Whereas this game lets you ride the financial edge for better gear, or run a cheaper outfit to take it easy on the wallet. Otherwise a very fair review. I'd likewise give it about a 5.5/10 with lots of room for them to climb all the way to an 8 if they do the work. I don't think any team that would willingly tackle this franchise can make it a 9 or 10.

[@JustGrowingUp84]

You're not under that much financial pressure here either. I always had tons of money. My personal record is around 150 million c-bills. It just that it requires tons of grinding. In fact, that's the entire game: one big grind. That doesn't bother me that much, but I have friends who also played the previous games and can't stand the grind.

[@ShimmeringSword]

@@JustGrowingUp84 To be fair assuming you're good at the game like me, this is yet another game where being bad at the game punishes you even harder. Same with HBS Battletech. Good players take less damage and make more money, we can milk those endless wave based missions for more money, or know when it's best to pull out. For the several days I played it I didn't maintain much of a stockpile of cash, but that was because I was confident spending most of what I earned buying new mechs and gear, rather than being safe. A newbie might be almost broke all the time AND wont have the funds to buy nicer mechs to excel at missions.

[@JustGrowingUp84]

@@ShimmeringSword That's a fair point. Unlike my friend, who hasn't played a MW game since Vengeance back in 2000, I constantly replayed them throughout the years. Heck, just before MW 5 I re-finished MW 4 Mercenaries twice (once with Davion, once with Steiner). This kept my skills from rusting, both when it comes to combat and when it comes to management. To be fair, the previous single-player MW games also had multiple difficulty setting. This might have helped new players - they certainly helped me when I was a new player...

[@Mecha_Ranger]

MechWarrior: We make the worst spawns possible ModernWarfare: Hold my beer -> *shipment*

[@teratokomi8731]

This game should have made it onto anrgy joes worst games of 1029

[@StrangerOman]

Rapid fire reviews are always welcome :)

[@scapegoat8171]

Good job Del. Good to hear you're finding your niche.👍

[@cahillrebel]

Apparently the release on other platforms has been better because of all the updates. Epic Store really was beta testing. Now I’m wondering if Epic just forces games to release a year too early just to have some kind of exclusive stuff because Mechwarrior 5 looks awesome from the recent stuff I’ve seen.

[@LtnCorrsk]

Why would you make a Mechwarrior game less complex with the Mechs customization? It's already a niche game, and the CoD crowd is not going to like this anyway. Also, i wonder how/if the game will be polished in a year when it end up on Steam.

[@Mr-Wolf117]

So wish MechAssault 3 would be made. Bring back the best franchise in mechs. Imo.

[@Revener666]

Yeah I miss missions in the style of MW3.

[@jyidorne8042]

Hi! I am one of those who pre-purchased this game and got the demo version 2 weeks before launch. And I complained about almost every single one of these issues. The demo AI, for example, was so much more worse. You can still see a video of it on my channel. But, like I said, that was 2 weeks before launch, so there were obviously not going to be many changes. We were originally supposed to get a real beta of the game, but then they just withdrew that while pushing back the release (which in hindsight was probably a good thing, as the game would've been in an even more unfinished state). It's a shame how mismanaged many things with MW5 and PGI are. There's still no real communication or roadmap of what they are going to do post-launch, and instead we fans are expected to go watch a multiple hour twitch developer interview to get a glimpse to their plans. This is lazy and completely idiotic. But, basically, they have promised to work on the spawn issues at least.