MechWarrior Online

Developer: Piranha Games
Platform: Windows

SYNOPSIS

MechWarrior Online is a free-to-play, tactical action simulation game set in the Battle Tech universe in 3050 AD. Players take over the role of “MechWarriors” who are in command of powerful mechanical battle units that they may customize in a variety of ways to finally lead them into battle on first-person, team-based, tactical battlefields.

MAIN FEATURES

- Futuristic, tactical FPS action
- Focus on co-op gameplay
- 6 factions to align with
- Huge variety of fully customizable BattleMechs
- Several game modes & varied maps
- Fight for territory control in a persistent world
- Stunning visuals based on CryEngine 3 technology
- Completely free-to-play

BATTLEMECHS

A BattleMech is a heavily armoured combat platform that utilises an internal structure similar to a skeleton, along with actuators (joints), and myomers (muscles). When combined, the BattleMech takes the form of a giant, rough, bipedal humanoid able to operate in all types of atmospheres including under water and zero-gravity. Typically weighing between 20 and 100 tons, they fall into one of four classes: light, medium, heavy and assault.

BattleMechs have various weapon systems, including energy (lasers/flamers/particle projectiles), ballistic (autocannons, machine guns, Gauss), missile (long range missiles, short range missiles, streak short range missiles) and a variety of electronic monitoring/targeting systems. In conjunction with all of this, they utilise a series of heat sinks to help dissipate the large amounts of heat all of these weapons and electronics generate.

The interface between the pilot (MechWarrior) and their BattleMech is the neurohelmet, which connects them in a highly agile and direct drive approach.

FACTIONS

There are various factions in the Battle Tech universe that consist of political, corporate, quasi-religious, and secular interests ranging from interstellar dynasties to industry conglomerates. Each faction is warring with at least one other faction at all times in a universal territory battle.

Players can be active or passive participants in MechWarrior Online by following one of three paths: They may decide to pledge allegiance to a faction, join a mercenary corporation or remain neutral (lone wolf).

WARFARE

Warfare in MechWarrior Online is a complex concept that can be broken down into four pillars:

Mech warfare
Using their BattleMechs, players will engage in multiplayer battles. They will have to be aware of every single component as well as of the limits of their mechs to be able to defeat their opponents.

Role warfare
There are 4 basic types of gameplay roles: Scouting (gathering information as a reconnaissance/stealth unit), Defence (holding the ground gained by the offensive forces and protecting those in need), Assault (for the tactical forward units whose primary role is to seek and destroy), and Command (two different levels, lance and company. Lance commanders are in charge of up to 3 other players and assist in coordinated attacks on key targets. The company commander utilizes the 2 other lance commanders and all information being relayed back to him to make global calls on the battlefield).

Community warfare
The game’s factions fight for territory and resources on faction worlds (planets) while mercenary corporations can bid and fight for occupation rights of border worlds. Lone wolves also participate in these battle in behave of one faction/ corporation or another.

Information warfare
Information warfare is mainly about controlling the flow of information on the battlefield. It involves knowing where the enemy is, knowing the enemy’s current status, understanding the enemy’s intentions, and sharing information between units.

GAME MODES

As far as the current beta is concerned, the game features the following two game modes:

Assault
In Assault, two teams of eight players each compete against each other in a Team-Deathmatch setting with an added base capture/ defending challenge.

Conquest
In this mode, players vie for the control over Germanium resource collectors. Germanium is a very rare element used in Jump Ships that travel through the InnerSphere. There are five resource collectors on each map, an already captured one in each team’s start location while the three remaining are spread evenly throughout the rest of the map. The objective is to gather a certain amount of Geranium and/ or to destroy all enemy mechs in order to win.

CUSTOMIZATION

The game features a robust interface, the so-called MechLab, which allows players to customize their BattleMech loadouts and visual representations. Using C-Bills that are earned while playing, they may upgrade and swap out their mech’s weapons, armour, engine, heat sink, jump jets, ECM equipment, and modules to fully adjust them to their play style. In addition, players can place decals, paint jobs and other cosmetics items on their BattleMechs.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Minimum requirements
OS: Windows Vista (32 bit)
CPU: Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66 GHz or Athlon II X2 245e
RAM: 4 GB
Graphics card: GeForce 8800GT or Radeon HD 5600/5700
HDD: 4 GB of free space
DirectX: DirectX 9.0

Recommended settings
OS: Windows 7 SP1 (64 bit)
CPU: Core i3-2500 or AMD Athlon II X4 650 or better
RAM: 8 GB
Graphics card: GeForce GTX 285 or Radeon HD 5830
HDD: 4 GB of free space
DirectX: DirectX 9.0