Review

You are in command of the MechWarriors of Zulu Company, 1st Davion Guards. On the planet below, they await your orders, each voice a reminder of what's at stake.

Each decision, each parry and feint, bears consequence. You hesitate and the recruit you nurtured into an experienced MechWarrior over several missions is lost. His death is a stunning blow. The calls for back up, the missile impacts, the ammo bay explosion, the scream as the pilot ejects. All play loud and clear.

At the mission's end, retrieve the survivors and their BattleMechs. Repair and refit what you can. Move your best MechWarriors into the best Mechs. Trade equipment in or add a new pilot. Let an injured pilot heal, if you can spare him. The next mission beckons.

This is MechCommander. You will know what it is to command.

This is how MicroProse described their new game MechCommander. Unlike other Mech games you command up to 12 mechs or vehicles instead of just a single mech. Where careful planning and strategic skill comes in if you hope to complete the game.

MechCommander's graphics are cool, with little details like footprints from the larger mechs and trees falling down from been stepped on. The mechs are very detailed. You can see the weapons on the mechs and even the shape of their feet. The terrain is also realistic with forests rivers and hills all helping you and pissing you for. You also encounter bases and residential areas.

You have a choose of 18 mechs and 5 vehicles ranging for 5 ton scout car to 100 Atlas Mech. Mechs can't just go you have to put a MechWarrior in it. All whom learn from mission to mission. But the amazing thing is the Mechwarriors can think, they know what a enemy mech looks like attack them before they start pounding you like some strategy games. So all you do is point them in the right direction and watch them work. Plus they respond to different situations and even call in their status and what they are doing, helping you keep track of what they are up to.

MechCommander sounds easy but is really quite hard. Some people will find the game impossible, others too hard to continue and a few, like myself will battle through the whole campaign. Some people think that it is difficult because the enemy are more powerful then you are, sure this does add to the difficulty of the game but the main problem is that mission events are entirely scripted, yet you cannot save your game within a mission or pause it and issue orders. So you will find yourself playing levels over and over either because they are majorly hard or you wish to minimize the damage your mechs sustain in the process.

Some bad points with MechCommander is that it only has 30 single player missions and a few multiplayer levels. No mission-map editor and no custom maps. Plus many people don't like the 12 mech limit. People would prefer a C&C or Total Annihilation type game. Where you can build buildings, mechs and vehicles. But with a expansion pack on the way these bad point could be fixed but for a C&C type Mech game the only way to fix that would be release a totally new game.

I really enjoyed this game. I found it very interesting and challenging. I thought the graphics rocked and the sounds were great. I can't wait for the expansion pack to hit Aussie stores and hope they release a new Mech game along the C&C line

By Jonathan Rofeta