Mech Commander 2

by Microsoft

Product Features

• Intense Tactical Gameplay
• Immersive, Fully 3D Environment
• Unfolding Story Line
• The Ebb and Flow of Battle
• Recover and Retaliate

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005KAAZ
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: July 21, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,629 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #24 in Video Games > PC Games > Arcade
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Based on the BattleTech tabletop board games, MechCommander 2 is a mission-based real-time strategy game in which you control gigantic mechanized vehicles (Mechs). While the focus is on strategic combat, preparation plays an equally vital part. How you prepare for a battle is often more important than the actual tactics you use during a fight. Your success will depend greatly on discovering new technology and implementing it within your Mechs. You can be victorious with the most rudimentary strategies as long as you've picked the proper weaponry beforehand. Between missions you're treated to entertaining full-motion video scenes that lead you to your next objective.

Although the game makes some key improvements on the original, it has its fair share of problems. First off, it's totally linear. There's never a need to stray from the key objectives because there's nothing else to discover or achieve. The artificial intelligence, while greatly improved, has a tendency to jump the gun and attack enemies immediately, making stealth tactics difficult. Lastly, the system requirements are misleading--even on a 1 GHz machine with a GeForce3-based graphics card, there's plenty of slowdown when the screen is filled with units. On the positive side, the gameplay is tight, Mech customization is deep, and this is one of the few RTS games where 3-D environments factor into tactics. --Raymond M. Padilla

Pros:

• Nice use of 3-D for an RTS
• Great graphics
• Witty cutscenes

Cons:

• Trigger-happy artificial intelligence
• Misleading system requirements
• Low replay value

Product Description

Know what it is to command. As a MechCommander®, you command a unit of mercenary MechWarriors in a real-time strategy game of power, combat, and treachery set in the BattleTech Universe. Order your 'Mechs to divide and conquer the enemy as you become deeply involved in a bitter struggle for power among three warring noble houses.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm writing my own Beta Review..., July 15, 2001

By 

[e-mail] (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mech Commander 2 (CD-ROM)

... cuz the guy who wrote the first one obviously has no idea what they're talking about.

Bassically his points were as follows:

a) It doesn't include his favourite 'Mechs and he thinks the Clan Mechs are made up. b) It's a 3D engine, and "all 3D strategy games suck, 2D is much better" c) You can bring in reinforcements by air d) "It's a mix between MW4 and Force Commander"

I'll go through each one first:

A). The Mechs in are very good. Each of them has a distinctive purpose and feel. There aren't many Clan Mechs 'cause the game takes place in the Inner Sphere and all the Clan Mechs are real, not made up. I don't know where that guy was coming from.

B). It's a very good 3D system incorporating true LOS and very nice looking terrain and buildings. The camera system is as good as that from Homeworlds. 3D RTS's do not suck. Homeworld, Earth 2150 and Ground Control are all far superior games to most 2D games. Mechcommander 2 can join those ranks as the 3D system truly works well.

C). The reinforcements are very useful and add an element to the game. There were sensor probes, camera drones and artillery in the old game, so I don't really know what the other reviewer was on when they made that comment. The addition of Karnov Salvage Craft and the drop in repair truck makes the game more fun and gives you greater tactical flexibility.

D). The game is NOT a mix between FC and MC. While I was happy (not extatic) about FC, it did have some major flaws (not being able to scroll diagonally was one of them). FC sucks big time compared to MC. MC is nothing like it.

What else...The acting is good. Much better than Mechwarrior 4 (not that that'd be hard). They help the story move along and you blieve who they are (ie. overbearing people are meant to be over bearing, outspoken people do get outspoken).

Also, the game addresses many of the things mission from the first game. You can save and load missions whilst IN a mission. There is no black shroud, instead true LOS and many other improvements.

The graphics are amazing and altough the Mechs are a little blocky (to cut down on poly count) the game still looks great. Sound effects are beefy, with Autocannons and PPCs sounding brillient.

My only gripe is that Fixed Arty pieces have too shorter range and I cannot find a use for them except in base defence.

It's a great game, and I can't wait to get something more "stable" than the beta. The game truly captures the "BattleTech" feel and holds you in right until the very end.

BYE

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars SafeDisc Makes Mech Commander Safe-- from the Player!, September 3, 2001

By 

Brian M. Ranzoni "Da Killa B" (Albany, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mech Commander 2 (CD-ROM)

I would like to be able to write a review for Mech Commander 2, but I am unable to play this game on any computer in my house. It seems that Microsoft has chosen to add a copy-protect program-- "SafeDisc"-- to render the CD-ROM incompatible with every single drive I have. A readme file included with Mech Commander warns the user of this problem, when it is too late.

Unfortunately, Microsoft neither includes a warning on the box, nor posts a list of incompatible drives on the Web-- as of this writing. Those who have not yet purchased Mech Commander 2 should be aware that, among many other drives, the CD-ROM fails with the following: Sony CDU5211, Sony CDU77E, Acer CD-624a, Memorex CD-RW2224, Plextor CD-ROM PX-32TS (SCSI), Sanyo CRD-256P, and the Yamaha 2216E, 4416SX, and CDR6416S-VK. The full list is probably much longer. Microsoft does indicate that the Sony CDU77E should work if it is configured as a master drive, but all of the others listed are right out.

I am personally going to contact Mircosoft about getting a replacement disc. I suspect a patch will not arrive, since this is a hardware issue, and Microsoft obviously will not do anything to override a system they just spent money to install and distribute. It may behoove the reader to write Microsoft for a full list of incompatible drives.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 100 tons of pure destructive joy!, July 30, 2001

By 

croll (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mech Commander 2 (CD-ROM)

Since the original "MechWarrior" came out in the late-80s, I've loved each and every installment of the computerized-Battletech universe, including this one. MechCommander 2 puts you in strategic command of a "squad" of mechs (officially referred to as a Lance.) It's the difference between tactical (MechWarrior) versus strategic control (MechCommander), action (MW) versus strategy (MC)... but it all comes down to huge robots spewing destruction and mayhem.

Pros: Good atmosphere, solid graphics, fantastic battle sound effects, an easy to use interface for customizing mechs, faithful to the original, adjustable difficulty.

Cons: Too few missions, frustrating limits on deployment tonnage

All in all, this is a fantastically enjoyable game. The acting and mission-briefings give a nice feel for the direction of the game and let you feel like you're a mercenary with a soul, but the plot is linear and there aren't any really surprising twists. As a whole, the gameplay is superb, enabling you to go right into the missions with minimal "training", and the camera is very well designed, letting you maintain an optimum view of the fight.

The graphics are very good... not quite excellent, but they certainly didn't skimp here. It would have been nice to zoom even closer to the Mechs and see battle damage, but to be fair it's a useless feature if you're really trying to wage war and would have taken too much processing power on slower systems. The sound is also well done, but left me wanting more. I miss the rumble and stomp of listening to hundreds of tons of metal stomp across the landscape. You get to hear all the sounds of the battle (weapons firing, explosions, etc) and those are very well done, but the game would have been much more immersive if you could hear your Mechs tromping the fauna.

The weapons were very nicely developed, with a good balance between the different systems (missles, energy, ballistic, etc.) You definitely have to strategize here and plan the outfitting of your Mechs carefully. If you have a bunch of 100-ton mechs, all with long-range weaponry, it'll only take a few 30-ton mechs with decent short-range weaponry to get in close and whittle your armor away like snapping, ankle-biting poodles. Planning is the key, and the interface for customizing your Mechs is well layed out for the experience and novice MechCommander alike.

Finally (and this is my only major gripe) the original Mech Commander was billed as Company-level combat: meaning you commanded forces of up to 16 Mechs, ranging from 30-100 tons each. In this installment, the number of mechs you can field is limited by the maximum tonnage you can deploy. The largest this ever reaches is the final mission, at 450 tons. In case you're counting, that means four 100 ton Mechs and a 50 tonner. Frankly, that's a huge waste of potential, especially when I had about 10 assault Mechs (each weighing 80-100 tons) ready and waiting for deployment by the last mission.

But that's my only real complaint. As a whole, this is a supremely enjoyable game, and I'll be playing it through again very shortly.