Customer Reviews

MechWarrior 4: Black Knight Expansion

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Seems a little weird, all that work you did getting Ian Dresari into power, and now you gotta fix that mistake. Well, you're a mercenary now and that doesn't matter anymore. You start out with some lighter mechs now instead of a shadow cat, but eventually you'll get upgraded. There are several new Mechs and new weapons (X-Pulse lasers rule). Nothing as far as mechs or weapons have been left out, everything that was in MW4 is still here. Graphics are as good as MW4, and gameplay is definately better. More communication with tac-officers just lends more flavor to the game and reminds you that nothing ever goes right in a war. Tactics you used in MW4 work the exact same -- never charge into a group of enemy mechs or they'll team up and waste you, lancemates still don't know what Mech repair bays are (argh!), and never run directly at a calliope turret. Theres new vehicles too, including a tank with two new surprises for you, to clarify, two AC/20's.

As far as equipment goes, you dont' always get to keep what you find. Since you ain't running the show, if the boss says you get medium mechs, that's what you get, even if you salvaged an atlas in a mission. Also, certain events might cause you to lose equipment (like your base coming under surprise attack and you gotta evacuate, etc). weapons that have been destroyed in battle are lost forever, and mechs with severe damage need to sit out of combat for a mission or two (depending on whether they are 'Damaged' or 'Crippled') while they are repaired.

Bottom line, if you liked Mechwarrior 4, or even think MW4 just needs a pinch of salt, by all means get this expansion. There's plenty of single player levels to go around in case you were wondering, and if you didnt like Casey Nolan, you get to kill him! what more do you need?

This expansion improves upon the outstanding MechWarrior 4 "Vengeance." The feel and personality of this expansion are more interesting, gritty, and (I think) true to the spirit of the original game than Vengeance.

New weapons and 'mechs make for lots of interesting variations. I enjoy using the "Instant Action" missions in conjunction with extensive trips to the Mechlab to try out new configurations and strategies. I love to stomp through the first missions in a custom Daishi or a "souped-up" Uller with no lancemates!

Two changes could improve this game. One, the lancemates are nearly incapable of doing a repair/reload. You have to lead them to the entrance, point them in the right direction, and get out of the way before giving the command (hoping that they don't run into the walls in the process.) Second, a practice range or series series of ranges (like the instant action in MW3, which is that game's best feature, in my opinion) would allow the player to more quickly test configurations against specified foes. That said, the MW4 instant action missions have the advantage of serving as training grounds for the campaign. The ideal would be to have both options.

But all things considered this is a terrific game- ...

While I enjoyed the expansion pack, this software and the two mech packs (clan arsenal and innersphere) contain the C-Dilla spyware. This is a copywrite protection program that installs on your machine and does not shut down after you exit the game. TurboTax also installs the program and the only way to remove it is to download and run the safecast uninstaller program from the intuit website. Including this program was a terrible thing for Microsoft to do, especially since it does not disclose the fact at any time.

THIS GAME ROCKED!!! I'm not finished with yet, but almost. I loved it- but then again, it's just more of MW4. If you liked MW4, then you'll love this. New 'Mechs, new weapons. The Sunder, Black Knight, and Ryoken. They are only the best of five. It's also got new missions, but kinda lacks the orignal plot line of the first one- it's the classic get betrayed, get hired, fight against the guys who betrayed. Still, it's got the usual great action. Good if you liked the first.

<<SPOILER ALERT IN THIS REVIEW>> Mech 4: Black Knight made some nice changes to Vengeance in that it included some new mechs (which all look better than their predecessors), all of which are quite useful (finally, useful light mechs other than the Cougar!) On the negative side, production values for the mission briefings and voice acting (which was not anything to write home about the first time) have gone down. Also, missions vary wildly in difficulty, from being over in minutes (single digits) with hardly a shot fired to being all but impossible until you do enough trial+error runs (I though Mech Commander had the monopoly on those sorts of missions!). Also, the black market system had a lot of work that needed to be done on it, which fortunately would show up in Mercenaries, a very good sequal to MW IV. The most annoying thing Black Knight really does though is in its story. It does one of the worst carry-over jobs I've ever seen in a sequel. While Diablo II pulled off the "Hero gone bad" relatively well, this game just starts off with "All those people you worked hard to beat the previous game with, including yourself, are now psychopathic genocidal murderers. Aren't you glad you worked to beat the last game the harder, good way?" Games like KOTOR II approach sequels right, by having a storyline of its own, but allowing the player to update what occurred previously based on how they beat the first game! This does not seem too difficult, but I hardly ever see it. Pretty much, the story ruined a lot of the game for me, which is a shame because the mercenary idea and mechs seemed great.

No longer are you cast in the role of a weakly portrayed character. In MW4X things are as they should be: Only the strong are worthy of piloting a mech. Now you are a member of the Black Legion mercenaries- battle hardened one and all and tough as nails. MW4X follows its predecessors proven formula for success: New mechs, new weapons, new terrain, new scenario. And just like MW3X 'Pirates Moon',in MW4X you experience a richer enviorment, superior portrayal of the games characters, and brand new audio tracks that work very well with the story.
Basic graphics and gameplay are the same as MW4; Good but not incredible (I've never heard of a long range missile that can do a 180 in the flick of an eyelash, and still cant believe a 100 ton robot can stand on such skimpy legs like the Daishi or Madcat MrkII). The real improvements come in character portrayal, storyline, and enviorments.
There's some new enemy vehicles to deal with that make things interesting; wait 'till you get a gander at the MODLS and static defense platforms-very cool stuff.
You'll see ice crystals,mountains,craters,lava pits....enviorment is a very strong element in the futuristic realm of Battletech, and MW4X takes this into consideration. Not as strongly as it should, but its an improvement over MW4.
Storyline is thouroughly satisfying, with plot turns that induce you to help,or kill,whoevers involved.
After MW3, I hated MW4. MW4X is redemption: It fixes the poorly concieved characters, dufus villians and weakling heroes of its base game(Did I mention you get to KILL many of them?? Muhahahaha! -Ah,true vengeance), adds genuinly cool characters, superior music, interesting story, and improved enviorments.
It's still not as good as its predecessor,but it's a little closer.

Get your heatbeat pounding with the newest expansion to the popular MechWarrior 4 Vengeance!

With the addition of new Mechs, like the Sunder, Wolfhound, Uller and More, you will be able to trade on the black market for new weapons and mech chassis.

I highly recommend this game, as a sysop with the Microsoft Gaming Zone!!! Play it online with up to 15 other people for the ultimate players experience....

Oddly the expansion is much better is most respects that the game it expands on. I wish this were a separate stand-alone game. Some of the things that bothered me in the original game have been improved or at least reduced to a tolerable level.

One of the things that stands out in my mind is the way missions are handled. With MW4 there were many promises that you would have full control over what missions you played and how you would play them. Such as setting nav points, selecting starting points, what order to play them, etc. The same was said about MW3. Both boiled down to a very linear campaign with little or no player control over them. However this is a bit different in MW4:BK. After the first few missions, when the game really picks up, the player is given choices about what order to play the missions. Depending on what order can sometimes have an effect on others. Take out a helicopter base in one mission and there will be less air support those that follow for example. This is used a lot but there are still some scripted events that push the story forward. Nor does the player choose what environment to play it, just what missions in it, so there is still some structure. And that isn't a bad thing.

Ah yes the story. I found the story in the first game to be silly and pointless. The acting generally wasn't very good; it was either over the top or flat and monotone. I really just wanted to get in the game and play, not be forced to listen to characters I could never like. However the dialogue is kept short and to the point in MW4:BK. At least they also found some actors with some creativity.

The new Mechs and weapons add some nice variety to the game. And in most cases are improvements. The new weapons have higher damage; I found this helped speed up the action. Some times in the original it could be slow when you are stuck with just a few weak pulse lasers left. Not anymore. And the black market is a good idea too. I loved being able to get rid of some of the Mechs and weapons I did not like or use. Instead I could trade them in for something I want. Great! Salvage however is still scripted. I doubt they will ever change that.

This is a great expansion to a sometimes good game.

it was a good game, i thought the storyline was great, not much had changed in the gameplay from the other two connected with this game.

the new stuff on Black Knights definitely improves on MW4 Vengeance. for one, the campaign is quite a bit better--you're not some little teenager fighting against the "bad guys", you're a Legion of professional mechwarriors who are ready to blow the brains out of anyone at moment's notice. It's really strange though--you set out to kill the character you played as in Vengeance, and all his friends, and all the people that worked for Ian come and join you. Funny.
The grand total of five new mechs didn't completely blow me away. Most of them are light and medium mechs, but there's a heavy and an assault. my personal opinions on them:
Uller--hey, finally a Mech that can go faster than an Osiris, but other than that it stinks, pretty much
Ryoken--it's big, but the weapons just.....don't appease me.
Wolfhound--a joke
Black Knight--good if you give it the right weapons
Sunder--hey, this Mech isn't all that bad. Good weapons. An assault mech
now the weapons.........I dunno. There's new versions of the Autocannon--the AC 10 and AC 20. X-Pulse Lasers are definitely better than normal Pulse lasers. Cluster bombs...ohhh boy. think Long Toms, but faster reloading, and stronger, and four at a time. That's cluster bomb for you