MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries
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| Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries | |
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| Developer(s) | Cyberlore, FASA Studio |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft |
| Release date(s) | November 7, 2002 |
| Genre(s) | Action |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (13+) USK: 12+ ELSPA: 11+ OFLC: M15+ |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Microsoft Windows |
| Media | 2 CD-ROMs |
| System requirements | 700 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM, 16 MB video card RAM, 8X CD-ROM drive, DirectX 8.1, 1.0 GB available hard disk space, Windows 98 |
| Input | Keyboard, mouse, or joystick |
Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries is an simulation-based video game for the PC, based on the Battletech Mechwarrior game universe. The original Battletech game is a turn-based board game where the player controls battles between mechs, large, powerful, piloted robot-like vehicles. Each video game in the extensive Mechwarrior series has gradually edged further from the Battletech ethos, in order to produce a dynamic real-time video game with fair and balanced elements. Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries, released in 2002, is currently the last game in the MW4 series.
Many of the comments on this page also apply to other games in the Mechwarrior series.
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[edit] Basic story
In the game, you, Spectre, are a mercenary battlemech pilot travelling throughout the Mechwarrior Battletech universe during the FedCom Civil War between Victor Steiner-Davion and his sister Katrina Steiner, earning cash and useful salvage for completing contracts for various factions. With this cash you can buy weapons, mechs, allies, and mech repairs. To add to the realism you have some choice in which missions you accept. In addition, how you perform every mission you accept has an impact on your timeline. For example, killing civilans and neutral targets results in infamy points- the more you have, the less likely you are to land safe jobs and more the more likely you are to be offered brutal missions. Also, you must choose how you balance your allegiance to the different sides of the war (Steiner vs. Davion). This is important as your allegiance will affect what contracts are offered later on and will lead to one of three endings for the player.
[edit] Alternate endings
Depending on how the player handled allegience between the two main factions of House Steiner and House Davion, the player would end up with one of three mission paths, each with their own ending.
Davion Ending: The player ends up assisting Victor Steiner-Davion in defeating the Lyran loyalists. The final mission sees Spectre taking part in the final assault along side Victor on the Tharkad palace where Nondi Steiner awaits with her bodyguard lance. The backdrop of this ending is canonical.
Steiner Ending: By siding with Steiner, Spectre must assist an agent called Rabid Fox (likely from the special operations unit Rabid Foxes) in obtaining information on Katherine "Katrina" Steiner-Davion's whereabouts. Ultimately, Spectre must deliver this information to Khan Vlad of Clan Wolf. Doing this requires Spectre to undergo a Trial of Position where he must defeat five consecutive clan Mechwarriors. This ending has partial canonity as Katherine was indeed handed over to Vlad in exchange for his promise not to attack the Inner Sphere.
Rogue Ending: This ending is actually an offshoot of the Steiner ending. Instead of undergoing the Trial of Position, Spectre elects to take a contract on New Canton to defend a base under attack by the Capellan Confederation. Success results in Spectre and his mercenary unit taking the base for themselves.
[edit] Game play
The Mechwarrior series is rather more of a simulation game than a pure action video game (like Virtual-On) or a console game like MechAssault. A keyboard is essential in the game for the sheer number of controls these include:
- various weapons and weapon control options
- movement controls
- throttle and heat controls
- commands for your lancemates (allies).
Before fighting, decisions are necessary about which weapons to fit, armour options, engine options, cooling efficiency and so on. Favourite configurations can be saved, but are not always available in mission play (not all weapons are available at any particular time).
On the field of play, the pilot has a complex head-up display that shows radar, location of targeted enemy, your weapons in range, ammunition remaining for each weapon, damage situation for your own, friendly and enemy units, and much more.
Tactics and tactical issues include typical FPS issues, such as the 'Circle-of-Death' (circlestrafing), sniping, camping, 'spawn-raping' (waiting for and then attacking an opponent as s/he just appears in the game, and is not yet ready to fight). The art to being a good player in this game is the understanding of tactics, not the speed of your reactions and as such can give the game extended life beyond just killing the enemy.
[edit] Features
[edit] Game types
This mech piloting game also has tactical, technical decisions and resource management elements. There is a training mission, the main campaign missions, and access to most missions for 'instant action' play. Instant action can be mission-based, or wave-based. The 'instant action' mode is flexible but the interface is so slow to use that it puts off players. Mercenaries also has sophisticated online play options, with a good connection interface. It is relatively easy to host an online game if you wish. The single-player game includes 19 different maps. There is the single-player ability to command up to seven other mechs at one time (your 'lancemates'). In multiplayer there is also the ability to communitcate with your teammates/opponents via a built in chat function.
[edit] MechWarrior 4 vehicles
The game revolves around the mechs, which have varying weights, roles and characteristics.
Mechwarrior mechs do not generally appear to be "handed," that is, having hands and carrying loose, non-hardpoint weapons (although some do, but are not featured in this game.). The US-designed Mechwarrior Mechs are notably less anthropomorphic than the more human-like Japanese Gundam-style mecha. All mechs in the game are user-drivable. The standard game has 8 light mechs, 7 medium mechs, 9 heavy mechs, and 12 assault mechs available - a total of 36 mechs. Other (non-drivable) vehicles in the game include jets, helicopters and tanks. There are no quad (four-legged) mechs in the video version of the game. A full version of MW4: Mercs with up-to-date Mektek patches (MP3.02b as of late 2006) and both the Inner Sphere and Clan MechPak add-ons will have 109 different base-model mechs available. All of these mechs will be customisable in the game. With some effort and technical ability, the appearance and logos on your mech, can be customised to a further extent than the choices available in the game.
[edit] MW4: Mercenaries Online
Online play is an important part of MW4: Mercenaries, with servers hosting up to 24 players and bots at a time. MW4 has a built in chat function, but it is very inconvenient to type comments while playing. In some sophisticated online MW4 games, voice communications systems such as Teamspeak 2 are used. Originally the 'Zonestats' online ranking system recorded the victories and other statistics of other players, but it is now defunct. It is possible to play MW4:Mercs online with a dial-up internet connection. MW4 is also enjoyable played on a local LAN network. It is relatively easy to set up, with or without a dedicated server.
[edit] Technical issues and support
[edit] System requirements
A typical installation of this game takes up more than one gigabyte (1 Gb) of space on a PC hard drive, although some of this can be reduced by tricks such as substituting the built-in movies for short blank MPEG files. The numerous additional unofficial add-ons and maps necessary for much online play will take up hundreds more megabytes. The game can be played (with low graphics settings) acceptably on a Pentium III PC with a speed of 500MHz or more, if the graphics card has reasonable (for 2003) 3D processing power. A 16MB video card and 500MB hard disc space is enough for a minimum install. The game runs on a PC running Windows 98 or a more recent version, with DirectX 8.1 graphic support (supplied on the CD). A 28.8 kbps modem or better is required for online play via TCP/IP supporting up to 24 players at broadband speeds.
[edit] Microsoft - the publisher of Mechwarrior 4
MW4 Mercenaries was developed by Cyberlore Studios Inc. in conjunction with Microsoft's FASA, the Microsoft game studio. Microsoft, the publishers of Mechwarrior 4 (but not earlier versions of the game) have been seriously criticised for lack of support, e.g. for not producing sufficient patches for bugs in the game, for problems with the game interface (e.g. set-up menus for "instant action" games is not at all "instant"), and for overcharging for the add-on mecha in the two add-on MechPak CDs, which fans could have designed for themselves, if the development tools had been made available. Finally, some argue that Mercenaries is merely a glorified expansion pack, and not a new game.
Microsoft have not announced any intention of developing a sequel to Mercenaries. No other mod team or software publisher can do so while Microsoft hold the rights to the game, although there is wide interest in doing so. There is a slight chance that Microsoft may release the full source code as they have done for MechCommander 2.
[edit] MW4 mods
Many recent video games are sold with development tools as standard to encourage modification (or mods) by users. This often extends the popularity of the game. Some customised modes of play can become more popular than the original game (as Counter-Strike became more widely played than Half-Life, the game it is based on). Despite the lack of supplied development tools, Mercenaries has been modded extensively. Two of the main groups (mod teams) customising the game are "Mektek" and "NBT". These mods change the version number of the game, meaning you can only play with other gamers running the same version. Mechstorm has released several versions of its High Definition Patch[HDP], which adds much higher-resoultion graphics and new audio to the game. Mercenaries now has a HDP for versions PR1, MP2.1a, and a beta version for Mektek's final MP3 version is in the works. The beauty of the HDP is it is an optional download that does not change the version number of the game, meaning you can play with people who do and don't have it installed. Many teams play in organised leagues and have their own websites. League play often requires a further download of (free) software to make your installation of MW4 compliant to the league rules.
[edit] Additional maps and missions
An add-on single-player or multiplayer mission will be playable after downloading and installing only if the relevant map is also in the map directory of your MW4: Mercs installation. A map may be one from another version of MechWarrior 4, or one created by another user or mod team.
[edit] MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries product support and patches
Microsoft have been widely criticised for issuing only one official patch for Mercenaries, the "PR1 patch", although after this patch there still remained several notable bugs in the game. Independent support groups Mektek and NBT have issued further patches and enhancement for the MechWarrior 4 series of games.
In what has been seen by some players as a betrayal and lack of support of their product, Microsoft have been further criticised for not maintaining the in-game "Zonecom" master server, which has disappeared, although it is essential for locating servers for online play. Mektek have recently released a Java-based patch that replaces the "Zonecom" server with their own community master server, so that players can still locate games to play online.
Microsoft have also dropped Mechwarrior game hosting from the Microsoft Network (MSN) GameZone server, despite the large player base, and the fact that it is a game that they produced.
Another common complaint is that Microsoft did not support peripherals such as their own Game-Voice and dual controllers for the MechWarrior 4 series.
Another source of huge contention among fans is the inability to play mechs that were previously released in the Mech Pak add-ons for MechWarrior 4: Vengeance, though both the Mech Paks are compatible with Mercenaries. Oddly enough the unavailable mechs can be seen piloted by the enemy in several campaign missions. Additionally in the 2002 E3 trailer for Mercenaries, a Masakari and Cauldron-Born, two of the unavailable mechs, are shown. The Cauldron-Born is also shown in the introduction movie for Mercenaries. The missing mechs can neither be purchased nor salvaged in the campaign nor selected in the 'Instant Action' mode. The move was to ensure that players who wanted to play the unavailable mechs had to buy the previous Mech Pak add-ons. Including the mechs in Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries would render the Paks redundant. It has been surmised by fans of the series that various mod groups could easily add the mechs in for free but doing so would no doubt bring licensing and legal ramifications for the modders, despite the fact that as of 2006 the Mechwarrior PC games are either no longer available for retail purchase or impossibly hard to find.
[edit] Mechwarrior 5
In March 2003, it was announced that Mechwarrior 5 had been cancelled. As of March 2007 there has yet to be any official word on future titles in the series and it doubtful that any further PC releases bearing the "Mechwarrior" name will be produced by Microsoft. This has led to a decline of interest in the series due to Microsoft's attempt to shift interest to the more arcade-based MechAssault series.
[edit] Mechwarrior players
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Players are very loyal to the Mechwarrior series of video games, and many have played the game from Mechwarrior 2 onwards. Because of the longevity of the MW series and the complexity of game-play, players tend to be more mature than players of newer games. Forums are generally helpful, and trash-talking is at a noticeably lower level than usual for such boards. An experienced player can recognise any one of 50 or 60 mechs at first sight.
The game developers have done a reasonable job of balancing the speed, acceleration, weight, armament, armour and accessories of the various mechs, but even so, some mechs are definitely more popular than others, especially online.
- Popular standard mechs in the single-player game include the Uziel and Black Knight.
- Popular add-on mechs include the Cauldron-Born and the Kodiak
- Popular weapons in MW4 include AC10s (autocannon) and PPCs (particle projection cannons).
The controls of MW4 are very complex. In this it resembles Defender, a classic side-scrolling arcade game from the early 1980's, that was notoriously difficult to learn to control. In addition to the technical issues, this might limit the game's appeal to the casual console gamer. Paradoxically, the game can be completed in a very few days once the controls have been mastered.
The issues are that the BT board-game has only imaginary physics that are limited by credulity of the player, while the equally imaginary physics in MW4 have to satisfy those limits, and in addition help contribute to a balanced real-time game. Much time and energy is expended in various Mechwarrior 4 forums arguing about issues that would only be pertinent if the mechs were real, existing vehicles, usually without reflection on the fact that back-story is not necessarily connected to the requirements of game balance.
For example: 'If mech jump-jets are powered by venting the mech's 'plasma reactor' engine, then how come it leads to a rise in heat, rather than heat-levels falling?' (Heat control is an important area in MW4).
Or: 'Given the shots-per-ton of gauss rifle ammunition, one shot is so heavy it should knock a mech over. The slugs should also travel at the speed of light...'
[edit] Mechwarrior slang
The complexity of the game has generated many terms, definitions and abbreviations specific to the Mechwarrior 4 game.
[edit] Buying the game
MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries was released in November 2002. It still has relatively high popularity and online activity for its age. Given the speed of development of games, and their relatively short shelf-life, at the time of writing (5 June 2006), the best way to obtain a copy of MW4: Mercs is in the second-hand market. Copies are often downloaded from peer-to-peer networks, but even after this time, this is an offence of infringement of copyright and will be so until 2097 in the USA and 2077 in most EU countries. Although in the EU it is possible to purchase a copy of the game through 'Xplosiv'. (£9.99)
[edit] See also
- Battletech
- Heavy Gear
- Mech Crusaders
- Starsiege
- Virtual On
[edit] External links
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[edit] MW4 forums
- Mektek — Extensive MW4 forums from the well-known MW4 mod team. Their goals are to expand the games options for all players by providing more units and weapons to increase the replayability of the game.
- Dropshipcommand forums
- Mech listings for Mechwarrior 4 games —
- Mechstorm—Creators of the HDP and the MCM Tutorial, the most comprehensive map and mission creation guide to all versions of Mechwarrior 4. They also host many map and mission addons for the game.
Clickable for different game versions
- NetBattleTech (NBT) — A planetary style league that focuses on Role Play through their mod entitled 'HardCore'. Other leagues are under development (Solaris, MegaMek and Battlefield).
- Empire League
- newbattlefields MW4 mod team
- Microsoft Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries pages. — Includes PR1 patch, desktop wallpapers, 120Mb trial version.
- Early MW4 demo download, 67Mb.
- The Mechwarrior registry — Excellent Mechreg download page that includes a no CD patch.
- MechWarrior Leagues (MWL)— Online league system for MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries supporting Ladders, Bracket-style tournaments, Solaris-style gameplay, and 1-on-1 competition.
- FASA — Microsoft games developer's Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries page
- Original Battletech table-top game. — Includes gamesets, maps, models, as well as novels and background books and more. There are also many websites dedicated to the Battletech board-game.
- Yahoo MW4: Mercs games page
- FAQ/Walkthrough guides to MW4:Mercs
- Original review
- Long review. — Many screenshots, but non-graphic, non-ad version available at the bottom of the page
- MW4: Mercs information at gamestats.com.
- Add-on maps for download.
Mechwarrior games have short intro movie animations on disc/when installed.
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MechWarrior • MechWarrior 2 • MechWarrior 3 • MechWarrior 4 • MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries |
