Mechwarrior Online Turns Up the Heat

[Andy Chalk]

Mechwarrior Online Turns Up the Heat

​

I don't know how, but these Mechwarrior Online gameplay videos just keep getting sexier.

Last month, we took a quick-stomp tour of the Frozen City [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118166-Mechwarrior-Online-Hits-the-Ice], an icy, frigid environment that's tough to dance to but easy to shoot with. Today, it's a completely different kind of environment: the Caustic Valley is hot, acidic and wickedly good-looking.

As touched on last time around, heat is every mech's greatest enemy, and heavy mechs in particular will have to take care that they don't push too hard on this steamy, sweltering world. Ballistic weapons will have a distinct advantage in firefights, and the wide-open spaces make it a natural fit for long-range firepower.

But it's the gorgeous visuals that really sell this trailer. Cold environments are fun for sustained fights but the weather effects in Frozen City keep it from being much to look at. Caustic Valley, on the other hand, is a little hazy but very clear, so the battles unfolding in and around the defunct Commonwealth Mining Corporation installation can be seen in all their glory - and boy, are they glorious. The more I see, the more I like.

The free-to-play, PC-exclusive Mechwarrior Online is currently slated to come out later this year. Applications for the closed beta may be filled out at mwomercs.com [http://mwomercs.com/signup].


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[Saviordd1]

The narrator couldn't sell me a diamond plated hooker. That said this game looks badass.

 

[J. Mazarin]

Looks sexy as hell. As a big Armored Core fan who despises what that series has become, this looks like something good to latch on to.

 

[cerebus23]

gods this was s smple mod for crysis before it came out, now it is a f2p game, well i am sure they will pay the bills some way. looks really cool though.

 

[kurupt87]

The open beta is not really open anymore. There are no more spots available unless you pay to support the game. Maybe after August 7th the beta will be open and random again but until then, no.

That said, this game does look sexy as hell.

 

[SnipErlite]

Oh the memories playing Mechwarrior 3 with my mate - Taking legs of other mechs so they'd crash and burn, trying to use jumpjets for the first time and failing hilariously into a wall, arming the biggest mech there was with nothing but microwave lasers and missiles so when you pressed the "FIRE EVERYTHING" button it instantly caught fire and blew up. That video there just reminded me how much fun piloting a mech can be.

This looks like it could be awesome - Solid mech action with good graphics? I think I shall have to give this a go.

 

[DTWolfwood]

Not sure which im more interested in this or Hawken.

I do believe both will be f2p so i dont really have to choose \o/

we need more mech games. Ever since Chromehounds there hasn't been anything other than that double fine Mech TD and more iterations of Armored Core.

 

[Rad Party God]

Does look sexy indeed, but I'm not into the "giant robots" thing, but I'll definitely give it a try when it comes out, though I doubt it'll dethrone Tribes as my go-to multiplayer game.

 

[Zer_]

gods this was s smple mod for crysis before it came out, now it is a f2p game, well i am sure they will pay the bills some way. looks really cool though.

This was never a mod. Originally the game was supposed to be a standard MechWarrior title set in the pre-clan invasion timeline, essentially MechWarrior reboot using the Unreal 3 Engine. They have since changed their plan to make the game online only in a similar way to World of Tanks (though the games are quite different). There is no affiliation with Living Legends.

The open beta is not really open anymore. There are no more spots available unless you pay to support the game. Maybe after August 7th the beta will be open and random again but until then, no.

That said, this game does look sexy as hell.

Don't fret. Prior to the Founders program, they were indeed inviting everyone, however invites were very limited. The Founder's program only guarantees those who purchased it a closed beta slot by August 7th. A few weeks ago Piranha Games swapped their beta hardware for the final server hardware, and they have subsequently ramping up beta invites for Founder's members. The have been inviting between 1000 and 3000 players per day. This is their way of saying thank you, and also a way to stress test their new hardware.

After August 7th, they will begin invited non-founders until the game goes out of beta.

So what is MechWarrior: Online about?

Obviously, it's a game based off of the Battletech universe, a tabletop game featuring mechs, tanks, and all out combat. The MechWarrior universe is one that spans 500+ years of lore. MechWarrior: Online starts off in the year 3049 just prior to the Clan Invasion. For the time being, only Inner Sphere Mechs are available. MWO will follow a 1:1 time progression, meaning the Clan Invasion is due to begin in roughly ~9 months. For anyone familiar with Battletech lore, they know that the Clans are incredibly advanced. They took the entire Inner Sphere by surprise and on my occasions nearly succeeding in invading it completely. During the war the Inner Sphere found out who the Clans were (they consisted of the old Star League forces that fled the Inner Sphere because of the constant wars, they wanted to leave, and come back to restore the Inner Sphere to the old Star League glory days). Of course the Clans aren't as altruistic as they'd like to think.

Anyways, just prior to the war the Inner Sphere began to uncover some of the lost technology that made up the Star League. As it stands now, the Inner Sphere is still decades behind the Clanners, however that gap is being bridged as we speak. The reason the Inner Sphere is so far behind is because almost all of the old Star League technologies have been completely forgotten, this set the Inner Sphere back by at least 100 years. Nobody knows how the Clan Invasion will be handled in-game. I suspect that we will indeed be able to pilot the iconic clan mechs such as the Mad Cat (Timberwolf). Piranha games has to find a way to balance the battlefield around the Clan Mech's superiority, though that isn't actually very difficult. In canon Battletech lore, the Inner Sphere already had access to a some of the old League technologies (though its availability was VERY, VERY limited).

Anyways, this is a very ambitious game, and I can only hope it succeeds. So far it seems that MW:O set itself right in between MechWarrior 3 and MechWarrior 4 in terms of gameplay style. (MW3 was very much a simulation, while MW4 had more of an arcade style to its gameplay).

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Signed up!

 

[WanderingFool]

Looks sexy as hell. As a big Armored Core fan who despises what that series has become, this looks like something good to latch on to.

Out of benign curiosity, whats wrong with the series now?

OT: I like where this is going...

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I am just kinda sad that it doesn't have a singleplayer campaign. That is mostly what I play mechwarrior for.

 

[J. Mazarin]

Looks sexy as hell. As a big Armored Core fan who despises what that series has become, this looks like something good to latch on to.

Out of benign curiosity, whats wrong with the series now?

A lot of things. But to be blunt, the games have just gotten progressively worse.

Armored Core 2: Another Age stands as one of the better examples of mech-based media in my opinion. From there things were OK, but after AC: Nexus, things just went downhill pretty quickly.

 

[WanderingFool]

Looks sexy as hell. As a big Armored Core fan who despises what that series has become, this looks like something good to latch on to.

Out of benign curiosity, whats wrong with the series now?

A lot of things. But to be blunt, the games have just gotten progressively worse.

Armored Core 2: Another Age stands as one of the better examples of mech-based media in my opinion. From there things were OK, but after AC: Nexus, things just went downhill pretty quickly.

Ah, so it wasnt just a "this game was good, the next was bad" kind of thing. It happened over time.

Was wanting to get into the Armored Core series...

 

[Rottweiler]

I am very much looking forward to this game. Honestly...I always thought that Battletech was well-suited for an mmorpg, so long as they were willing to go as far with it as the IP needs (the 5 Successor Houses/Factions, more if you include Periphery and Comstar) and if they're willing to have the Clans as an enemy faction.

One of the biggest issues the old, tabletop version always had was the tech race- everyone wanted the bigger, more heavily armed 'mechs, plus whatever better weapons they could. That turned battles into whoever could gain a tech edge, plus whoever could get the heaviest mechs.

Hopefully with the mmo system, it can put proper weight classes and tech levels together in a gradated system.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

ComStar

I think you mean Star League.

 

[cerebus23]

gods this was s smple mod for crysis before it came out, now it is a f2p game, well i am sure they will pay the bills some way. looks really cool though.

This was never a mod. Originally the game was supposed to be a standard MechWarrior title set in the pre-clan invasion timeline, essentially MechWarrior reboot using the Unreal 3 Engine. They have since changed their plan to make the game online only in a similar way to World of Tanks (though the games are quite different). There is no affiliation with Living Legends.

The open beta is not really open anymore. There are no more spots available unless you pay to support the game. Maybe after August 7th the beta will be open and random again but until then, no.

That said, this game does look sexy as hell.

Don't fret. Prior to the Founders program, they were indeed inviting everyone, however invites were very limited. The Founder's program only guarantees those who purchased it a closed beta slot by August 7th. A few weeks ago Piranha Games swapped their beta hardware for the final server hardware, and they have subsequently ramping up beta invites for Founder's members. The have been inviting between 1000 and 3000 players per day. This is their way of saying thank you, and also a way to stress test their new hardware.

After August 7th, they will begin invited non-founders until the game goes out of beta.

So what is MechWarrior: Online about?

Obviously, it's a game based off of the Battletech universe, a tabletop game featuring mechs, tanks, and all out combat. The MechWarrior universe is one that spans 500+ years of lore. MechWarrior: Online starts off in the year 3049 just prior to the Clan Invasion. For the time being, only Inner Sphere Mechs are available. MWO will follow a 1:1 time progression, meaning the Clan Invasion is due to begin in roughly ~9 months. For anyone familiar with Battletech lore, they know that the Clans are incredibly advanced. They took the entire Inner Sphere by surprise and on my occasions nearly succeeding in invading it completely. During the war the Inner Sphere found out who the Clans were (they consisted of the old ComStar forces that fled the Inner Sphere because of the constant wars, they wanted to leave, and come back to restore the Inner Sphere to the old ComStar glory days). Of course the Clans aren't as altruistic as they'd like to think.

Anyways, just prior to the war the Inner Sphere began to uncover some of the lost technology that made up the ComStar. As it stands now, the Inner Sphere is still decades behind the Clanners, however that gap is being bridged as we speak. The reason the Inner Sphere is so far behind is because almost all of the old ComStar technologies have been completely forgotten, this set the Inner Sphere back by at least 100 years. Nobody knows how the Clan Invasion will be handled in-game. I suspect that we will indeed be able to pilot the iconic clan mechs such as the Mad Cat (Timberwolf). Piranha games has to find a way to balance the battlefield around the Clan Mech's superiority, though that isn't actually very difficult. In canon Battletech lore, the Inner Sphere already had access to a some of the old ComStar technologies (though its availability was VERY, VERY limited).

Anyways, this is a very ambitious game, and I can only hope it succeeds. So far it seems that MW:O set itself right in between MechWarrior 3 and MechWarrior 4 in terms of gameplay style. (MW3 was very much a simulation, while MW4 had more of an arcade style to its gameplay).

Thanks for clearing that up, guess the whole cryengine 2 threw me off with the old living legends mod, that was being worked on years ago.

 

[Skeleon]

Definitely looking forward to this one, I was a big fan of the series from MW2:Mercenaries to MW4. I just hope they keep it "simulationy" enough. MW3 was probably my favorite gameplaywise (although I loved the Mercenaries-aspect of earning money, managing a Lance and so on). Also, that kickass intro movie...


I mean, come on. "Interception succesful." So awesome.

 

[Zer_]

ComStar

I think you mean Star League.

Yeah you're right, I got those two mixed up for some reason. ComStar are the dudes who control the communication net and Word of Blake, yadda yadda.