From the moment the intro movie with the Clan Wolf Timber Wolf kicks in,
you know you're in for an incredible ride. The loud thumping of the
mechanical titans' feet, the blasts of azure PPC fire... it just comes
together in a wonderful symphony of destruction. The two different
factions, Clan Wolf and Clan Jade Falcon really give weight to the
narrative of the Refusal War and let you know that you're getting your
money's worth. What sorta game, outside of RTSs, actually has two
campaigns these days, one for each faction? All in beautiful 1024x768
resolution for those of us with rigs powerful enough to use it. It's
pretty amazing that this was possible for a DOS game when most other
games at the time were still using
320xsomethingIcan'tevenrememberanymore!
I gotta be honest
here. BattleTech is my favorite fictional universe, bar none. While I am
also a huge Star Trek fan, my first love has always been BattleTech. I
can still remember walking into a game store in my wee youth and
stumbling into the back, where I laid eyes on a 3025 Technical Readout,
the one with the Marauder on the front. Sure didn't know it at the time,
but I would end up collecting a large part of that universe's books
over the years. I actually paid 144 dollars for a vinyl model of a
Timber Wolf and have it sitting on my shelf. This universe obviously
means a great deal to me. And the closest gaming portrayal of the
BattleTech universe is the classic MW2. The Clans are my favorite
faction in BattleTech, so to be able to immerse myself in Clan Jade
Falcon or Clan Wolf was incredibly enjoyable. Plus, the completely open
weapon loadout customization and just well-thought out gameplay
mechanics make the actual game a joy to pilot. The fluff of the universe
is simply icing on the cake for a simulation which portrays 20-100 ton
walking machines of warfare.
And for those of you wondering,
the lack of dedicated servers for multiplayer was completely fine with
me. Sure, it's expected of most PC games these days, but you gotta
remember, MW2 was made way back in the scary DOS days, later ported over
to Windows. There was Kali, and NetMech, and that was fine for us old
timers. In fact, you might not be aware, but the entire term of "Clans"
for online gaming groups came about because of MW2, it was that
influential in helping to establish online gaming into what it is today.
The More You Know!
Sure there are a few problems. The PPCs are
slow moving blue balls instead of beams of lightning. And the darn
right arm always seemed to be the first location to be destroyed. But
despite those shortcomings, MW2 is fondly remembered by myself, and many
other old timers, as the best Mech Sim ever, and undoubtedly one of the
greatest games ever created.
