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[Review] MechWarrior Online: The Unfinished Robot
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
MechWarrior Online went into final retail release not too long ago. We've walked the paths and fired the rockets in MWO and offer up our final review of the game that has many MechWarrior fans anxious to learn more about. Read on and then post your reactions in the comments.
After nearly a year of open beta, MWO was finally released on September 17. Even so, a post from the Creative Director makes it clear that unfinished features still litter the workshop floor. With so much missing, would there be enough of a game to make it worthwhile? While I can safely say there’s a kernel of fun, it’s difficult to justify spending time in this free-to-play robot bash.
Read more of Gareth Harmer's MechWarrior Online: The Unfinished Robot.
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Comments
Avoid this dog at all costs.
I've been into MechWarrior since the 80's and I was really looking forward to this. When I first started over a year ago, it was rough, but decent and fun.
Let's see, what has been done since then....
Repair and Rearm: Removed Now no risk vs reward and everybody just runs max everything
Collisions: Removed Light pilots CBA to actually learn how to pilot and cried that it was too hard.
ECM: Added because people couldn't figure out how to get behind a rock when the missiles rain in. Became mandatory.
Third person view: Straw that broke the camels back. A poll on the forums showed that over 90% of the players did not want it. The Devs swore they would never put it in....and now they have it.
Now it is no longer MechWarrior, It's CoD in big stompy robots.
Watching these so-called "devs" over the past year has been like watching a monkey trying to f*** a football.
And that's what happens when you review the wrong kind of product. Mechwarrior Online is not an MMO; it's a match-made shooter with some customization and leveling up. In that regard, it's closer to Team Fortress 2 than World of Warcraft.
This is an amazing game, but it's nothing like Guild Wars 2 so of course MMORPG.com gave it a 5.4. What is MMORPG.com reviewing next, the Chevy Volt? That new Mexican restaurant down the street? Iron Man 3? Why not? I'm sure you'd give them all low ratings because none of them have daily quests, talent trees, or auction houses.
Never played the game, probably wont, but are you serious?! You can't figure out the UI?? give me a break. UI dont make bad games good, or good games bad.
Instead of spending you time trying to find a tutorial, how about playing the game??? Unforgiving to newcomers? Really? I guess you have to "learn" I know thats a crazy idea when talking about playing mmos now a days.
It might be a bad game, but it's not the UI's fault or the learning curve.
We noticed the same thing. Reviews like this do the community no good.
I've been playing this for well over a year and I have to say this review is pretty fair and accurate. The game, at its core, is fun. If you played the old Mechwarrior games, you will enjoy it as soon as you drop in the 1st match, and the controls will feel pretty familiar.
However, the reviewer is correct, the game is pretty unforgiving to new players. The tutorial is basically a guide to walking. If you have never played a Mechwarrior game, then it will be tough to figure out the game mechanics. There are many guides that have been created by the player base, but seriously, why should you have to look tot he player base just figure out how to play?!?!?
The UI is terrible and the devs have admitted that, which is why they are doing an overhaul of the UI to be launched...someday. Community Warfare is still being designed and is also scheduled to launch...someday. Right now, this isn't a lobby FPS, because there isn't even a lobby yet.
It is a fun game and I still believe there is a lot of potential. With so much still in development, it completely boggles my mind as to why they chose to "release" the game in its current state.
Sigh.
It IS an MMO.
It's NOT an MMORPG.
If you're going to argue semantics, at least know what the acronyms mean.
Currently it's nothing more than a CoD style lobby based matchmaker, but the devs have plans to introduce some sort of persistence to the game which would make it more of an MMOFPS.
What this persistence will look like we have no clue. Even if PGI tells us what it will look like, don't count on it because they've proven their willingness to lie on multiple occasions now... 3rd person view, Coolant Flush, Founders Package being one time only (now they have a new and BETTER "founders" called Phoenix Package), Hardcore mode, and who knows which promise they'll break next.
The review is a little kind, in my opinion.
Community Warfare (unless you count the forums) hasn't been implemented, although it was touted as a feature coming 90 days after open beta.
Note that this was the major selling point for the Founder's packs in the game. And the feature that puts it from "lobby-based shooter" to "mmo", in my opinion.
Also, last I read, they were derelict in discussing the feature (even though there was a developer post promised in July. I see now that they posted a video off of the site yesterday.
I want to like it, but the development rate through open beta simply don't warrant support, in my eyes.
I'm pretty patient. But a year and change without the major feature that was sold to your customer base as the main reason that make it an MMO... yeah.
Same cash shop model as WoT. WoT review - "Almost entirely free." MWO review - "Expensive item shop."
MWO - "Fun tactical combat" WoT - "Can be a little boring at times"
MWO - 5.4 WoT - 8.1
What the hell?
Free to play = content updates for the cash shop. Buy to play = content updates for the cash shop.
Subscription = Actual content updates!
I was in the Beta for many months, but left last year after I could see the writing on the wall. The devs were designing to the lowest common denominator. Just as Reiketsu says above. When I first entered beta, it was really fun...but then the cries and tears started flowing when the bads couldn't live their fantasy of being a mechwarrior.
Too bad. What's rather ironic is that I agree with the review score, but for different reasons.
You can have max 24 players in any one game (i.e. 12 vs 12). not sure that qualifies it as an "MMO" even. Each battle is instanced and ends when criteria for the victory is achieved.
I loved it at first, It gave me that old MechWarrior feel again, albeit limited. But it quickly loses its appeal, when there is not much variety in the battles....pretty much you have the FOM builds that dominate.
But I guess it's free to play now, so not like you lose anything other than time to try it out and form your own opinion.
Current games playing: MechWarrior Online
Games being watched: Project Genom
Favorite played games: SWG, RomaVictor, and Xsyon
Core mechanics are good. If you are a fan of MW/BT and are not elitist prlck, this can be a fun game.
The lack of private lobbies, campaign, and a revamped UI/Mechlab at launch really hurts the game but again if you are into Battletech the game is free to play and can be fun.
The Devs made a mistake allowing this to launch in it's current state.
WOT is much more polished than MW Online and they play very differently. Their are no Tiers in MW like WOT. Hard to compare the two games other than they are both F2P.
This ^.
Almost from the beginning, the excuses started coming as to why this was NOT going to a be a full MMO/MMORPG title.
This is a game franchise that has deep lore, political factions, multi-planet empires, potentially complex tech and mech load out possibilities, and many, many other things. In other words, just about everything you'd need to make a good MMORPG.
Instead, you get a shallow area shooter, with about 12 maps, without even a lobby.
The fans of the IP deserved far more and better than what this game offers.
Seriously look at my join date and look how often I feel the need to say something.
MWO is cursed as PGI hate everyone that plays it, avoid this horrible mess of a deathmatch game as they are only interested in your money.
Confused on about several aspects of the review... I have no idea how "value" was even rated, that doesn't make any sense. They are essentially complaining that it's not a pay to win game...? Therefore 5/10? Makes no sense. The only thing I'd agree with about being expensive is some of the hero mechs but you don't need to buy them to succeed.
Rest of the review is hit and miss for me. I do think the game deserves an average rating (4-6/10 depending on how harsh or lenient) but I think it was given its rating for really odd and perhaps wrong reasons... If you're reading about MWO for the first time I'd suggest reading or watching some other reviews (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsHeZoyMu9Y) to get a better idea of what the game is actually like. This review spent far too much time focusing on mostly irrelevant things. Oh no there's no tutorial *complain about UI*, oh no the UI is hard to use, oh no cash shop is expensive *insert more UI complaints*, blah blah blah. Needed to be more concise and focus on what everyone wants to know, which is combat. (The first two responses to this thread are spot on, by the way)
The point where I gave up reading (unfortunately it was close to the end of the review anyway...) was: "Each ‘Mech class has a definite role to play, making battlefield combat a true team-play affair."
When did this person write this review? Half a year ago or more and just posted it up now? Because that's completely wrong. They've dumbed the game down so much that roles have become irrelevant, everyone uses the same exact builds for the most part.
And no, this is not an MMO. If you consider this a MMO then EVERY single game with any online features is now considered an MMO... There's nothing massive about 10 man battles.
A fair review and i look forward to a re-review once they get more features in.
This was always aimed at a minimum viable product release and at it´s core it is a very good game... But the new player experience is comparable to old Eve before the two... three? updates to the NPE they had. It is brutal and unforgiving and does in no way explain what you did wrong.
But if you like a tactical shooter from the seat of a giant mech. It is worth to invest some time in to.
This have been a good conversation
I didn't expect to see anything about this game here, I never thought of it as MMO at all. As a founder and long time player I think some of the criticisms in this review are fair. The intro screen is poorly implemented and looks like something that would have been acceptable a decade ago, and social features almost non existent. These systems are being improved in the future, but you have to review it as it is now, and some things are lacking.
I think the scores on gameplay are to low however. It isn't an easy game to pick up, and honestly no tutorial is going to stop you from getting your butt kicked a lot at first. Don't expect to be more than decent for some time after that even. The review on gameplay is entirely from a new players perspective and this is a game that takes some experience to be on even footing with the rest of the players.
Value is also very under rated. Hero mechs are expensive, yes. They are also entirely optional- you can master (fully unlock the experience tree) of any mech type you want without having a hero variant, and they provide no advantages in game. The only thing that is a must have is probably mech bays, which cost 300 MC (a few dollars depending on how much MC you buy at a time). Even those you don't have to have to fully enjoy the game since you start with enough slots to master one mech type for free. Its kind of like pilot skills in EvE actually, because no matter how many mechs you have in the mech bay the only one that matters is the one your actively using- although unlike EvE, you could choose to go right to the largest mechs (assaults) without having to master light, medium, and heavy first.
Giving such a low score on graphics because you do not like the UI when out of the combat seems a bit harsh, especially when combined with the praise for the graphics while you are playing...it seems a cheap way to attack a feature that you, perhaps rightly, disagree with...the cash shop spam..
This is coming from someone who does not play the game however but it would seem that would belong in Polish or some other category...if I didn't like Lotro's log in screen and character select I do not think I would put that complaint in the graphics category.