MechCommander 2 Preview

All of this happens in a split second and the best you can do is position your mechs properly. The game's AI is good enough to properly switch weapons according to the range of the target, and keep shooting even while you're running backwards --- just like you'd do if you were piloting the steel beast yourself. The action is as I said, unrestrained, and this aspect of the gameplay is really all about furious combat, flashy explosions, and flying metal parts. The game's strategy element is evident in features like: tactical support, resource allocation and management, various possible approaches to the designated target, and even some simple manual formations.

The important thing though, is that the combat looks and feels awesome. The weapon effects look great, the explosions are well done, and the mech models are highly detailed and easily identified. There has also been some talk about the game's in-game camera and how it affects the action. Rotating your view is simple enough, and zooming is too, but I really used neither of these. I was perfectly happy with using the right-click for issuing orders rather than tilting or rotating the camera. In fact, there is absolutely no need to rotate the camera during gameplay. I was under the impression that you can play the game from start to finish with a fixed camera without taking away any of its gameplay appeal. MC2 plays just as well as your regular Joe 2D isometric RTS with a fixed camera view. Needles to say, this spells out "smooth gameplay" in more ways than one.

Even though I've played the BETA version, which BTW had a god-awful (not-so-smooth) frame rate (1GHz T-bird, 256 RAM, GeForce 2 DDR; I suspect because of the high terrain interactivity and very detailed models and shadows), I had loads of fun wreaking havoc and shooting off mechanical limbs. Hell, I can even say I got hooked. The mix of pilot progression (kinda like RPG character progression), dynamic action, and subtle but effective strategy element make MechCommander 2 stand out as a very good action / strategy game, which should make a nice addition to your ever growing collection of titles. Not to mention the added spice of the Battletech universe...

No seriously, I'm not just saying this. I don't buy games, but if I did, I'd spend my money on this one and so should you. Maybe Microsoft should think about sticking to their great PC games, and stop spending so much money on the über-console Nintendo / PSX killing attempt with a giant "X" in the middle.