MechWarrior 4: Vengeance Preview

"MechWarrior 4" will immerse players in the BattleTech Universe with an entirely new story of a clan's heroic struggle for freedom. Players are the last of their family line, fighting a desperate battle to avenge their father and retake their planet from those who seek to destroy it...

Mechwarrior has come a long way baby! Man, I was only 8 years old (that's sixteen years ago) when the original game, set in the BattleTech universe hit the store shelves across US. In fact, this previews' subtitle should definitely go something like: Lassie Comes Home... or MechWarrior rather... And it really did come a long way... FASA's original BattleTech license was tossed around like a butt-slap on a football field, and it kinda went in and out of the hands of its creators... The famous story of the Inner Sphere, giant robots, Clans, and betrayal was shared amongst such powerhouses as Activision, Microprose, only to have (finally) settled in the hands of the Redmond giant. Luckily, Microsoft has showed an outstanding record in games development, producing quality titles, and leaving their critics precious little arguments, at least as far as games publishing is concerned... Through some strange twist of faith, it appears that Microsoft was the right company for the job. From what we know so far, they seem to be guiding Mechwarrior series to its old path of glory... Right about the time I got to appreciate the joys of being constantly rejected by girls and having large, red pimples infest my milky, smooth skin I was introduced to the fabulous MechWarrior 2 BattleTech universe, developed under the guiding hand of Tim Morton of Savage Entertainment, at the time employed by Activision. It was an instant addiction, not so much because of the outstanding graphics, and playability, but because of the fantastic, and immersive background story that unfolded with each finalized mission. Then came MechWarrior 3 - Zipper Interactive teamed up with Microprose to once again attempt to immerse players into the giant robot world, but to no avail... It is my strong belief that Mechwarrior 3 was, apart from some impressive eye-candy, and certain other neat engine features, a total flop. It failed to carry the dynamics of the series, and it definitely failed to present the powerful storyline, that was the trademark of the previous mech games...

Lucky for us people that Lassie is finally coming home... BattleTech license is again in the hands of its creators, FASA, and we have Microsoft to thank for that. Great move folks - Dave McCoy, co-founder of Virtual World (makers of "BattleTech" simulators), a company that later merged with its sister company, FASA Interactive is heading the MechWarrior 4: Vengeance project, with enough resources to support his development needs and desires. This is a good enough reason for all true MechWarrior fans to rejoice, as MechWarrior 4 promises to bring back the very things that were sorely missing from part three.