MechWarrior Online Preview

The trial mechs are there for players to get their feet wet, experiment with the different roles and play styles while earning some in game currency. But like the flavor of the month at the local ice cream shop these trial mechs are rotated from time so that you are not stuck with the same loaner all the time. This allows the new or thrifty player to experience different weapons and mech variants. When you are ready sign on the dotted line and take home your very own mech, you make your purchase with currency earned through combat missions, called C-Bills or MechWarrior Credits that can be purchased with real world currency via PayPal or credit card.

Mechs are just plain sexy.

Let me see, if I press this button, do I get a latte?

Once you have your own mech you can customize the weapon load out, armor rating and other system components. Purchasing new equipment for your mech customization will cost you yet more C-Bills or MCs to purchase the additional parts, although once you own the items, you can swap them in and out of your fleet to try different builds. This part of the game is quite addicting as it’s easy to get caught up in trying to find the perfect balance of armaments, power plants and armor. The interface still needs a bit of tweaking to help new players understand the process, albeit the forums answered any questions I had. Each time the game gets updated and refined new balances are introduced and this creation process gets more user-friendly and more rewarding. When I am not playing my mind keeps wandering and thinking about different configurations that are going to strike the perfect balance for my mech and I have to jump back into the game.

MechWarrior Online is still in Beta. Nonetheless, the gameplay is already so fun that I have ponied up my own real money to purchase in-game currency to further customize my mechs. That is first for me for any free-to-play game. I cannot wait to see how the game turns out once the final touches are in place and the game is released later this year. Even though I may have gotten older MechWarrior Online has made me realize that I still want my own giant robot and is proof that I haven’t grown up. Now, if Piranha Games could give me some free money and do something about my acne as well, I’d be set. However if they can’t, I’ll settle for my own virtual mech (Hope they don’t miss the memo on that – Ed. Vader).