mech2

[CGB [CoffiNail]]

thEClaw, you just lost some mechwarrior points. MW2, GBL and MERCS kick the living crap out of the other mechwarriors.  Better story, more fun, MErcs and the fact you could maintain your merc unit, random rolled jobs to make some spare cbills.. MW3 has nicer graphics, but i still very much enjoy MW2

I have seen some damn epic mech battles in MW2 that compare to MWLL, reminded me of MWLL battles just in a lot lower graphics.  MW2 kicks ass, and you are the one who should be banned for such blasphemy Claw

[=KoS= Eldragon]

Nostalgia is a tricky thing. I went back to play MW2:Mercs last year and it wasn't nearly as awesome as I remember it.... yet still my favorite. Shame MW4 mercs wasn't a sandbox game.

[Spooky]

Nostalgia is a tricky thing. I went back to play MW2:Mercs last year and it wasn't nearly as awesome as I remember it.... yet still my favorite. Shame MW4 mercs wasn't a sandbox game.

Hmm... MW4:Mercs wasn't any less Sandboxxy than MW2:Mercs, or was it? MW2:Mercs might have a more complex mission tree though.

[thEClaw]

thEClaw, you just lost some mechwarrior points. MW2, GBL and MERCS kick the living crap out of the other mechwarriors.  Better story, more fun, MErcs and the fact you could maintain your merc unit, random rolled jobs to make some spare cbills.. MW3 has nicer graphics, but i still very much enjoy MW2

Go ahead and play it. Right now. Just a single mission, maybe two. I really love to play old games, I don't need fancy graphics at all. But the gameplay has to be solid. And after all these years it just isn't.

Sitting in your 'Mech, facing an opponent: That's where these games' meat is. And when it comes down to that, you need working physics, acceptable hit-boxes and everything that makes the experience more immersing. Forgetting about the "small" flaws, I still think that MW2:Mercs was great. Although I missed being able to travel from planet to planet or making friends with different parties. I also missed the great Solaris Arena fights and whatever things the technological advantages of MW4:Mercs brought along.
The time wasn't as ready for a Mechwarrior-game when MW2 came along as it was when MW4 came out. As I said somewhere else: I am into this for the simulation aspect. And although this does not necessarily include graphics, it is quite clear that the newer games please me more than the older ones. Quadratically, at least.

Let's be friends and brain each other on the battlefield. I just wanted to see a little bit of an objective perspective on the whole "MW2 was made by the same dudes who created god!"-thing. I have my soft spots, too. But at least I know about them.

[Mitchpate]

MW2:Mercs has no chance at all against any newer incarnation of Mechwarrior. The few things I remember at the moment: Bugs, a good amount of them

At what point do all these "bugs" cease to be actual bugs and start being issues with your own computer?  I played MW2/MW3/MW4 on a Voodoo3 card and never had any issues.

[Perigren]

for the ctd issue in mw3 when you target an enemy close to you, there is a exe that fixes this issue for rez of 1024x768. try using 800x600 and see if the problem goes away.

[Kelmola]

MW2 has the best music in the franchise, I still tend to listen to that on the CD. As for the game itself, MW2 was the first one I played and my first contact to BT universe, so I might be biased to say it's great for its age and has the best single-player experience in the series. You get lots of fluff concerning the Clans and the history of BTU, the atmosphere is wonderful and immerses you into the story, but then seeing buildings and 'Mechs suddenly appear out of nowhere breaks the immersion - the engine is not powerful enough to model weather effects, so it might be completely clear skies but if mission briefing says visibility 300 meters, then 300 meters it is. Literally, with no "fade-in" whatsoever. Broken Munchkinlab aside, the missions simply compensate for the limited AI by giving the computer opponents (sometimes ludicrous) numerical superiority, especially evident in the Trials of Position: at the last one you pilot a Firemoth against three waves of several Dire Wolves (first one, then two, then three, or something like that). Never got to experience the multiplayer, though.

But in the end, MW2 captured the spirit of BT in a way most of its sequels didn't, and that's what matters the most. MW2Mercs is almost as good in this regard, just from the opposite perspective.

MW1, despite its sandboxiness, really shows its age in a bad way. Of course, the graphics will blind you and the PC beeper effects will deafen you, unless you started your gaming in the 8-bit era, but that's kinda expected and is not the real issue. It might have been groundbreaking in the 1980's, but even by early 1990's standards its small number of units at play  (maximum one lance vs. one lance IIRC) feels too limited.

MW3, nice FPS. Oh it was supposed to be a 'Mech simulator? Not. Storywise, not as epic but still felt a part of the larger story.

MW4, felt too clinical in the single-player mode. Problem is, while in MW2/Mercs and MW3 the fate of the entire galaxy was at stake, now it's just your title and meager fiefdom. Omni vs. "type" slots, slot sizes, and limited number of slots was a nice idea to prevent total munchkinism in the 'Mechlab, though. No multiplayer experience, skipped directly to Mercs.

MW4Mercs, Solaris VII was a nice addition as was the branching storyline, but still, in the 2000's one would have expected more sandboxing MW1 style. And the story still felt a bit disappointing in single player, only in the very end you really feel connected to the Big Picture. Multiplayer with MekTek paks was lulzy, by the time I had beefy enough PC there were too many Stone Rhinos with two Sniper cannons (in the long-range maps) or Dire Wolves with something like 3xCLBX20+3xCLBX10 (short-range maps) around.

MWLL has the best multiplayer hands down.

[Mitchpate]

Multiplayer with MekTek paks was lulzy, by the time I had beefy enough PC there were too many Stone Rhinos with two Sniper cannons (in the long-range maps) or Dire Wolves with something like 3xCLBX20+3xCLBX10 (short-range maps) around.

Neither of those configs are even remotely possible, btw.

[Kelmola]

Something similar enough, then. (This was back in 2005, if the gameplay has improved since then, all the better.) Enough to fffffffuuuuustrate me out of the game anyway, and by comparison, even the "broken" units in MWLL (like the infamous 2xCUAC20 Loki) have felt fair and balanced compared to my memories of MW4.

[Mitchpate]

Something similar enough, then. (This was back in 2005, if the gameplay has improved since then, all the better.)

Neither config was even remotely possible back then, either.  It's quite rare to see a Behemoth II in an open server, let alone one with a railgun.  There's less than 3 tons of armor on protecting that dorsal cannon

[Squibby]

I have to agree about the story in MW2. I felt utterly disconnected with it, I mean you play a mission and the de-brief screen spouts a wall of BS text about some clan battle ripped straight from the lore, with absolutely no connection to the mission you just played.

I mean it's nice and all that Kerensky something or other defeated an assault trinary on some planet in the boondocks, but what exactly did that have to do with me wandering about blowing up oil tanks and killing firemoths? I know that kind of thing gives a certain subset of BT fan that likes to use silly made up words a thrill, but it really didn't do anything for me.

You never meet any of these fabled characters or seem to be in any way involved in the epic battles described. To me it felt like an unconnected set of missions. MW2:mercs at least had a running narrative that was relevant and involved the player directly in all the good stuff happening around you.

I would have to agree though that gameplay wise, MW2 and mercs were not that amazing. Jumpjet skating, munchkin mechlab and lolstarwars laser bolts being the main criticisms. Also the games were stupid easy. I played through 80% of mercs with my jumpjet skating catapult loaded up with as many clan med lasers as I could cram into the torso and ridiculous levels of armour. I didn't even bother with lancemates, I was a one man merc unit, slaughtering clan mechs left right and centre.

MW3 was fun, I got it running on a spare XP box and it was fairly enjoyable. I liked the independant pivoting arms, and the storyline was enjoyable enough. I wouldn't consider this installement better or worse than MW4:mercs tbh. Was quite buggy and crashy but that might be to do with my hardware configuration rather than the game.

I also can't understand the hate against MW4:mercs. It was a perfectly good game, the best and most balanced implementation of mech customisation in all the MW games that I strongly believe MWLLs upcoming system should aim to mimic (and it looks like it is so far...). It wasn't perfect but it is a damn sight better than loading your mech up with a stupid amount of med lasers.
The storyline and general gameplay can't be complained about. I was a bit dissapointed with the graphics which were poor compared to the standards at the time. All the BS about it somehow being an arcady game I can't understand, it's just as solid a mech simulator as it's predecessors, the only exception being you can't get legged. I loved the addition of kinetic effects to the game, it felt good to unload an LBX20 into someones face at close range and watch them recoil or get knocked on their ass.

Never played it multiplayer, but then again what do you expect here... given the opportunity people will always find the most overpowered and exploitative ways to play and win.

[Armitage]

mech2.org has of info on getting mw2 to run.  You can even catch some players on IRC and get a netmech game going.