MechWarrior 5: Clans review: Thrilling mech game delivers 31st-century storytelling

digitaltrends.com:

MechWarrior 5: Clans MSRP $50.00 Score Details Pros

• Fantastic mission design
• Strong, personal war story
• Full five-player co-op
• Good customization

• In-game currency is superfluous
• Underdeveloped pilot customization

It had been a long mission. Skirmish after skirmish left our mechs teetering on the edge of functionality. My machine, a massive 100-ton Dire Wolf, was missing an arm — and half my firepower with it. One final group of fresh enemies emerged, blinding flashes of laser fire and the roar of rockets filled the air. One of my teammates was forced to eject, then another as we whittled them down. Finally, it was me, barely hanging on, and one opponent who had so far avoided most of the damage. A city block separated us, the buildings temporarily halting our fire as we reached the next intersection. As we both emerged, I stared certain death down the barrels of his autocannon.

My only hope was to put all my remaining firepower directly into his cockpit and take out the pilot, an extremely difficult shot under the best circumstances. I lined up my reticle as best I could, and both mechs opened fire in the mission’s decisive salvo.

These moments stick with me from my time playing MechWarrior 5: Clans. In an age where we celebrate the emergent moments of open gameplay, Piranha Games pivots instead to a carefully curated, deliberate design structure. In doing so it delivers one of the most intense action campaigns of the year, and tells a personal, character-driven war story with a giant-robot backdrop. Not every shot is on target, but it does more than enough to deserve a place of honor on the battlefield.

All systems nominal

MechWarrior 5: Clans shares a lot of DNA with its predecessor, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries. They are set in the same universe, though Clans begins roughly around the end of Mercenaries timeline. A lot of the underlying tech and gameplay is common between them. However, while Mercenaries is an open-ended, procedurally generated