MechWarrior 5: Clans Review

ign.com:

Like the joy you feel when a gauss rifle shell slams into an enemy mech’s cockpit, MechWarrior 5: Clans hits hard - but it can also frustrate like fighting an Atlas while missing an arm. On the one hand, it’s an engaging, mechanically excellent mech combat sim that nails all the customization and intricacy you’d expect from this walking tank series. Few things are more satisfying than coring an opponent’s mech with a single volley from a pair of gauss rifles at range, or tweaking your own mech until you get the perfect combination of weight, armor, and weapons to match your playstyle. Clans’s campaign story (which can be played solo or with up to five players in cross-platform co-op) also lands some haymakers that explore big ideas and tackle tough subject matter. On the other hand, it's a game beset by bugs that stand in the way of total victory. But when I rolled credits after my 25-hour playthrough, one of my first thoughts was “Man, I want to play this again.”

Clans sees you take up the role of Jayden Smoke Jaguar, a young MechWarrior who longs to make a name for himself in both the Smoke Jaguar Clan and his squad, Cobalt Star. Shortly after taking command, your team is suddenly thrown into the Clan invasion of the Inner Sphere. Your ultimate goal? Achieve glory for the Smoke Jaguar Clan and reclaim Terra, the birthplace of humanity. It’s your destiny, and the destiny of Smoke Jaguar, the greatest of the Clans. (Well, according to your superiors in the Smoke Jaguar Clan, anyway.) It’s an interesting group of characters, and while the plot does take a minute to hit its stride, it remains compelling even in that early going.

You don’t need to have played any other MechWarrior games to get the gist of Clans’s story – not even MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries – but general familiarity with the BattleTech universe will go a long way toward helping you follow why contractions are a no-no and “freebirth” is a slur rather than a new Final Fantasy 7 game. I won’t (sorry, I mean