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Subject: My short review of MechCommander2
Name:
 Sledge
Date: 7/18/2001 6:42:31 PM (GMT-7)
IP Address: 24.249.17.204
Message:
Intro:
For those who don't know, MechCommander2 is the latest RTS from Microsoft set in the Battletech universe. Mech's are 50 foot tall armored robots carrying tons of firepower onto the battlefield. Your job is to send a squad of Mechwarriors into battle and complete your mission objectives.
Graphics:
MC2 uses a 3D environment instead of a 2D like Warcraft or Command and Conquer. Each Mech, tank, and building is a 3D model instead of a sprite. And the models look good. Even though they're fairly small, a fair amount of detail is packed onto the. The ground textures don't look realistic at all. Doesn't MS know what bump mapping is yet? 
Control:
For those of you already comparing MC2 to that other 3D RTS, Star Wars Force Commander, please stop. MC2's interface is lightyears ahead of the piece of dog puke that is SWFC. Hold down the right button to rotate the view around a fixed point. Right click a mech to keep the view focused on it. Use the cursor keys to move the view away. Left click and drag to select multiple Mech's. Use Ctrl + a number to create subgroups of your squad. Dead simple.
BTW, make sure you read the manual becase they don't teach you all the keys in the training missions.
Cutscenes:
Where do they hire these "actors" from, the fricking Soap Opera Channel? I think I'm gonna be sick. Oops. Too late. Anyone know how to clean partially digested cheese pizza off a keyboard?
Overall:
I've played a few missions and so far it's been fun. The enemy gets progressively harder to defeat (of course, duh) so you can't just group all your Mech's together and attack a single target all the time. Also, they've added the classic Mechwarrior problems of heat and weapon space to each Mech so you can't build unstoppable gunboats filled to weight capacity with lasers or missiles anymore. These are big improvements to making more interesting gameplay over MC1 (which I still like).
I snagged it for $40 at EB. Worth it? Yup.
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