Genre: Action
Developer: Piranha Games
Publisher: Piranha Games

The core artwork in this new MechWarrior-- the mech models, the planet scenery color choices, the high tech hangar and its fancy screen space reflections, even the user interface-- are all very well and good. It's too bad that the whole package is totally let down by engine-related snafus: the default temporal anti-aliasing solution is a hilariously blurry mess; a truly bizarre grain effect leaves speckled hatch-patterns on every surface; the level-of-detail implementation is buggy; and even with ".ini" file hacking, the game's image quality is a shimmering mess. The developers are apparently still planning to add ray tracing-- but this reviewer thinks that will be like polishing the proverbial turd.

A fellow named Sean Kolton evidently provided the music, and did a pretty good job of it. The hangar song is a classic sci-fi synth tune somewhat reminiscent of the police station tune from the original "Mass Effect", while the mission tunes are the kind of generic hard rock which characterized 32-bit CD-ROM games in the 1990s. Cool! The sound effects are somewhat of a missed opportunity, as the chance was there to add really immersive elements, ala the ear ringing from "Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter" way back during the Xbox 360's launch days. Alas, there are the generic laser and crashing ".ogg" or ".wav" files, to go along with some occasional, cliched radio chatter.

One thing which this new MechWarrior nails is the mech physics: the head bob, weapon use, and sense of inertia are very convincing. Like all games in the series, the torso is used for aiming, and moves independent from the legs. There is nice variety in weapons, from close-range "PPCs" to long-range missiles. Simple commands can be sent to the three AI companions, and the AI in general does a reasonable job of not being stupid-- even as they do get their arms shot off a bit too often. It's even possible for humans to play co-op over the internet, filling in for the AI pilots! Unfortunately, the missions themselves feel half-baked, as they are almost as brain-dead simple as the "arcade" version of the second game, which appeared on the Saturn, versus the more multi-faceted way-point based gameplay of early series entries.

This fifth MechWarrior feels like an "early access" game, sold at full-game price. The hub area is a large hangar with nothing to do in it! While it's cool that one can see his mechs parked, it's almost like the developers haven't gotten around to implementing whatever functionality is supposed to be in the hangar! And that half-finished feeling permeates the whole experience, from the "swarm the player with six hundred tanks" missions to the bare bones campaign and story. To be fair, the core mech combat is great, and it's extremely refreshing playing a modern game which respects the player's intelligence by giving them full responsibility to not screw themselves. But overall, this one could have used a lot more time in the repair bay.