A game like MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is already setting its laser-sights on a specific target demographic: the intersection between consumers who love strategy titles and those who just love giant, destructive robots. The fact that it’s the first MechWarrior single-player game since 2002 should demonstrate just how niche that audience really is, as 2013’s MechWarrior Online sought to bring the series to a purely online setting in the larger BattleTech universe with the hopes of reaching more people who are interested in online shooters. Developer Piranha Games has demonstrated that it knows its way around a mech or two, however, and a return to single-player has been something long-time fans have been anxious for.
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is disappointing for that reason - it’s a game that feels like it hasn’t evolved much since 2002, certainly not where it matters, and as a result it’s going to alienate a lot of fresh eyes that could’ve been drawn back to the genre after a long absence. Newer players will be turned off by some of the title’s plodding pace, which too often feels like it’s piloting the assault class mech through a bog of exposition and characters who couldn’t be more cookie cutter if they were actual human biscuits. Veterans, familiar with the fact that MechWarrior has never really been about telling a sublime story, will be pleased by the return of several series staples but ultimately disappointed by an individual pilot experience that’s a little lacking. The result is a game that, while sometimes good, will only appeal to the more hardcore fans of robot strategy titles.
If there’s a saving grace for MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, it’s that the robots themselves remain very cool. Designs vary wildly alongside the different classifications, with lightweight mechs like the Javelin fulfilling just as useful a role as something gigantic like the King Crab. Each design feels like it draws inspiration from the genre at large, giving players a lot of options when it comes to which mech hero they feel like mimicking on the field of battle. Mechs are also extremely customizable, with a huge range of parts ranging from weaponry to boosters available at both markets and as spoils of war. Furthering the feeling that every robot is custom-built for its user is a number of different decal options, which can either be practical or extremely loud. At its core, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries doesn’t miss the mark on the most important thing for any entry into the genre: the mechs themselves, which remain a draw.
That quickly begins to fall apart when it comes to actually piloting them, however. MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries combat isn’t bad, but it’s certainly a far cry from the highly tactical experience it seems to want to deliver with its squadron formations, real-time orders, and unit composition restrictions. Most missions devolve into very basic elements, like defending a base or settlement, assassinating someone in a mech (who is in a base or settlement), or just generally roaming around and beating up whoever happens to cross the squad’s path. It’s not that these missions aren’t fun, because they can be, and testing out new mech compositions and weapons is enjoyable. They just never feel like they escalate until extremely late in the game. The slog up to it, populated by a lot of reputation-raising side missions that don’t feel like they add much to the game, can be an incredible grind. Later additions, like hostile environments that set a pseduo-timer on missions and require more tactical planning, are also nice, though they’d have been better-suited even earlier in the title to really help add variety.
Squadron-based gameplay has the potential to be fun, and by far the most enjoyable element of MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is getting a group of friends together for co-op or online multiplayer, when an entire team can be operated by actual humans and composition can be explored fully. Finding the way mechs complement each other in battle and employing tricky tactical maneuvering is exactly what MechWarrior is all about, and it’s in those two modes that the game shines the most. Unfortunately, the engine stalls when players instead need to rely on AI. Some missions - particularly those that want to preserve the infrastructure of a settlement, where each building being damaged reduces the overall health of the location - are positively dreadful with AI. Too frequently, a player’s partners will chase an enemy by smashing directly through the thing they’re supposed to be protecting, dealing unnecessary and frustrating damage. Their in-combat prowess can be at least somewhat mitigated by players micro-managing their teams, but it’s a bandage over a larger problem that is more of a detriment than it is a feature. Still, with a group of friends online, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries absolutely shines and makes for the strongest selling point from Piranha Games.
It would be nice if the grind were punctuated by some snappy dialogue or the occasional thought-provoking or aesthetically pleasing story beat. That never happens, though, because MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries story is dull. Characters feel stuck in 2002, when it was more common to have a group of action heroes exchanging forced conversation without the eye rolls from consumers. Now, however, it’s pretty inexcusable. For the first single-player campaign in over 15 years, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is a let-down. There’s no substance, and it feels like the bare minimum dressing added to a game that is banking heavily on its mech gameplay being enthralling. When it’s not, there’s nothing propping it up, and the hit-and-miss campaign and gameplay mean that gets exposed frequently. This is where the game feels at its worst, and the addition of actually moving around as a person, interacting with crew members, and navigating the ship makes that all the more bizarre - there was clearly an effort made to tell the story of characters beyond just their prowess with a killer robot.
The visuals of MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, aside from the gorgeous mechs themselves, are nothing to write home about, and the environments in particular are reused a lot and never really stand out beyond extremely basic terrain design - a desert, an ice planet, a planet with trees, or a planet trying to kill the player. The destructible buildings are cool but it feels like they’re leveraged as a major selling point when, in reality, it’s just a small layer added on top of tactical decision-making and visuals. It’s nice, but it’s not something that brings the game up a notch from the middling performance it finds itself mired in. This is most noticeable in the ability to instant load custom maps in single player and co-op settings which both offer some limited options in design, but ultimately are held back by the lack of variation that’s present in the game itself.
Ultimately, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries isn’t the game many would have hoped for. It feels dated, even when prior instances of the IP from Piranha Games held promise for future titles. Too much of the game feels like a love letter to 2002 that was colored by nostalgia, which brought with it some of the design and experience decisions that have been left behind by modern gaming. While the mechs are still great and the gameplay, especially with groups of friends, still gets opportunities to shine, there’s not enough here to make the game really stand out. Yes, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is an authentic experience consistent with the franchise, but it’s done in such a way that it’s more reminiscent of times past than an innovation of something already great.
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MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is available now as an Epic Games Store exclusive on PC. Screen Rant was provided a download code for the purposes of this review.
