Developer: Malibu Interactive Publisher: Extreme Entertainment Release: 09/94 Genre: Action
I have always wanted to get in to the MechWarrior universe. Giant robots have always been cool and growing up there was no shortage of media featuring them, from Voltron and Transor Z to Gundam. But there was something about MechWarrior that seemed so much cooler. But my attention was focused on cyberpunk and Shadowrun so it fell to the wayside. BattleTech for the Sega Genesis was my first introduction to this property in game form and unfortunately it was not the best choice. The overbearing difficulty holds this game back.
In the year 3050 the various Clans are at war with the armies of the Inner Sphere. These battles are fought using giant BattleMechs with the Clans on the verge of victory. But the loss of their leader, the IIkhan gives the Inner Sphere an opening to bolster their defenses and turn the tide. To counter this the Clans deploy their most advanced mech, the MadCat Omnimech, with you as its pilot to strike at key points and win this war.
The weapon selection is fairly robust and gives you a decent amount of choice. You have three classes of weapons with three options in each and choose your load-out at the beginning of each stage. Heavy Ordnance deals the most damage but has the least ammo. Your main allows you to choose a laser for max damage but low ammo, the machine gun which is weak but has the highest ammo or the balanced auto cannon. Tactical weapons are essentially your long range options. Your choices do matter; it is very easy to run out of ammunition for your weapons and while you can find more chances are you will die first. Luckily bullet counts reset after death but that is not something you want to rely on.
BattleTech does a good job of making you feel like you are controlling a hulking mecha machine. The camera is pretty close to emphasis your size versus your surroundings and sells it well. I do wish the camera was a little further back but for the most part it works. While firing you can rotate your turret independently which is really cool. You can also strafe while moving, a skill that is invaluable as your mech is not exactly the fastest. You must manually target enemies with the exception of the larger mechs. Your weapons automatically lock on and follow the mechs as the game would be impossible otherwise. It kind of still is but I will get to that.
The best way to describe BattleTech is Desert Strike in a mech suit rather than a souped up chopper. At the start of every mission receive a briefing with your various objectives and an idea of what to expect. Missions are always multi-faceted and must be completed in steps with little deviation. Truthfully most of your objectives involve searching and destroying specific targets in an area but the pomp and circumstance surrounding it gives it flavor. Each map is gigantic and you have free reign to explore for power-ups or completing goals in any order as the missions allows. Only some mission objectives have a time limit which is good; even with the radar you will still need time to learn the layout of each map and the best routes as this is one ungodly tough game.
The difficulty in BattleTech is off the charts in the worst way. Because of your size you are a large, slow target making avoiding hits near impossible. There is no shield or invincibility items and coolant is a random item drop. It is absurd how easy it is to die in seconds, especially in hostile environments with lava or land mines. Any time you face an enemy mech it is an almost guarantee you will die at least once. The map size works against the game as you spend a lot of time wandering to complete objectives. Because the missions are so long if (and when) you fail and get a game over starting over from the beginning feels soul crushing. The game desperately needed a tuning pass to make its gameplay bearable. All but the most stalwart need apply and honestly I don’t think it is worth it.
In Closing
I want to like BattleTech. To a degree I actually do. But the ridiculously high difficulty kills any fun you could possibly have. As it is the cool missions and any enjoyment you might have are drowned out by frequent and incessantly cheap deaths. Turn on some cheat codes if you really wantto see this one through. But at that point you might as well play a different game.
