In the year 2019 we still lack powerful robots we can pilot and are still bound mostly to Earth. Thankfully, the MechWarrior franchise has always allowed us to be the robotic pilots we dreamed of being and gave us the tools to unleash mass destruction on giant metal machines! For a while, MechWarrior was silent in the gaming world but Piranha Games changed that with this newest title, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries. You can bet we here at Honey’s Anime played a significant amount of MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries and are amped to tell you our thoughts in a full review! Scroll down below to see if this latest MechWarrior entry does the series justice after a somewhat long hiatus or if it fails to deliver the metal on metal action we crave!

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is a Mech simulation title with a focus on story gameplay versus PVP or PVE, though those elements do exist. Players don the legendary BattleMechs which allow them to harness large metal giants capable of leveling battlefields. Play alone in a deep story that takes place in the year 3015 or play with friends in a cooperative setting! Arm you BattleMech with powerful weapons like missiles, lasers, and cannons! Customize your BattleMech with hundreds of items/armaments to create a truly unique BattleMech that caters to your play style! Jump into the cockpit and unleash hell soldier in MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries!

The Mason family has finally become closer as the son has started his training as a Mech pilot. However, things go astray when an ambush on the training field occurs leading the father to defend his son’s escape. A rogue group of warriors seeks information and now it’s up to the youngest Mason to avenge his father and learn the truth! Enter the cockpit of a powerful BattleMech suit and be ready to level your enemies! Can you prove you have the skills needed to survive this sudden war in MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries!

If you’re new to the MechWarrior series then don’t worry we’ll make this painless. MechWarrior originally released back in the late 80s—known as BattleTech initially—and has since been the better example of how to fuse a simulation experience with a mech themed game. MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries stays close to its routes from the past by focusing less on multiplayer action and a deep/engrossing story experience. However, what has remained the same is the deep combat and we can tell you now… MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries hits all the notes needed for a great game.

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries first and foremost is a first/third person mech game where you control a giant mech suit called a BattleMech. These behemoths allow you to unleash hails of bullets, missiles and lasers on whatever threat you feel stands before you! You’ll need to be careful though as you typically aren’t the only pilot with a giant BattleMech on the battlefield and enemies will test your reflexes and motions. What sets MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries apart from most like it is the focus on moving your mech as if it were a tank and robot put together. There are several buttons dictated to moving both your legs and torso in unison to best navigate the various terrain you’re in. That’s why MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries has a simulation tag on it, this isn’t a game where you move with a controller and have limited range. MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries will push your coordination especially when the battle begins.

Whether you’re in the cockpit view or looking from a locked on drone hovering over your BattleMech, the combat stays the same in MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries. You’ll need to target enemies in various locations for best results. Hitting enemy legs might be tough but damaged legs means weaker movements allow you to lay waste to their bodies without much trouble. Equally, quick damage to the cockpit can end a battle before it starts but the cockpit is highly reinforced and usually if the enemy is moving it can be a hard to hit target. You’ll need to quickly learn where your strength lies against an enemy BattleMech as mechs differ in numerous ways and while skinny/short mechs might be easily destroyed if they take too much damage, try hitting them with a larger suit.

Like past MechWarrior titles, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries has a ton of options to customize your mech into the machine you need for a given situation. Players can unlock numerous mech parts aside from just weapons. Legs can truly change how you maneuver around a battle just like what type of body you choose from. Weapon matter as well as they can win/lose a battle for you in the blink of an eye. You might want to outfit your BattleMech with tons of explosive weapons but you need to be weary of how much they consume a mech’s heating as you might end up being a beefy BattleMech with weapons that miss more often than hit and run you into a quick overheat. MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries lets you play with your creations to truly learn what will work best for you and while it might seem overly complicated in practice, it’s something anyone can pick up quickly.

Visually and audio wise, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries looks and sounds pretty impressive. The mechs themselves look extremely well detailed and some of the environments are truly epic. Occasionally, some battlefields look a bit bland or under developed but you’ll never focus on that unless you love to nitpick games to every last pebble. In terms of sound, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is pretty great. The OST in MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is just right for each skirmish. The voice acting for the majority of the story is also pretty solid though a few weaker voices here and there remind you to not take this story too seriously. Overall though, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries sounds and looks incredible and that was a fear for us since it’s been a while for this incredible franchise.

Lastly, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries isn’t just a single player experience. There’s also a four player co-op experience that allows players to team up with friends/strangers. We didn’t get too into the co-op gameplay unfortunately but from what we’ve seen, it seems to run quite well and offers a nice means of changing the game up as you coordinate with allies to attack mechs that might be too much for you to overcome alone. If we notice any problems with co-op when the main game releases to the public we’ll update this review to tell you readers!

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries might not have made a single player focused title for nearly two decades but we can’t even tell. MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries plays extremely well and stays interesting throughout giving players a sense of worth in this strange alien world. Not only can you enjoy a pretty open ended tale but you can customize your mech to truly feel as if you’re the pilot and this is your machine of destruction! Where MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries falls apart a bit is the environments themselves tend to be a little generic and don’t look as great as the BattlMechs themselves. Thankfully, you’re usually too focused on trying to evade swarms of missiles and projectiles to ever notice a bland looking mountain or building looming in the distance. Clearly, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries isn’t trying to be the best looking mech game ever but instead focus on action and storytelling! In the end, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is an extremely well developed simulation title that we find little reason not to recommend to fans or newcomers alike!

The MechWarrior franchise is a series we grew up with since its original release back in 1988 when it was still known as BattleTech. Most series falter and MechWarrior had its share of missteps here and there but with MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, those mistakes have been corrected to create a truly impressive mech simulator! Whether you’re a fan of the series or wish you were a mech pilot like us—maybe one day we hope—you’ll no doubt want to pick up MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries to play either alone or with friends! Are you going to suit up and be the next BattleMech pilot in MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries? Comment below to let us know and be sure to keep hanging around Honey’s Anime for even more game reviews/articles!