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SafeDisc Makes Mech Commander Safe-- from the Player!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 15 / 16
Date: September 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I would like to be able to write a review for Mech Commander 2, but I am unable to play this game on any computer in my house. It seems that Microsoft has chosen to add a copy-protect program-- "SafeDisc"-- to render the CD-ROM incompatible with every single drive I have. A readme file included with Mech Commander warns the user of this problem, when it is too late.

Unfortunately, Microsoft neither includes a warning on the box, nor posts a list of incompatible drives on the Web-- as of this writing. Those who have not yet purchased Mech Commander 2 should be aware that, among many other drives, the CD-ROM fails with the following: Sony CDU5211, Sony CDU77E, Acer CD-624a, Memorex CD-RW2224, Plextor CD-ROM PX-32TS (SCSI), Sanyo CRD-256P, and the Yamaha 2216E, 4416SX, and CDR6416S-VK. The full list is probably much longer. Microsoft does indicate that the Sony CDU77E should work if it is configured as a master drive, but all of the others listed are right out.

I am personally going to contact Mircosoft about getting a replacement disc. I suspect a patch will not arrive, since this is a hardware issue, and Microsoft obviously will not do anything to override a system they just spent money to install and distribute. It may behoove the reader to write Microsoft for a full list of incompatible drives.

100 tons of pure destructive joy!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 19
Date: July 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Since the original "MechWarrior" came out in the late-80s, I've loved each and every installment of the computerized-Battletech universe, including this one. MechCommander 2 puts you in strategic command of a "squad" of mechs (officially referred to as a Lance.) It's the difference between tactical (MechWarrior) versus strategic control (MechCommander), action (MW) versus strategy (MC)... but it all comes down to huge robots spewing destruction and mayhem.

Pros: Good atmosphere, solid graphics, fantastic battle sound effects, an easy to use interface for customizing mechs, faithful to the original, adjustable difficulty.

Cons: Too few missions, frustrating limits on deployment tonnage

All in all, this is a fantastically enjoyable game. The acting and mission-briefings give a nice feel for the direction of the game and let you feel like you're a mercenary with a soul, but the plot is linear and there aren't any really surprising twists. As a whole, the gameplay is superb, enabling you to go right into the missions with minimal "training", and the camera is very well designed, letting you maintain an optimum view of the fight.

The graphics are very good... not quite excellent, but they certainly didn't skimp here. It would have been nice to zoom even closer to the Mechs and see battle damage, but to be fair it's a useless feature if you're really trying to wage war and would have taken too much processing power on slower systems. The sound is also well done, but left me wanting more. I miss the rumble and stomp of listening to hundreds of tons of metal stomp across the landscape. You get to hear all the sounds of the battle (weapons firing, explosions, etc) and those are very well done, but the game would have been much more immersive if you could hear your Mechs tromping the fauna.

The weapons were very nicely developed, with a good balance between the different systems (missles, energy, ballistic, etc.) You definitely have to strategize here and plan the outfitting of your Mechs carefully. If you have a bunch of 100-ton mechs, all with long-range weaponry, it'll only take a few 30-ton mechs with decent short-range weaponry to get in close and whittle your armor away like snapping, ankle-biting poodles. Planning is the key, and the interface for customizing your Mechs is well layed out for the experience and novice MechCommander alike.

Finally (and this is my only major gripe) the original Mech Commander was billed as Company-level combat: meaning you commanded forces of up to 16 Mechs, ranging from 30-100 tons each. In this installment, the number of mechs you can field is limited by the maximum tonnage you can deploy. The largest this ever reaches is the final mission, at 450 tons. In case you're counting, that means four 100 ton Mechs and a 50 tonner. Frankly, that's a huge waste of potential, especially when I had about 10 assault Mechs (each weighing 80-100 tons) ready and waiting for deployment by the last mission.

But that's my only real complaint. As a whole, this is a supremely enjoyable game, and I'll be playing it through again very shortly.

Ignore the review above

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: July 14, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The 3D engine in MC2 works fine. The review above was probably playing the preview version, which was a beta. Before the two patches- incidently things that were NOT promised to us at all when we won the preview- the game was quite choppy and suffered from numerous bugs. After, it runs quite well.

MC1 had a problem with the camera. Namely, you were either too far in or too far out. MC2 fixes that problem. As well, sometimes it is to your advantage to tilt the camera to get a better view, but it by no means required.

The camera control is simple. Mouse wheel zooms in/out, right click tilts. If for some reason you manage to get disoriented, there is a key to restore the view to default. The terrain also adds true line of sight- no more seeing where you've been, you must have a unit there- and advantages to holding the high ground, namely headshots.

You have the same amount of control as before. More, actually, since the aimed-shot feature actually works, unlike MC1.

The mechlab is fine and isn't any more of a problem to handle than MC1s. Since you don't have to track pilot health, number of weapons available, or pay for mech repairs, it's more streamlined.

The pilots have new "specialty skills", which means that you no longer just slap the best pilots in the biggest mechs. Some have skills like Sensors or Scouting, which extends to the view range, or Light mech specialty. All these mean you have to place the right pilot in the right mech.

There are 8 Clan mechs, some of which only appear in multiplayer. Most people probably don't care about this detail, but since the game is set in the Inner Sphere (IS) it doesn't really make sense to have a large amount of Clan mechs. None of the Clan mechs are new for MC2, FYI.

The actual gameplay is fine. I played through the campaign and never called in much of anything except a repair truck or salvage craft. Someone else might have done it differently. Unlike MC1, there are ussually several ways to complete each mission. The friendly an enemy AI is good, with a few minor pathfinding issues. The mechs automatticly move to the correct range for their weapons, cutting down on the micromanagement present in the first game. The addition of line of sight and sensors allows mission designers to put more surprises in the mission, ambushes where they would not work in MC1.

More, the mission design is better. One mission, for example, has just one objective: get out in 10 minutes or less. On the way, though, you have options of completing secondary objectives for more cash, better weapons, and salvage. This sort of thing was unfortunately rare in MC1.

The game has some issues, a small amount of lame acting, but is very good overall.

A possible "Warning"

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: August 25, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Seems like all the reviews for this game are good, but a word of caution. microsoft has come up with a new "advancement" in CD security, "SafeDisc". This came make MechCommander 2 unusable by many types of CD drives. They list some in the readme file... but by then you have already bought it and are out the cash. And the readme list is also incomplete. I hope microsoft plans on patching this soon otherwise I have a pretty nifty coaster for my drink. Wish I could play this damnable game and give it another good review, thanks a bunch billy boy.

Wait for the Patchs and driver updates !!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 16, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The game arrived with such agressive copy protection that it refused to execute on my system. A long phone call to tech support resulted in a 14 day wait for a replacement disc. The replacement was a little better. It crashes and locks up the system half way through the introduction unless the sound is disabled. Another Long toll call to Washington State reveild the following information. The game is broken under Windows 2000 direct x8.1 with many older sound cards. It will not run using the native VIA sound on the MB. I pulled out my trusty Soundblaster PCI128 andhad the same problem. I replaced it again with a Soundblaster PCI512 and again had exactly the same problem. Microsoft tech support informed me that my best hope to get it running would be to buy a new Audigy sound card. I have spent hours updating all of the drivers in the system to the most recent versions and have even flashed new firmware in the the CD Drive and updated the BIOS. IF YOU BUY THIS GAME NOW YOU ARE PAYING TO BE A BETA TESTER. Wait for either a Direct X fix, a game patch or perhaps better sound drivers.

Gotta Love Security Checks

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Well, I was looking forward to this game a great deal because I have enjoyed the first game alot. Unfortunatly due to a bug in the Microsoft security check to make sure that the cd is in the drive, I cannot play the game at all. They give no support on their web site and there is no sign of it being fixed. Don't buy this game unless you want an expensive coaster.

A True Gamer

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: September 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The Copy protection is SO GOOD that I couldn't even play it. Microsoft has really outdone themselves this time. I think as a buyer you are mistaken for a pirate and there is no help to be found if the game is not compatible with your CD-Rom drive. So be warned, this CD may not work on your system. It's about a 50-50 chance you are taking (or worse).

When it comes to your money, don't gamble. Try another title.

Quite an improvement

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 05, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The first Mech Commander, while fun, had all sorts of problems. MC2 is superior in asbolutely every way. Better graphics, sound, gameplay, all of it. The interface is simple, the mechs are diverse. It is not without challenge, but not insanely difficult. The only beef I have with it (which I had with the original too) is that it's way too short. Lately it's been that way with all the Mech games since MS took over, but it will still occupy you for quite some time.

for those of you people who don't know about patches

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 25, 2002
Author: Amazon User

you can get a patch from gamecopyworld.com and then the game runs fine. one of the very few drawbacks is thae fact that it takes ages to load but other than that it's an awsome game.

P.S. you can get hacks for it at cheatchannel.com

Gimme my own 'mech!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: August 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I never really got into the whole 'Mech thing before. To me, they were just big, giant robots with people inside. But, one night, I was bored, or stuck in another game so I loaded up the demo and I was blown away at how much fun it was.

Even though the demo only contained the first two missions from the game, I played them over and over again. The last time that happened was when I tried the StarCraft demo, like two years after it came out.

I didn't buy the game right away, because it was [$$$] at the time and I didn't know if I would play [$$$] worth of the game, as sometimes, I really like the demo but never finish the full game.

So, eventually, the price came down to [$$$] and I'm playing it now. I have an aged PIII 450Mhz with a Voodoo 3 card of some kind, I forget which, and the game plays pretty well most of the time except when there's a real lot of action, but its never so bad as to be unenjoyable.

When I first got the game, it would give me some error message if I tried to start it with a desktop area greater then 1024X768X16. It claimed it was a limitation of the Voodoo card, but now it just starts and loads right away. I looked for a patch in the beginning, but I do not remember ever downloading and applying one.

I consider myself to be a casual RTS player, more inclined to follow the story then the strategery bits and I like this game. I just started making changes to my 'Mechs, otherwise I would just accept the defaults. Sometimes I find a mission to be very tough but eventually am able to figure out how to beat it. I've looked for an online strategy guide but so far have failed to find one, and I'm kind of glad because it feels better when I beat it without looking up the strategy.

The other night, I lost my first pilot. It was very sad at the time, even though I don't remember her name anymore. She was a light 'mech specialist and was so good at not taking damage, I kept sending her in to try to take over turrets and stuff. Finally, in the last mission of the first part, some blockhead wouldn't leave her alone after I ordered her lead him and his men into an ambush. Some people just got no sense of humor!

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