User Reviews (11 - 21 of 33)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Limited Scope, Busy Mech Graphics, & Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: August 02, 2000
Author: Amazon User

After playing the demo for `Mechwarrior 3' I was less than inspired, and unlike the venerable `Mechwarrior 2', saw no reason to buying it. Well, boredom and impulsiveness lured me into finally purchasing the game, mainly because it was on special. Considering there is four years of development and technology in `Mechwarrior 3' over Activision's older title, `Mechwarrior 2' is the better. Sure the graphics are inferior and there are play touches evident in the newer game, but there is a much grander feel to wherein you have to combat Jade Falcon Clan across several worlds, whereas in MW3 you take the role as a mechwarrior with Eridani Light Horse tackling Clan Smoke Jaguar on only one world. This lack of scope hampers the game tremendously, plus the game also lacks the connectivity that MW2 had to the entire Battletech universe.

Game setup is simple and once installed the user is treated a rather nice opening segue of Light Horse forces fighting a desperate battle against superior Clan forces and eventually luring them into a trap. From there the player is given the option of Campaign, Training, Instant Action, Multiplayer, Options & Credits from the main screen. Training is tedious and drawn out, so I suggest using the Instant Action option and scaling battles up as you become more and more familiar with mech controls and systems. I haven't tried multi-player yet simply because I know there are going to be way too many cowards cheating for me to enjoy battling against other players. Campaign Mode deals with an invasion of the Smoke Jaguar home world and using it as a stepping stone to Strana Mechty in 3058. Yawn.

Not much of a story here, I'm afraid, and that's only half of the troubles for this game. It's buggy! While my system exceeds system requirements by light years, the game routinely dumps me back out to my Windows desktop, once after my `mech overheated and shut down. Worse, the game's sound effects get so messed up that pressing an on screen selector to move LRM-5's to your mech results in a burst of auto-cannon fire issuing from your speakers instead of a beep! This happens mainly in the arming & load out menus with sound effects overriding what was originally there. It also happens in-game when your MFB's encircle your mech unit to repair it, repair sounds are replaced by explosions, weapons fire, `Mission Successful', `Mech power-up detected', etc. It gets annoying fast. My jump jets on mech units have never once worked properly.

The graphics are a mixed bag of some very nice designs in buildings and other structures that give a nice sense of scale while in your mech. Terrain is quite good, but very limited in variety. The battlemech's themselves are well designed, by surface bitmaps are very busy, giving the mechs an extremely cluttered look. Mech animations have a very nice look to them, conveying a sense of weight in motion. Microprose, for some reason, changed the damage model, and suddenly `time on target' becomes a necessity in order to deliver any appreciable damage you your target. If your Med Pulse Laser does 5 points of damage and you do not concentrate it on a single location, such as a limb, it gets spread around to the rest of the mech. Very quickly does the player learn the value of twin UB-AC 10's! Or, god help you, twin Gauss Cannons! Whoohoo! I actually made a Daishi in the Instant Action section that mounted 4 Gauss, it had limited ammo, but anything I shot stopped shooting back.

Microsoft will be doing Mechwarrior 4, and given they are also making the X-Box, (sounds like something Charles Xavier might make to battle Magneto or something), I am not sure if PC gamers will see it. However, it is also looking that the X-Box will be based on PC architecture which means the games might be cross compatible. For now, however, `Mechwarrior 3' is a mixed bag of some very good things, but perhaps, at least in my case, too many bad things to make it very much fun. Maybe I'll try the Multiplayer option and see if it gets any better. Until then I still have my old copy of Mechwarrior 2 kicking around, and there's a 3Dfx version of Mercenaries available as well. This game could have been so much better, but too many problems drag it back into the realm of mediocrity.

Outstanding Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: April 04, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Mechwarrior 3 is a visually impressive, engrossing and mostimportantly fun game, especially if you are a fan of Battletech. Itshould not be missed.

Best ... mechwarrior game there is --period.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Though a bit old, MW3 is STILL the best. The Campaign is fun, great overall mood and atmosphere, combined with two tracks from a little known music group known as 'Twisted Tenderness', 'Haze' and 'Make it happen'. -The music is limited, but darn good.
The REAL fun of MW3 is online gameply, where you must outplay, outgun, and most importantly, outdesign your opponents. The mechlab, where you go to customize your multi-ton 'mech', is admitadly unrealistic, allowing the player to place multi weapons on a mech chasis obviously not made to have certain weapons in certain places, but it's also one of the most enjoyable aspects; with it you can place insane amounts of misilles or the dreaded Ultra autocannon 20 on each arm or torso side.
It takes a bit of ingenuity to outwit the many other oline players when it comes to design, for design is ultimately what kills or gets you killed. -to do so you must balance weapons, armor, armor type, chasis type, engine and equipement to devise the most lethal mech you can...and hope it's better than your opponents.
The unfortunate aspect of online gaming is, of course, the lag factor. Often you must shoot several mech lengths ahead of your opponent to actually hit them, which can be very annoying. But if you can suppress your ego long enough to master this irritatiing quirk, suffer many defeats, and learn what it takes to survive the online world of MW3, it is awesome. The array of different weapons and equipment at your disposal, the stunningly beautiful mech chasis in your arsenal....I've owned Mechwarrior three for over two years now, and I know I will always come back to it for more.
To summarize: The campaign is more than enough to justify buying this incredible game, especially at its current price tag ... , and the online gaming rooms makes it worth twice the price. Currently, Mechwarrior three is only played on two gaming services that I know of, Gamespy, and the more popular MSN gaming zone. -And to further compliment the online experience, there are maps, called 'icemaps', which reduce your weapons heat to nearly nothing, readily available from different websites. They add a very fun aspect of insane destruction to you gameplay, helping you to obliterate your enemies in a few well placed shots.
In short, Mechwarrior 3 ROCKS and always will.
On a related note: Sadly, this game is hard to find, and even harder to find is it's expansion pack, 'Pirate's Moon', which gets a rating every bit as good as MW3 from this Mechwarrior.
Now, man your mechs and prepare to dominate the battlefield.......

Beter than Mechwarrior 2.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: March 07, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Killer graphics! Super internet play! This is twice what Mechwarrior2 was Mechwarrior.If you must buy this please get the expanion game also you will not be disappointed.This game jams up my wife's computer and her internet service so much they kick me off.This game makes me wish I had a sdsl modem line.THIS GAME REALLY KICKS........!

Ah the smell of burn metal in the Morning.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: January 05, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game has become my favorite MechWarrior game. At first when I got the game for X-mas and I saw how most of the Mech' were different then MechWarrior2 I was a little worried but after read the manual just long enough to learn the keys and Joystick stuff I went straight to the missions. All I can say is, oh yah!

The graphics rocked, From actual people running around under you and sea gales flying and landing all around when near a beach to a enemy Mech' reeling from the direct impact of your Gauss Rifle and even how the wepaons fire it's self looked.. I Also loved the talking. From the Clanners insulting you during battle and as they die to you when team mate say remarks like "I thought he'd never shout up" when a Clanner commander that keep making remake about you and you heritage final bites it. Also remarks made by your Mobile Field bases commander when in a lava map and a enemy mech warrior screams; Clanner: "Ejecting!" MFB Commander:"And staight into the Lava, Hee'sssssss not come back".

Top this off with salavaging and its a gre3at game. Course Salavage was what real made this game great. You can blow the legs out from under a mech and possibly getting any weapons not damaged in the following fall. Or maybe the mech it's self if you MFB guys can repair it. I remmber getting my First Cauldron-Born, Annilhilator and Daish. And the awesome part about the mission is that the Salavage is differnet each time you play the mission because you may chose to damage one mech differnty. This mean the following missions might be harder or easyer then the last time you played them because you did or didn't salavage a Larger mech.

Lastly some people say the plot and stories for the missions were not very good. I disagree. They where more involving then any of the MechWarior warrior games I've played. From Video mission briefings to voice remakes built into the mission game play it's self. I personal Found my self getting into the story quite a bit. In all when it comes down to it if you liked the Mechwarrior2 games then You'll possible love this game. Sure the AI were not the greatest and there were a few other problem but in the end it was a very good game.

Great game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: September 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The first foremost negative aspect about this game is the fact that it doesn't really have a soundtrack. It's only got two songs on the CD and this is quite a shock and disapointment since, for example, Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries had a full, awesome soundtrack. Nevertheless, the 2 songs seemlesly integrate themselves into the feeling and the repeats aren't that noticeable.

The game has a good plot, good graphics and good action. In multiplayer it's even better, but the system of finding a server could have been easier and more straight-forward. Matching is done via a Microsoft website where you can find games and chatrooms and you also need to have installed Zonematch, a small program similar to MSN Messenger. In my opinion everything should be incorporated into an in-game multiplayer interface, just like the majority of other titles out there.

You, along with other troops are sent on a mission to neutralize enemy forces occupying a planet. As you reach orbit the dropships are shot down by enemy forces. You have to fight your way through, meet up with your other lancemates that were also shot down and find a way to get off the planet alive while at the same time driving to accomplish your mission.

The game puts you in the cockpit of awesome, powerful, 80-ton humanoid warmachines with enough firepower to level a city. The array of mechs and arsenal won't disappoint. Customize your warmachine any way you want and take it to the battlefield.
I especially like the mission commentaries, video feeds and voice acting, they're very well done and really help create the overall atmosphere.

BE ADVISED! The game out of the box may have slight incompatibility issues with Windows XP especially if you have Service Pack 2 installed, so make sure you grab yourself the latest game update patch from the internet! Once patched it runs without any problems.

The Greatest Ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: June 29, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I've seen the reviews which said nothing for the game. I've tested the thing and I still can't get the enemy to work into my palm. The graphics make it very realistic. I just can't wait till version 4 is out on the market.

This game is the bomb-digity

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 29, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I love to play this game, it's never boring.Everyone should play this game!The weapons are awsome , the mechs are awsome (the thor and dashi in particular. I love to customize the Dashi with nothing but weapons. Buy this game today!

At last -- a mech game that works! :)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 24, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I highly recommend this game for anyone who wants to play mech/giant robot games without having a $3,000 computer with fancy video cards. I can play it on an HP Pavilion 6683 straight out of the box, with a lousy 1 MB SGVA Intel 810 chipset. It offers the option to play with a 'software render,' which doesn't need a 3D video card at all. If you can play Majesty on your computer, you can play this game. It doesn't continually freeze and crash, like MW2 or MW4 do even when their system requirements are met.
On the non-technical front, the game itself is quite exciting and looks excellent. The weapon special effects aren't quite as spectacular as the MW4 renderings, but they are still good. The landscape looks BETTER than that hazy, vague, bland thing they have in MW4, and you can actually crater it with your missiles. The mechs look fine, move quickly, and offer both an external and internal view.
In short, if you're looking for bug-free, fine-looking, exciting giant robot action, don't pass this game by! It'll probably work on your system, too, if it was made in the last couple of years and has one of the right Windows programs. Check out Majesty and Diablo II while you're at it -- another couple of spectacular, fascinating games with low system requirements! :) Have fun, Mechwarrior!!!!!!!

One Awesome Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: June 19, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is awesome! Awesome graphics, awesome weapons, awesome customization, awesome interface, and an awesome story. You should definitely buy this, especially at only the few dollars it takes. Blowing away the armor and limbs produces suprisingly graphic effects. The campaign takes place on the ironicly named planet of Tranquil after the dropship Black Hammer and several lances of mechs are blown away by a ground based naval laser. You must travel through an enormus variaty of landscapes to meet up with your mobile field base and your three lancemates and defeat Commander Brendon Corbitt in a circle of equals. The instant action maps can give you as much of a challenge as being in a Firefly defending a base with no renforcements or MFBs against six Daishis. Or as easy as a full lance of assault mechs against an Elemental. I haven't used multiplayer yet but I've heard it's really good.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 Next 

Actions