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A fun shoot'm up.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: December 08, 2000
Author: Amazon User

A fun shoot 'm up, no less, and regrettably, no more. Fans of the board game, the series, or even the role- playing game will be in for a bit of a dissapointment. The game has few options besides "click and shoot". Still, I spent a fun few hrs playing it (and a lotta dlrs buying it).

I hope we'll get a better, more extensive version soon.

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.

Here today, gone tomorrow

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: January 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Ages in the making and a bit of a disappointment, 'Mechwarrior 3' isn't sufficiently different to the ancient, venerable 'Mechwarrior 2', and suffers from the lumbering nature of mech-to-mech combat - even the best simulation of big, slow robots fighting each other boils down to a series of largely static duels. It's not complex enough for there to be a strategy hook, and not cartoony enough to be fun on a visceral level. Fittingly for a sequel to one of the nicest-looking games of 1994, the presentation is excellent, although the fantastic music from the original game has been ditched in favour of some anonymous, inferior imitations. As before, the weapons you have are an odd bunch - although you can kit your mech out with a variety of equipment, you eventually realise that only heavy lasers and heat sinks are any use. Machine-guns and missiles are strangely ineffective, and it seems unsatisfying to spend the entire game 'painting' the legs of enemy mechs with weedy lasers. Despite a four-year wait, the game seems... underwhelming. Not bad as such, just very forgettable. There aren't many missions, and only one of them (in which you have to intercept a train) presents a major challenge, and when its over it just seems to fade from the mind. Except for the voice acting, which is fine, but having them say 'aff!' as a salutation, whilst true to the Battletech universe, sounds extremely camp. The intro movie is fantastic, by the way.

Mech 3 not an XP or vista game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: May 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

if you have an older computer, a windows 98 or NT then this software might still work properly. If you have an XP machine I had difficulty running it and even keeping it going on my machine. I did not even try my vista machine. the graphic generators in the program maybe too slow to properly initialize this game. I really don't know. I do know that it has crashed a lot on my XP machine. It also needs to be run through DOS. This game would be excellent if updated for use in the more modern windows programs but the original company that put this out is gone and with no updates this is a shame.

MechWarrior III Rocks (except for the AI)!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 34 / 34
Date: November 01, 1999
Author: Amazon User

An awsome sequel to Mechwarrior II. Mechwarrior III does an incredible job with setting up missions, providing multimedia briefings, and developing an interesting storyline. The graphics are outstanding, the sound effects are good, and the gameplay is smooth. An excellent game which is well worth the cost.

The only downside/improvement to the game would be better AI. The enemy mechs are easy to kill, and the missions aren't difficult enough. Why can't they learn from the AI engines from Quake or Halflife and create opponents which are truly worthwhile?

Great graphics, gamplay yet too short and easy

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 19 / 22
Date: December 08, 1999
Author: Amazon User

Mechwarrior 3 is the sequel to the classic mechwarrior 2 which made me stay up almost every night. Now, I must say the graphics are beautiful. The lighting effects are shown well on my Creative Labs Savage4. Gameplay is pretty impressive too, I use a gravis blackhawk. For keyboard users, you do get a fold-out leaflet with all the keys, pretty intimidating at first. The biggest problem with this game is its length and difficulty. The missions finish way to fast and are way too easy. I beat most of the missions on the first try. I also finished the game in less than a week. But you multiplaying on any of those networks. I'll probably buy the expansion (I hope its good). There arn't many new mechs too, so another disappointment there. All in all, this is a good game, but to fully get its value, you have to play against other people.

Great graphics-stupid AI

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: December 13, 1999
Author: Amazon User

On a scale of 1-10 the graphics in this game are a 10.As for the AI- its a 1.they can't figure out how to go around any obstacles.There are only 20 missions-I beat the entire game in 2 nights.Its a lot of fun though.There is a trade-off between fun and frustrating.You will probably play this game for a long time and i reccomend getting it.

Nothing is perfect...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: April 16, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Mechwarrior 3 is an awesome game. I've seen many reviews written saying how it's better than MW2, but what if you don't own MW2? I'm writing this review as someone who has never played another Mechwarrio game. The reason for a missing fifth star is simply the system requirements. I found that after i installed MW3 several of my programs stopped working; it took some tweaking in the close program window (Ctrl+Alt+Delete) to get things working. Now I will be honest: my system is old and lacks 3D acceleration and a sound card. However, the thing that bugs me is after watching the opening movie (which displays a truly awesome 'mech battle that looks as close to real as possible on high-performance computers) I knew it was capable of producing great graphics. The actual game is a little lacking, but considering when it was made and also the fact the deigners couldn't really put much more of anything in the game since the amount of disk space it takes up is astonishing. The game itself is great. This has to be the most customizable game ever, and here's what I mean: The Mech Lab is a workshop where you decide what to put on your Mech, such as weapons, armor, engine size, heat sinks, and electronic gizmos. There are of course, weight and size restristions, but if there weren't, well, who could beat a 100-ton armored walking tank with 40 lasers and 100,000 missles? The other great option in this game is the customizeable controls. Prefer to have all controls switched so that left = right and up = down? Not recommended, but go ahead: you can do it. The storyline of the game is for once in gaming histroy: exciting! Missions are played over adjoining terrain, and the only boundaries are natural obstacles (However, should you pass a certain line far from the mission area your superiors will assume you are bugging out or heading to McDonalds and call the mission a failure). In most cases, if you travel back far enough you'll end up in your last mission area. More and more technologies become avbailable as you salvage (yes salvage this is war and there is no Super Wal-Mart nearby selling Gauss Riflesl, i checked) Mechs and weapons from the enemy. The final battle is a little shortcoming of what the game deserves (one hint: fire first, fire at the leader, fire fast and if you're on fire please get up from your computer and call the fire department), as it is usaully over in a short amount of time. One thing to remember is I'm sure you'll be much more impressed if you have a faster system and 3D acceleration. If you don't, make ure to go into the options and switch over to the software 3D system. Buy this game if your into it: This is not an instant action blow everything up shooter. This game involves this osolete thing: thinking. Do you want to blow the bad guy apart in a massive explosion? Or go for one of the legs and salvage it, while putting yourself at risk? Do you go into the base the front way? Or try to jet boost over the rear wall? There's also a lot of technology and things to commit to memory: it is impossible to play (or lets say, succede) without reading at least some of the manual. I know i skipped some things, like MFB's and heat mangement, but I'm not writing a manual for people who have the game; I'm writing a review for people who don't. As always, have fun.

Chris, age 13

Beautiful, Just Beautiful

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: May 30, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game is visually stunning. I spent an hour or so just gazing at the graphics that this game presents. I have also seen Mechwarior 4 that is to come out later. The 3D environment that is created in in it is unsurpassed. If not for the gaming experience, this game should be bought because it is visually enticing.

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.

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