MechWarrior Online

 PC
User Score
5.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 874 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 323 out of 874
  2. Mixed: 177 out of 874
  3. Negative: 374 out of 874

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  1. mimimi
    Sep 18, 2013
    4
    positive:
    good franchise,
    free 2 play,
    pretty graphics

    negative:
    really high system requirements,
    long grinds force you to pay,
    bad balance "patches",
    bad matchmaking,
    you cant choose your map (every time random),
    missing announced features,
    promised: no 3rd person view lie,
    promised: no consumable items lie,
    promised: more game modes lie,
  2. eliteturbo
    Sep 18, 2013
    3
    Positives:
    - Game is free
    - Lots of mechs to collect - Ability to set controls for various game input devices - Good Server Availability Negatives: - No DirectX 11 Graphical Support - User Interface difficult to navigate and use - Heat System difficult to understand - Client crashes often - Poor hit detection - No player progression end game content - No lobby system to    Positives:
    - Game is free
    - Lots of mechs to collect
    - Ability to set controls for various game input devices
    - Good Server Availability

    Negatives:
    - No DirectX 11 Graphical Support
    - User Interface difficult to navigate and use
    - Heat System difficult to understand
    - Client crashes often
    - Poor hit detection
    - No player progression end game content
    - No lobby system to organize team vs. team matches, choose maps, etc
    - Only 2 game modes
    - No voice communication with teammates
    - No guild/clan support
    - Confusing website and forum layout

    - Billing system unreliable and sometimes double-bills, technical support tickets often left unaddressed, accidental purchases can happen due to user interface issues.

    Other thoughts:

    Excellent fast paced FPS for mech combat. While there are a lot of mechs to collect and unlock skills for, there simply isn't anything else to do. The combat is great but tends to grow stale due to the low number of maps and game modes. Game development is slow and has frequently had issues with communicating changes to players. Patch notes are often incomplete and inaccurate.    … Expand
  3. Shibas
    Sep 18, 2013
    6
    Good: The game looks great, sounds great and is fun to play. Mech customization (and current balance) offers enough variety to have multiple builds on a chassis work well. The skins and colors for visual aesthetics look great and add a nice personalized touch to each mech. The maps look amazing, though some blander than others, but give a nice feel for fighting in variousGood: The game looks great, sounds great and is fun to play. Mech customization (and current balance) offers enough variety to have multiple builds on a chassis work well. The skins and colors for visual aesthetics look great and add a nice personalized touch to each mech. The maps look amazing, though some blander than others, but give a nice feel for fighting in various climate/locations. The game does a good job giving money to new players so that after about 20-25 games (about 2-3 hours of playing) you have enough to buy any mech (or a few cheaper ones) and work on customizing them.

    Bad: The game only offers a handful of maps and some are low on the rotations, so you tend to get 1-2 of the same maps over and over while others you don't get hardly at all. The game also does a very poor job in letting players know any information about playing the game. They give a mediocre tutorial on movement/shooting and they don't really give you the hot key information for all the things you can do in game (open missile bay doors, change 1st/3rd person view, grouping weapons, chain/link firing weapons, show map...etc). You have to go to the options to figure most of that out and turn off ones they preset for you. The match maker can be very poor at doing it's job; making 1 sided match ups or having a tonnage disparity of upwards to 200+ tons. You currently only have 3 options to play the game, solo, with a group of 4 or with a group of 12. If you have 5-11 people, you're not playing together. As well, currently there are only 2 match styles, conquest and assault (capture points or kill mechs and capture base or kill mechs, respectively).

    Ugly: The game has been plagued with developer problems and constant lack of information. The 2 big things mentioned, U.I. 2.0 and community warfare have been worked on and promised for a long time with very little information about either coming out. Constant date changes and push back of content have left most people disheartened and spiteful. The implementation of their new heat scale (dubbed "ghost heat" by the community) is a mechanic created to curb certain builds and limit customization on top of their hardpoint system for weapons. Outside of the addtional limitation, they don't mention it anywhere in the game itself and so anyone starting to play won't realize why they overheat so fast firing 3 large lasers or why 1 ac/20 goes up little heat but 2 fills up half the bar.

    Redemption: PGI has been consistently putting out patches ever 2 weeks with content.; At least 1 new mech chassis (with variants) a month for a while. They have had the occasional weekend tournaments to get people playing to win C-bills (in game cash), MC to game money) and items as rewards. There are plenty of things to buy with MC and there are sales going on from time to time on hero mechs, skins and colors. Constant sales make sure you don't have to wait long to get something cheap for your money. Finally, after an incident with doing consumable modules, the game seems to be keeping on track of having a no pay to win attitude, which is nice for this game. Instead it's more of a pay for convenience or pay to not grind for those feeling it's a grind to play the game.

    All in all, the game is fun to play. Ignoring the dev problems or past issues and just downloading it and playing for a while, it's a decent game. If community warfare and UI 2.0 manage to come out and works well enough, it could be a good game.    … Expand
  4. rml
    Sep 18, 2013
    9
    Mechwarrior M.RML

    MechWarriorOnline has been a fun and growing experience for me. There is a bit of a learning curve with the movement as you are essentially driving a walking tank and your legs and torso can face different directions. This game has currently filled my First person shooter slot with recent games. For a mech shooter it features :Pilot unlocks, mech skill tree    Mechwarrior M.RML

    MechWarriorOnline has been a fun and growing experience for me. There is a bit of a learning curve with the movement as you are essentially driving a walking tank and your legs and torso can face different directions. This game has currently filled my First person shooter slot with recent games.

    For a mech shooter it features :Pilot unlocks, mech skill tree unlocks, a vast amount of mech customization and weapon loadouts, and multiple camos. Now the aesthetics are not free but I don't mind dropping cash on a FREE to play game that I enjoy. The creators have to make a living as well and not gonna lie I do enjoy my blue fuzzy dice bobbing in my While talking about paying there is no PAY TO WIN HERE. You can go buy a fancy hero mech and die like the rest. Survival is based on your skill and team coordination.    … Expand
  5. mileshenley
    Sep 18, 2013
    9
    Game is pretty solid all around. You can use alot of different mechs and play alot of different styles which keeps it pretty interesting even having played since closed beta (over a year). In game purchases are a bit pricey so i don't make them as regularly as I might like, but it by no means is 'Pay-to-Win' so even without making much of a financial investment you can have a great time.
  6. montecristo
    Sep 18, 2013
    4
    The idea of Mechwarrrior Online brought about the return of many players back to the franchise. The funding program was feature focused and the idea of the game grew even greater in the minds of loyal fans. Financial commitments were made by a large number of players whom eventually saw their dream game come together during closed beta. The epitome of the vision was published in theThe idea of Mechwarrrior Online brought about the return of many players back to the franchise. The funding program was feature focused and the idea of the game grew even greater in the minds of loyal fans. Financial commitments were made by a large number of players whom eventually saw their dream game come together during closed beta. The epitome of the vision was published in the December 2012 Issue of PC Gamer and the launch of Open Beta.

    Ten and a half months of Open Beta proved to be complicated period for the game. Many promises by the developer were unfulfilled or implemented in a manner that divided the core player community. The original vision faded away and the game which once had a loyal target audience, is now made up of those that won't spend another dollar on the game, and those that will praise the game because they fear that it will be the last Mechwarrior title.

    It is hard to ignore the fact that since the commencement of Open Beta nearly 11 months ago, that there has been very little engaging content added to a game that still struggles with gameplay issues.    … Expand
  7. 3ffigy
    Sep 18, 2013
    7
    As a mech simulator this game is a lot of fun to play, and I typically play at least a few matches a couple nights a week. That said, the game still isn't feature complete. The user interface was slated to be revamped to include many improvements that won't see the light of day until more than a month after the official release and has been used by the development team as a constant excuseAs a mech simulator this game is a lot of fun to play, and I typically play at least a few matches a couple nights a week. That said, the game still isn't feature complete. The user interface was slated to be revamped to include many improvements that won't see the light of day until more than a month after the official release and has been used by the development team as a constant excuse as to why other core features can't be implemented. Fair enough, these things take time, but I feel release should have waited until they had finished implementing a proper user interface as well as new player tutorials, which to this date only cover basic movement and are at best alpha quality.

    The main draw to the game for me was the promise of community warfare, a system that would extend the game beyond 10-15 minute battles into a more strategic realm of play. This also would bring with it the ability to have in-game player organizations, better chat functionality, a pre-match lobby system, private matches, and many of the social and metagame features players of other games take for granted.

    Without these core features the game to me is incomplete, and maintaining the interest of friends beyond a couple weeks after first playing has been a constant challenge. Right now you have to approach the game as a work in progress and come into things even at this stage with a large helping of patience and awareness that it is a game with a limited, but still very fun scope of play. My rating reflects my enjoyment of the game in its current state, with a small dose of knowing good things are likely to come over the course the following year.    … Expand
  8. SWUnderhive
    Sep 18, 2013
    0
    TLDR; This game sucks.

    Just an arena shooter with a cash shop. That's it. If you want to throw your money away, at least give it to a worthy charity.
  9. Yassum
    Sep 18, 2013
    6
    The game is far from finished, the development is glacial at best. I am a founder and played from closed beta to now (on and off). The features creep in too slowly to keep it truly interesting for long. 2 Game modes which most of the time end up in team deathmatch, only 6 maps if you don't count the night versions of them. The developers also lied at least 2 times to the community, whichThe game is far from finished, the development is glacial at best. I am a founder and played from closed beta to now (on and off). The features creep in too slowly to keep it truly interesting for long. 2 Game modes which most of the time end up in team deathmatch, only 6 maps if you don't count the night versions of them. The developers also lied at least 2 times to the community, which is a shame. The game is not so beautiful even with a powerful computer.
    The gameplay is fun for a while, but quite basic. Some weapons are useless and there are a lot of undocumented mechanics, which will prevent newbies to be effective.
    It's lackluster, but fun for a while. I much preferred Tribes Ascend.    … Expand
  10. Obijonkenobi
    Sep 18, 2013
    9
    I'm a long-time Battletech fan, and this game feels pretty authentic. If one spends any time on the forums, it's easy to see that there's pretty much a civil war between the relative handful of people who actually frequent the boards. If you don't visit the forums, the game is quite fantastic. The graphics are fantastic, and the Mechs and weapons are very well done. There's a bit of aI'm a long-time Battletech fan, and this game feels pretty authentic. If one spends any time on the forums, it's easy to see that there's pretty much a civil war between the relative handful of people who actually frequent the boards. If you don't visit the forums, the game is quite fantastic. The graphics are fantastic, and the Mechs and weapons are very well done. There's a bit of a learning curve, but as a codgery old purist I like it that way.

    The current game needs some variety, but that's on its way. The feature roadmap looks exciting, even if there have been delays. There were some questionable development choices, such as putting Mech knockdown on the back burner, and introducing third person view in direct contravention of the community, which is why MWO doesn't get a 10. The codger in me is grumpy about these things, but we can't always get everything we want. The publisher has to make money somehow, or there wouldn't be a game at all.

    Overall, I rate MWO very highly, and recommend it to anyone who gets a kick out of blowing up giant robots with other giant robots.    … Expand
  11. thirashima
    Sep 18, 2013
    8
    While far from perfect, this game is still a great play and is a worthwhile endeavor, as long as you keep your expectations in check. It is a sim, not a first-person shooter, and it takes learning good teamplay tactics in order to be successful. They game is playable and enjoyable without having to spend any money, but buying in a little bit for some premium time and extra mechbays reallyWhile far from perfect, this game is still a great play and is a worthwhile endeavor, as long as you keep your expectations in check. It is a sim, not a first-person shooter, and it takes learning good teamplay tactics in order to be successful. They game is playable and enjoyable without having to spend any money, but buying in a little bit for some premium time and extra mechbays really does pay off. Despite all the whining from their official forums, the devs do care about the game and progress is made on improving it regularly. I've been playing it regularly for the past year, since closed beta, and still find reasons to keep coming back.… Expand
  12. Zolimox
    Sep 18, 2013
    0
    A steaming pile of disappointment. Inexperience dev's blatantly disregard their core community. Lack of content and no direction other than "buy a new shiny mech". Way to ruin one of the most beloved IP's of all time. 2 thumbs, 8 fingers and 10 toes downvote. It has shiny graphics though!
  13. Pigger
    Sep 18, 2013
    4
    The developer seems to think since the development team is telling them it's great, the game must be great, to hell with the hundreds of people saying otherwise in the forums, they are on a lonely island. Weapons balance does complete reversals every month with each weapon having a turn being horridly OP, and another being UP. The maps are mostly uninteresting, with several being huge longThe developer seems to think since the development team is telling them it's great, the game must be great, to hell with the hundreds of people saying otherwise in the forums, they are on a lonely island. Weapons balance does complete reversals every month with each weapon having a turn being horridly OP, and another being UP. The maps are mostly uninteresting, with several being huge long range maps and almost no close combat maps meaning most have to run a long range focused mech. Several Mechs are rendered useless by another mech which can do everything better. Larger assault mechs are quite often outright better then mediums and heavy mechs, with lights having their uses and a few good heavy/mediums. The size scale seems quite off as the supposedly huge and awesome Atlas is around the same size as most mediums, everything has 2 sizes, small or big, take your pick. Most patches create just as many issues as they fix. To top it all off the game is poorly optimized and requires a very solid internet connection if you don't want to lag to death every match. I hope it improves but unless the developers get their heads out of their collective asses, it won't.… Expand
  14. Agalaraza
    Sep 18, 2013
    9
    Offers much and promises more.
    MW:O is fun, and it is not easy and it gives in every battle a different experience and possibilty to play. The potential is enormous so back it and push it and we´ll have a lot more fun in the next years to come.
    Most negative reviewers are just using this chance to give a payback. For whatever they feel cheated about. I really can´t imagine a more    Offers much and promises more.
    MW:O is fun, and it is not easy and it gives in every battle a different experience and possibilty to play. The potential is enormous so back it and push it and we´ll have a lot more fun in the next years to come.

    Most negative reviewers are just using this chance to give a payback. For whatever they feel cheated about. I really can´t imagine a more serious and demanding fanbase then those Battletech-Fans here.

    Of course MW:O has got its drawbacks and a sheer impossible load of different goals to achieve. But one has to be aware of the fact that its the most complex simulation of Mech-Battles we ever had and that with realtime-multiplayer-combat.
    Sometimes I think "community" wants the Devs to apologize for developing and testing... ridiculous. Thats what beta is all about and there are many games in beta which go the same unstable, sometimes frustrating way. No need for complaining in my eyes.

    Thumbs up!
    I NEVER put more money into a game, without regret, and that since over a year. That sums up my review. Nothing more to say.    … Expand
  15. Xenocide
    Sep 18, 2013
    8
    It is fantastic to have Mechwarrior back. The graphics are beautiful. The game is a total blast and keeps in line with the original Tabletop and MW games. Soon there will be new maps, new mechs, and community warfare. I can't wait for the clan tech. If you miss the Mechwarrior Universe and you haven't played this, what are you doing with your life? There are a few areas that are stillIt is fantastic to have Mechwarrior back. The graphics are beautiful. The game is a total blast and keeps in line with the original Tabletop and MW games. Soon there will be new maps, new mechs, and community warfare. I can't wait for the clan tech. If you miss the Mechwarrior Universe and you haven't played this, what are you doing with your life? There are a few areas that are still under construction even after release like weapon balance, but it's pretty much fixed. My only wish is that it was more immersive. It needs more game modes but those are coming soon.… Expand
  16. Propofol
    Sep 18, 2013
    5
    Long time fan of tabletop Battletech, Battletech MU**'s and Mechwarrior series of PC games. Would gladly pour money into this game if there was some sense of purpose to it. The game itself is beautiful (and I don't have a high end PC) and you get the sense that you really are piloting one of those mechs. But it can get old quickly and I find myself having more fun playing Minecraft. ILong time fan of tabletop Battletech, Battletech MU**'s and Mechwarrior series of PC games. Would gladly pour money into this game if there was some sense of purpose to it. The game itself is beautiful (and I don't have a high end PC) and you get the sense that you really are piloting one of those mechs. But it can get old quickly and I find myself having more fun playing Minecraft. I really want to like this game....I really do....Heck I'd even pay a monthly sub if I felt it were worth it.....… Expand
  17. Kong
    Sep 18, 2013
    0
    Weapons balance is a joke, it was actually BETTER during closed beta. Think about that, today they are FINALLY launching the game and it is less balanced than it was in closed beta. When they do try and balance weapons they always take far too long leaving broken BS in the game for months at a time, then over react to the point of either buffing a weapon to god like, or nerfing it to theWeapons balance is a joke, it was actually BETTER during closed beta. Think about that, today they are FINALLY launching the game and it is less balanced than it was in closed beta. When they do try and balance weapons they always take far too long leaving broken BS in the game for months at a time, then over react to the point of either buffing a weapon to god like, or nerfing it to the point that everyone removes it from their builds. This has caused multiple Long range missile apocalypses and most recently several months of a stale and boring sniper only meta. A meta that they “fixed” with a “feature” called “ghost heat” that is in no way documented or explained in addition to flat out breaking the Awesome chassis along with several other variants. The best part? MWO is still a long range crap fest, but now with UAC5’s rather than Gauss and PPC.… Expand
  18. tuffy963
    Sep 18, 2013
    6
    The Good: Great experience "piloting" the mechs (giant robots). A visually compelling game! A clear skill set needed to pilot the mechs, hit your target, and position your mechs for maximum effect.

    The Bad: No overarching sense of progression, Meta-game is somewhere between non-existent and muddled beyond recognition. Stagnate, repetitive game play (Disclaimer: It kept me interested    The Good: Great experience "piloting" the mechs (giant robots). A visually compelling game! A clear skill set needed to pilot the mechs, hit your target, and position your mechs for maximum effect.

    The Bad: No overarching sense of progression, Meta-game is somewhere between non-existent and muddled beyond recognition. Stagnate, repetitive game play (Disclaimer: It kept me interested for about two months, but that is short for an MMO, IMO). Very little social features (No outfits, no LFG, Friend list is simplistic)

    Summary: Be prepared to spend some time learning to pilot. Enjoy the stunning visual combats. Don't look for too much meaning as to why you are stomping around in the robot in the first place. You will need to make friends using guild websites and public TS servers, etc.    … Expand
  19. Livewyr7
    Sep 18, 2013
    6
    Graphics: 9/10 (It is very pretty)
    Gameplay depth: 6/10 (In actual organized matches; it's good. In Random matches.. no organization: Also, no real incentive for anything but direct engagement, favoring heavier fighting machines.)
    Balance: 9/10 (No current egregious balance issues.) Developer relationship with community: 2/10 (A consistent disconnect with their own forums and having    Graphics: 9/10 (It is very pretty)
    Gameplay depth: 6/10 (In actual organized matches; it's good. In Random matches.. no organization: Also, no real incentive for anything but direct engagement, favoring heavier fighting machines.)
    Balance: 9/10 (No current egregious balance issues.)
    Developer relationship with community: 2/10 (A consistent disconnect with their own forums and having to check Twitter, Reddit, and Facebook for the up-to-date information.)
    New user experience: 5/10 (Dismal New user experience right now, the complex moving and fighting system is a learning cliff, however there is a tutorial out now, and more to come, to help out the new players.)
    Metagame: 2/10 (It really deserves a zero right now due to being non-existent at the moment, however it *is* coming, so since I know it's coming, but I don't know when, or in what form- it gets a two.)

    Game has a heck of a lot of potential in the form of meta-game to come, but core gameplay is now stable overall and within the confines of what you're playing, it's engaging. The developer needs to connect more with the community and actually engage in dialogue rather than "this is why you're wrong" scenarios.

    5.5/10 (and since that is even between 5 and 6.. I'll go with 6/10 to show a little hope...)    … Expand
  20. GaussDragon
    Sep 18, 2013
    2
    Where to begin with this? My team and I were fanatical about the MechWarrior IP and there was much elation in the early days on the forums (nearly two years now). How things change. Players prioritize different things but I'll explain what were my major gripes with this game.

    Balance This was easily the most frustrating thing for me as a player. The developers let plainly broken    Where to begin with this? My team and I were fanatical about the MechWarrior IP and there was much elation in the early days on the forums (nearly two years now). How things change. Players prioritize different things but I'll explain what were my major gripes with this game.

    Balance
    This was easily the most frustrating thing for me as a player. The developers let plainly broken meta game languish for months after a thoughtless 'fix' (repeatedly) and then routinely over-shoot the mark in fixing the very problem they had created. Instead of revisiting all the weapon values/properties that lead to game imbalances in the first place, they'd create the most enormously convoluted game mechanics in order to 'fix' a problem, which in turn led to a whole host of knock-on effects. What's worse is that there's no way for a new player to know these things without going to some post buried deep within the forums.

    Communication/Trust issues
    As reasonable frustrations mounted in the playerbase, PGI bunkered instead of actually attempting to release the pressure building up the in the community. What could have been partially alleviated by genuinely listening was instead approached with mockery and derision; the president of the company making sarcastic remarks to users on twitter, the community manager mocking people on Reddit and the forum moderators trolling threads just to give themselves reason to lock or move threads they disagreed with. Another major gripe that has been repeated on here is the promises they backtracked on when initially getting Founders funding. I was always rather ambivalent about 3rd person view but a lot people kicked in money in what was essentially a crowdfunding project based on promises that were explicitly stated on to be reneged upon. Generally, instead of actually trying to manage the community, they opted to go into a recursive spiral of antagonism until the forums melted down, only to issue poor apologies and/or explanations long after they should have been made. There was never really any proactive commitment to addressing problems as they started developing, their communication and balance process has been almost entirely reactionary.

    Repetitive system
    A lobby system or even a simple ability for two teams to challenge one-another without having to leave it up to chance by virtue of the the matchmaking system would have relieved a lot of the pressure from the players (temporarily) for one of their biggest demands: community warfare. Simply being able to choose your opponent would have allowed the creation of leagues to tide teams over until community warfare and would have distracted the player base from some of the game's notorious problems yet the developers (or publishers) buried their heads once more.

    The fundamental base of the game is there for something to be great but the laundry-list of actively made mistakes (as opposed to inadvertent ones, though there were tons of those too) makes me have very little faith that anything good will be made out of this game.

    The base system alone merits a 4 and with really good game balance that made use of most of the mechs and weapons this game would go all the way to a 7, lobbies and/or well-implemented community warfare could have shot this game straight up to a 9 or a 10 for me. But, in absence of these qualities and starting with that base of 4, I have to deduct points for gameplay balance that actively makes the game more convoluted and LESS fun. I therefore give this game a 2.

    I put up with a lot of failures and not just stale progression on this game, but active regression, it's hard to come to terms with the fact that a game was better 8 months ago than it is now. I was diehard fan and even I can't stand playing the game anymore so consumer beware.    … Expand
  21. DoctorDigital
    Sep 18, 2013
    8
    This is one of the best MechWarrior games there ever has been. Of course, because of being free to play we are lacking a story and the developers could have nicened up the content.

    Although it is the Cry Engine, maps look a little "bare" at times. The Cry Engine could do more. Also you are defending a "drilling rig" in assault battles. A Dropship or something more "BattelTech" would    This is one of the best MechWarrior games there ever has been. Of course, because of being free to play we are lacking a story and the developers could have nicened up the content.

    Although it is the Cry Engine, maps look a little "bare" at times. The Cry Engine could do more. Also you are defending a "drilling rig" in assault battles. A Dropship or something more "BattelTech" would have been nice there.

    Also contend that was supposed to be in by the launch didn't make it. Obviously bad planning and timeline of the Developers. So we are starting with somewhat limited content.

    For the 'Mech part I was never more fixated on a 'Mech game than this one. It feels just great and for the first time could it feels like in the novels and stories: A smaller 'Mech can bring down a bigger 'Mech if piloted right. Something in my opinion former MechWarrior games are missing. Also is the number of 'Mechs to be piloted quite something and the number of weapon systems quite extensive.

    So for the most part this is one of the best MechWarrior games there ever was. Development should pick up and get more content out, soon. It has me on the hook from day one, although there are some problems that need fixing.    … Expand
  22. yiffy99
    Sep 18, 2013
    6
    Review from Mizarpanzer

    This game plenty of upsides. There is a lot of interesting things, such as customizing mech loadout and test them in combat, which can keep you hooked to the game for hours. The combat is exciting, the visual effect is top-notch (although you need a decent computer), and the amount of tactics and teamwork involved to win a game is high. The game also have    Review from Mizarpanzer

    This game plenty of upsides. There is a lot of interesting things, such as customizing mech loadout and test them in combat, which can keep you hooked to the game for hours. The combat is exciting, the visual effect is top-notch (although you need a decent computer), and the amount of tactics and teamwork involved to win a game is high.

    The game also have plenty of downsides. First of all, the game desperately needs a lot of features to be completed. It need a detailed tutorial on control and weapon systems. There is also no lobby system, the social interaction in-game is lacking. The developers have indicated that they are working on a revamped UI and a 'community war' system that allows players to fight for planet control. But it has been 'in production' for a very long time without actual tangible update from the developers.

    And finally, speaking of the developers, their communication with both the playerbase, and amongst themselves, are questionable at best. They have made a lot of pledges which they failed to keep (which is why you see a number of disgruntled rant here). Sometimes they do not seem to know what is going on on the other end of their building (search for Russ' apology). It does give out the feeling that they are dragging the game back and the game is not realising its full potential, well, not yet anyway.

    Conclusion: This game is worth a try if you likes some shooting with stompy robots. However, I strongly recommend not spending any real money until the developer is able to polish the game and roll out the big features such as the eagerly anticipated (for over a year) community warfare.    … Expand
  23. Grendalsh
    Sep 18, 2013
    7
    I bought into Founder's Beta, and bought the Phoenix bundle. So far, I feel I've gotten my money's worth. A highly tactical, multi-layered stompy mech combat that moves at giant chunks of metal pacing, not manga twitch speeds. Given that this is a F2P game from a smaller dev house, I've been impressed with what they've brought to the table, and look forward to the fulfillment of all theI bought into Founder's Beta, and bought the Phoenix bundle. So far, I feel I've gotten my money's worth. A highly tactical, multi-layered stompy mech combat that moves at giant chunks of metal pacing, not manga twitch speeds. Given that this is a F2P game from a smaller dev house, I've been impressed with what they've brought to the table, and look forward to the fulfillment of all the features planned for the game, especially the Community Warfare metagame (docked one point for this alone). The Official Launch was a bit soft, not really adding anything that wasn't in Beta. But the game is a solid play for BattleTech/Mechwarrior fans, and it'll only get better.… Expand
  24. MustrumRiduclly
    Sep 18, 2013
    5
    Mechwarrior Online is the newest title in the series of Mechwarrior games. It is a Free To Play Game. Unlike its predecssors, it is a pure online PvP game. There is no campaign or story node and no Player vs Enemey combats.
    As a mechwarrior game, it is based on the Battletech Table Top game and as a mechwarrior title, it puts you in the position of the pilot of a mighty, heavily armed and    Mechwarrior Online is the newest title in the series of Mechwarrior games. It is a Free To Play Game. Unlike its predecssors, it is a pure online PvP game. There is no campaign or story node and no Player vs Enemey combats.
    As a mechwarrior game, it is based on the Battletech Table Top game and as a mechwarrior title, it puts you in the position of the pilot of a mighty, heavily armed and armoured war machine fighting together with 11 team mates against 12 others. In the Mechwarrior business, we like to call this "Big Stompy Robot Fights".

    = Gameplay =
    The gameplay is a mix of an FPS (now also with 3PV camera drone mode) and (walking) tank simulator. The controls are on the more complex side of things. You can twist your torso (similar to a tank's turret) seperately from your legs, and you can also move your arms seperately. Mechs consist of multiple hit locations (like Center Torso, Left Rear Torso, Right Arm etc) with seperate hit points for each location, and each location containing items that will be lost if the hit location is destroyed. The mechs are customizable to some extent in their weapon loadout, armor distrubtion, engine and other equipment, and each mech comes in multiple variants with slight diffferentiation in model or possible loadouts.
    You queue up for a match alone or with friends, and the match-maker tries to pit two equally strong 12 man teams against each other on a randomly selected map and with a randomly selected game mode.
    There is currently no lobby feature, though there is one announced for the future.

    = Character Advancement =
    For each match you pla you earn C-Bills and XP depending on your performance (kills, assists, spotting, win/loss). You spend C-Bills to buy mechs, weapons or other equipment, and you can use XP to unlock mech efficiencies (passive buffs to mech stats, like torso twist range or maximum heat threshold before shutdown) and modules (slottable buffs or even active abilities). You start the game only with access to trial mechs, which cannot be customized. You earn bonus C-Bills for the first 25 matches so you can afford your own mech soon.
    Overall, the advancement is relatively slow and shallow. The mech efficiencies are the same for every mech, there is only a small number of modules, and if you want to gain all mech efficiencies for a mech, you also have to buy variants of the same mech.

    = Long Term Motivation and Metagame =
    When the title was announced, community warfare was intended to act as metagame and provide long-term motivation. Community Warfare means you fight for a faction (be it as part of it, as a merc corp, or as a lone wolf) and gain or lose territory for that faction, and earn loyality.
    This feature is not implemented yet, so currently, there is very little long term motivations or metagame.
    Without any lobbies, there is no easy way to organize player-run tournaments or leagues, though that hasn't stopped players from trying.

    = Game Balance =
    Being a PvP only title, balance becomes a naturally important topic to players. Without game balance, the many mech build choices are quickly narrowed down to the few good options, and the overall enjoyment drops due to lack of variety and surprises. Be warned that this is one of my "favorite" topics and I might be the least subjective here.
    The game balance is still not in a good state.
    Some of the problems arose from underlying systems.
    The heat system (a core component of any Battletech derived game) effectively makes balancing weapon stats much more difficult. The stats for weapons come basically from a game that worked very differently, and so it just won't fit together well. Mech armor values are derived from the table top game, too, ignoring that there is a big difference between randomly rolled hit locaitons and mouse-aimed hit locations (with all FPS typically conceits added in).
    There are also technical issues that affect game balance, like the hit detection still not being reliable (sometimes dependent on mech models) and imbalanced hit box sizes.
    Personally I am having the impression (impression fact) that the development team is not prepared to analyize their own game design well enough, and are also a bit unwilling to accept critique or change certain systems due to their own emotional investment in them. (As I said, this part will be very subjective. Make up your own mind, if you're interested enough in the game.)

    = Advice =
    If you like stompy robot fights, or a battletech fan, check the game out. But the current game is not really worthy a released title, lacking too many features and still having too many shortcomings. There have been many delays and changes of stated goals (some might speak of broken promises and lies).
    I'd carefully consider spending any money on the game in its current state.
    Rating is 5/10. It might improve with future features, depending on their quality. (+1.5 for Community Warfare, +1.5 for Balance, +1 for game modes and +1 for advancement)    … Expand
  25. SmellTheGlove
    Sep 18, 2013
    0
    This game is incomplete. User interface is clunky. There appears to be no matchmaking system as new players are put up against players that have been around since closed beta. The game only has two game modes and is very repetitive. Graphics and sound are nice, except for the the pilot models; they look like something from the 1990's. I would score this game a 4, but there are entirely tooThis game is incomplete. User interface is clunky. There appears to be no matchmaking system as new players are put up against players that have been around since closed beta. The game only has two game modes and is very repetitive. Graphics and sound are nice, except for the the pilot models; they look like something from the 1990's. I would score this game a 4, but there are entirely too many people giving it a dishonest score of 10 to try to counter the low scores.… Expand
  26. Akvavit
    Sep 18, 2013
    10
    Very entertaining game, intense depth to mech build and great simulation aspects. Very in depth team play that requires skill and in game knowledge to win. Match times are 15 minutes at most so great for a pick up game or two to kill some time. Highly recommend joining a unit and playing in premade groups to see the full effect of different builds. If all you do is read the forums and playVery entertaining game, intense depth to mech build and great simulation aspects. Very in depth team play that requires skill and in game knowledge to win. Match times are 15 minutes at most so great for a pick up game or two to kill some time. Highly recommend joining a unit and playing in premade groups to see the full effect of different builds. If all you do is read the forums and play pick up games, you are really missing out.… Expand
  27. Wise_is_Loud
    Sep 18, 2013
    3
    The concept of this game is brilliant, you can log many hours completely free un till you need to buy yourself a 5th mech. Even then you don't have to throw much money at this game to get more hours from it.

    However, there are some serious flaws with the game, with only 1 effective game mode your options are limited and new experiences soon vanish. This has been promised to be    The concept of this game is brilliant, you can log many hours completely free un till you need to buy yourself a 5th mech. Even then you don't have to throw much money at this game to get more hours from it.

    However, there are some serious flaws with the game, with only 1 effective game mode your options are limited and new experiences soon vanish. This has been promised to be rectified but with repeated promises things just get pushed further and further into the future with developers focusing on what colour paint to add next.

    The serious concern however that you should consider is "Do I want to join a game where valid concerns are ignored?" The developers continue to make game breaking decisions after the community have 90% voted against. Sadly this is not a one off but developers have the right (and use the right) to ignore their customers and change the game even after promising not to. Developers have also been known to lie outright to avoid dealing with issues.
    MWO developers are notorious for ignoring problems (which means certain weapons won't work in game) for months.

    As a game goes it has the potential to be highly enjoyable but I would seriously hold off on putting any money into the hands of it's current owners who value long term customers so little.    … Expand
  28. KravenKor
    Sep 18, 2013
    5
    What you see going on here is a war between those who support PGI giving 10 ratings to counteract those who hate PGI who are giving low, low, low ratings.

    There are accusations here of forum censorship: I am Kraven Kor on the forums, they have yet to ban me or put me on moderation preview, and I have little positive to say. The truth is: MWO is a good, but not great, robot shooter.    What you see going on here is a war between those who support PGI giving 10 ratings to counteract those who hate PGI who are giving low, low, low ratings.

    There are accusations here of forum censorship: I am Kraven Kor on the forums, they have yet to ban me or put me on moderation preview, and I have little positive to say.

    The truth is: MWO is a good, but not great, robot shooter. The major uproar here and everywhere is all about PGI making big promises early on, which they failed to deliver on, and then the fiasco that was the introduction of the Third Person View feature where they directly went back on their previous promises of 1PV-only players never being forced to play with or against 3PV.

    Any way you slice it, PGI has mishandled this in various ways, and the game is far from where they originally stated it would be. The community's response was "the summer of rage" and it has done jack and squat to improve anything.

    Buyer beware: MWO is a lot of fun, the mechs look great, but the game is overall very repetitive with very few maps, only the two game-modes, no real overarching metagame or storyline type stuff, no ability to set up custom matches for the various Mechwarrior clans to arrange matches or challenges or tournaments, and is filled with a lot of angry geeks.    … Expand
  29. Sir_Eric
    Sep 18, 2013
    8
    I have to say, I'm starting to be ashamed for this community.
    Is this game perfect? No. Did the developer deliver on all it's promises? No. Did they delevop things no one really wanted? Yes....But is this really enough to downvote the game like this? It is not. Why? Because this game is actually fun to play. The basic gameplay, the mech fighting and the mech designing works great and it's    I have to say, I'm starting to be ashamed for this community.
    Is this game perfect? No. Did the developer deliver on all it's promises? No. Did they delevop things no one really wanted? Yes....But is this really enough to downvote the game like this? It is not. Why? Because this game is actually fun to play. The basic gameplay, the mech fighting and the mech designing works great and it's a lot of fun to kick ass in your own designs.
    I'm playing this game now for over a year and I still keep coming back to it. That and all the rage here should mean something. In a good way.    … Expand
  30. AlienSpaceBats
    Sep 18, 2013
    4
    “In the 30th century, life is cheap, but Battlemechs aren't.” All the white knights and sock account reviews in the world aren't going to save this junk from the criticism it deserves. I began playing MWO since it became open beta (Oct 2012), and have many fond memories of the tabletop BattleTech game and most iterations of FASA's property on home computer from MechCommander through to“In the 30th century, life is cheap, but Battlemechs aren't.” All the white knights and sock account reviews in the world aren't going to save this junk from the criticism it deserves. I began playing MWO since it became open beta (Oct 2012), and have many fond memories of the tabletop BattleTech game and most iterations of FASA's property on home computer from MechCommander through to MW4. MWO began in a tolerable state, but has slowly degenerated and in its current form is an insult to the BattleTech IP, having thrown out or just plain ignored 3 the 4 proposed design pillars of 'Mech combat. A disappointing waste of potential and player time; MechWarrior in name only, the meticulous and engrossing BattleTech universe has been reduced to shallow deathmatch combat, and deviates from 20 years of canon at an alarming rate. There appears to be a lot of underlying technicality, though this solely comes into play when configuring weapon loadouts, heat management, armour slots (as you'd expect). In-game, it makes no difference; a boring and repetitive exercise which consists of two teams of players stomping to the middle of the map and blowing the sh!t out of eachother. Choosing any class other than assault is pointless, players are not encouraged to use light or medium mechs, so its Awesome class all the way. Variants dependent on LRM modules have been made obsolete, by the awfully implemented ECM, thus your carefully constructed LRM boat might as well be walking around with a "Shoot Me!" sign on its back. There are a frighteningly small number of maps, and two game modes: 1. stomp to the middle of the map and shoot the other guys, or 2. stomp to the middle of the map and shoot the other guys with the pretence of base capture. There are no lobbies to join, matchmaking is a disaster and team balancing is terrible. New players in useless trial 'Mechs are thrown in with veteran players and are essentially free kills. 'Mechs are ridiculously expensive, a newb will be looking at grinding 25+ matches in order to earn sufficient C-Bills to afford their first variant, or 5 to 20 hours depending on class. Expect to pay real world money for lacklustre vanity/cosmetic items like fluffy dice or a colour palette. Overall, MWO is a painfully average, dull, unpleasant, diluted POS shooter dressed up in BattleTech clothes that gives little incentive to persevere. The upshot is that you can try it for yourself, free of charge.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

13
#13 Most Discussed PC Game of 2013
96
#96 Most Shared PC Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. IGN Italia
    Sep 14, 2014
    85
    Nice gameplay and deep strategy for the latest incarnation of Mechwarrior. Too bad it lacks any kind of Single Player content.
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  2. PC Gamer
    Nov 4, 2013
    83
    Slightly overpriced, but a more than worthy successor to one of PC gaming’s greatest franchises that nails the important part: combat.
    Read full review
  3. Multiplayer.it
    Oct 22, 2013
    65
    MechWarrior Online does a pretty good job in balancing out the gameplay and gives you lots of BattleMechs, weapons and items to buy, but it's got only two game modes and it's definitely not that fun.
    Read full review
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