Singleplayer/Co-op (5 players) Mechwarrior game with a focused campaign revolving around the early years of the Clan Invasion? Hell yeah! Even if we're playing as Clan Smoke Jaguar, that's still not something I'm going to miss.

Overall, the game is pretty solid, although that's sort of to be expected at this point, if you're familiar with the developer. This is working on the same engine and foundation as both their multiplayer game Mechwarrior Online and the previous co-op game Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries, so quite a bit of groundwork has been polished and ready to be expanded upon for years.

There's a few negative things that carry over from MW5:M, like the enemy AI's love of focusing down a single player character rather than picking out a closer, more imminent threat of a friendly AI. It's not quite as bad as I remember from Mercenaries, sometimes they do change targets, but usually that's after they've pummeled you with several volleys and you've had to completely break LOS to save yourself.

Friendly AI still loves getting into minimum range for some reason. Even if you equip them with a full sniper loadout, you'll see them run up to 100m to duke it out. This is especially egregious if said sniper 'Mech is one designed to be built as such, since the tradeoff to that is typically paper-thin armor (for their weight class, at least). I find myself dropping a few tons of weapons on AI 'Mechs just to beef them up with some extra armor sometimes so their melee tendencies can be mitigated.

Defend missions can still be a pain depending on AI pathing as well, as walking through buildings remains a devastating way to destroy a base. Extra points this time around when they give you a Defend objective in one mission that's 900m+ away and the enemy lance is already attacking it.

But all of that aside, man the game is still a blast. Clan 'Mechs really prove they are superior as every mission sees you punching well above your tonnage and it's actually very fair even in the early game with little to no upgrades on your weapons and 'Mechs.

The story was also pretty good in my opinion. You play as a no-name trueborn (as in, not anyone already famous from any existing media) who is out to prove themselves worthy alongside their remaining sibkin after the entirety of the rest of their Sibko died throughout their training. Throughout the story, you do that and more, as you take part of Operation Revival, the prophesied return of the Clans to Inner Sphere space to bring order to the Great Houses. Although this game's story does not span the entirety of the Clan Invasion, it covers many key moments which were great to see. Although if you are not already knowledgeable of the timeline, the way the game presents some if it can feel a bit incomplete, although in my opinion it's not done too poorly as to be outright confusing. The story is otherwise pretty linear, with one branching choice late in the game that doesn't have too great of an impact from a gameplay perspective, as it only ends up affecting the final act of the game.

There's a lot of clan culture that doesn't adequately get explained in the game that I think is a shame. For example, they talk quite often of issuing batchall's to enemy commanders but never explain what that is. We also never really get to learn about what bidding is or why it is important. They don't even really fully explain Trueborns and Freeborns, even though it forms the backbone of quite a bit of the inter-character conflict that happens in the story.

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Overall, I recommend this game, particularly if you're a Battletech/Mechwarrior fan. If you're not, then I can still recommend it if you enjoy big 'Mech combat that is more or less reminiscent of armored cavalry war simulator games like World of Tanks (just replace the traditional tanks with much taller and bipedal tanks that are called 'Mechs instead). The campaign is roughly 20-30 hours long depending on proficiency and how long you like to spend between missions customizing your 'Mechs. There's not really any scenarios to play aside from the story missions though, at least not at this time, so once you complete the campaign that's pretty much it until they add more content to the game.

Singleplayer/Co-op (5 players) Mechwarrior game with a focused campaign revolving around the early years of the Clan Invasion? Hell yeah! Even if we're playing as Clan Smoke Jaguar, that's still not something I'm going to miss. Overall, the game is pretty solid, although that's sort of to be expected at this point, if you're familiar with the developer. This is working on the same engine and foundation as both their multiplayer game Mechwarrior Online and the previous co-op game Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries, so quite a bit of groundwork has been polished and ready to be expanded upon for years. There's a few negative things that carry over from MW5:M, like the enemy AI's love of focusing down a single player character rather than picking out a closer, more imminent threat of a friendly AI. It's not quite as bad as I remember from Mercenaries, sometimes they do change targets, but usually that's after they've pummeled you with several volleys and you've had to completely break LOS to save yourself. Friendly AI still loves getting into minimum range for some reason. Even if you equip them with a full sniper loadout, you'll see them run up to 100m to duke it out. This is especially egregious if said sniper 'Mech is one designed to be built as such, since the tradeoff to that is typically paper-thin armor (for their weight class, at least). I find myself dropping a few tons of weapons on AI 'Mechs just to beef them up with some extra armor sometimes so their melee tendencies can be mitigated. Defend missions can still be a pain depending on AI pathing as well, as walking through buildings remains a devastating way to destroy a base. Extra points this time around when they give you a Defend objective in one mission that's 900m+ away and the enemy lance is already attacking it. But all of that aside, man the game is still a blast. Clan 'Mechs really prove they are superior as every mission sees you punching well above your tonnage and it's actually very fair even in the early game with little to no upgrades on your weapons and 'Mechs. The story was also pretty good in my opinion. You play as a no-name trueborn (as in, not anyone already famous from any existing media) who is out to prove themselves worthy alongside their remaining sibkin after the entirety of the rest of their Sibko died throughout their training. Throughout the story, you do that and more, as you take part of Operation Revival, the prophesied return of the Clans to Inner Sphere space to bring order to the Great Houses. Although this game's story does not span the entirety of the Clan Invasion, it covers many key moments which were great to see. Although if you are not already knowledgeable of the timeline, the way the game presents some if it can feel a bit incomplete, although in my opinion it's not done too poorly as to be outright confusing. The story is otherwise pretty linear, with one branching choice late in the game that doesn't have too great of an impact from a gameplay perspective, as it only ends up affecting the final act of the game. There's a lot of clan culture that doesn't adequately get explained in the game that I think is a shame. For example, they talk quite often of issuing batchall's to enemy commanders but never explain what that is. We also never really get to learn about what bidding is or why it is important. They don't even really fully explain Trueborns and Freeborns, even though it forms the backbone of quite a bit of the inter-character conflict that happens in the story. [hr][/hr] Overall, I recommend this game, particularly if you're a Battletech/Mechwarrior fan. If you're not, then I can still recommend it if you enjoy big 'Mech combat that is more or less reminiscent of armored cavalry war simulator games like World of Tanks (just replace the traditional tanks with much taller and bipedal tanks that are called 'Mechs instead). The campaign is roughly 20-30 hours long depending on proficiency and how long you like to spend between missions customizing your 'Mechs. There's not really any scenarios to play aside from the story missions though, at least not at this time, so once you complete the campaign that's pretty much it until they add more content to the game.