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Hey MechWarrior, long time no see! You seem different somehow. Did you get your giant car-crushing foot cuffs waxed? Are you sporting a stylish hat from the Fall Collection? Did you somehow – through sciences we don't even want to attempt to explain – grow hair and then get it cut? None of those? Well, we've clearly gone through all the most plausible options, so what gives? Ahhh, free-to-play. Right. So is that, like, a hat?
Piranha Games has officially taken the wraps off MechWarrior Online, a PC-exclusive free-to-play revival of the legendary 'bot battling franchise. If you're worried, however, that “technically available to every human being who owns a PC” means “dumbed-down,” fear not. MechAssault, Piranha says, is staying six feet under (so still roughly 44 feet over) on Xbox. MWO, meanwhile, is cribbing the bulk of its notes from MechWarriors 2 through 4.
“I think it’s really the MechWarrior you know. It’s fully first-person. It’s not a new interpretation. We’re modernizing things a little bit... but certainly it’s MechWarrior,” Piranha president (best title ever) Russ Bullock told PC Gamer.
Moreover, Piranha's actually hoping to make MWO more tactical than previous series entries by focusing on what it calls “Information Warfare” – in addition, of course, to good old-fashioned mechanized murder.
“[It] basically boils down to controlling the flow of information on the battlefield, whether it be your own information, or the information of your enemies,” creative director Bryan Ekman said. “We want to make gameplay be less about an arms race, where you start in a light Mech but you really want to get into an assault Mech, because it’s the best thing there is.”
Of course, it's not all sunshine, butterflies, and lasers with the power of the sun and the precision to fry butterflies. Call of Duty-style upgrades and microtransactions raise red flags, but Piranha's doing its damndest to ensure neither of those things throws off multiplayer balance.
So it's a brave new world, but that doesn't mean Piranha's forgotten what made the old one so great. If you're still eying this one warily, though, PC Gamer also has this nice interview that delves a bit further into the nitty-gritty. As for everyone else, mark your calendars: this one's dropping in the “second half of 2012.”
Comments are closed on this article
zenstrata
November 02, 2011 at 12:42pm
I just read about this 'free to play' conversion of the game.. And I must say, Every Free To Play game I have ever played was at best mediocre, and most of them sucked horribly. They usually offered very little repetitively boring content, and all of them purposefully make items that you should be able to keep once you have them, 'time-out' after a while.
So that nice shiny new PPC you salvaged from the last battle? Well it now only has 200 shots and then it breaks so you have to salvage another one. Of course they will be terribly rare… Or you can always buy one with real cash… Etc.
Of course it might not be exactly that, but the problem with free to play games is that they must include cheesy ways to milk the customer for money. The Free-To-Play model invariably means limiting the game experience for the player so that the game squeezes money regularly out of the player.
So what does this mean for the new Mechwarrior game? Well, I fear it has killed it before it began. I will still probably try it out. But I hold little hope anymore for it due to the limits that the free-to-play model will put on the game.
If you are still on the fence just take a look over the ‘free to play’ game listing. Even try a few of them randomly – so you have a good idea of what to expect. After a month or three of trying out various games in this genre I have little doubt that most people will come away with the same depressed and slightly sickened outlook as I now have for this new Mechwarrior.
I know this is not Piranha’s fault. They do not own the franchise. Instead I point the finger-of-blame toward those who do currently own the franchise. As this type of change is a command type decision. One other thing, have any of you ever seen a sequel for a ‘free to play’ game? I know I haven’t. So does this mean the Mechwarrior franchise is dead? Probably.
Of course the last game I seriously tried in the free-to-play model was several years ago. Perhaps they have improved vastly in the time I have stayed away. But the basic model should still be intact, limit key items which the players want, and force them to play extreme lengths of time to acquire them for limited periods, or pay real money regularly for their use.
Instead of gleefully passing on information about this new mechwarrior to my friends as I have been doing, I will now be in a ‘wait and see’ mode. And honestly I hold little hope. At this point I will try my best to put this current Mechwarrior out of my mind. If it comes along a year or so from now and surprises me with an amazing game, then I will be happy. But I will no longer be a rabid fan, hanging on every little news blip.
theabsinthehare
February 23, 2012 at 6:44am
Yes, some companies (Valve, Riot) understand that free to play can work great without limiting the player, you just have to keep the things that are purchasable, earnable in-game or purely cosmetic. That way, the purchases don't affect game balance, but instead let the player decide a personal balance between time and money spent to earn character customization options.
zenstrata
November 02, 2011 at 12:44pm
This penny arcade comic shows an interesting viewpoint on the free to play model which also may apply.
wolfing
November 02, 2011 at 7:13am
Can I play it solo (even if online)? Does it have a campaign? If no, then it's not Mech Warrior, but just Call of Duty in a Mech.
I actually like it when you start in a light Mech as a runt and go up in ranks, and get better equipment/mechs by salvaging and earning in-game credits, but guess the instant-gratification crowd wants to ride an Atlas right from the get-go.
If the above is not there, Mech-Warrior this ain't
Archangel1976
November 02, 2011 at 11:34am
True on all counts. Just PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't be a damn Call of Duty clone.
I still remember the old turn-based BattleTech game on PC. <3
Jasker
November 02, 2011 at 6:13am
Mechwarror 3 was the first PC game I really played online and fell in love with. Excited to see they are taking aspects from 2-4.
h e x e n
November 02, 2011 at 4:51am
**FULL SCREEN ADVERTISEMENTS ARE BREAKING SITE NAVIGATION**
As for the game, killer! Mechs are awesome, especially when they're free to drive.
Kickin some rectum!
Morete
November 02, 2011 at 4:24am
Here's the Youtube video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgNfrsuiXgY&feature=related
Righteous Fury
November 02, 2011 at 7:02am
This is actually the intro movie to either MW3 or MW4, can't remember which. Perhaps I'll reinstall them to refresh my memory.
Dartht33bagger
November 02, 2011 at 12:53am
I've always wanted to try out a mech game...I guess this will be the one I try out.
hmp_goose
November 02, 2011 at 12:25am
YESSSS! YEEEEESSSSS! SWEET PC-ONLY! YESS! THIS DESERVES ALL CAPS! YEEEESSSS!
Biceps
November 01, 2011 at 10:55pm
YESSSSS! YEEEEESSSSSS! SWEET MECHWARRIOR! YESS! THIS DESERVES ALL CAPS! YEEEESSSS!
