MechWarrior (1989)

Dynamix

DOS · Sharp X68000

3.16 from 38 ratings

103 members have it in their collection · 22 backlogged · 24 wish listed

MechWarrior is the first video game released in the BattleTech game series. MechWarrior was the first video game to offer the player a chance to pilot a BattleMech from the view of a pilot (a MechWarrior). With this game the player has a great deal of freedom when compared to many of the follow-up MechWarrior games, which include choosing missions, … Read more
MechWarrior is the first video game released in the BattleTech game series. MechWarrior was the first video game to offer the player a chance to pilot a BattleMech from the view of a pilot (a MechWarrior). With this game the player has a great deal of freedom when compared to many of the follow-up MechWarrior games, which include choosing missions, buying & selling 'Mechs and parts, hiring lance-mates, and traveling throughout the Inner Sphere. Underneath the major game mechanics, the player had the option of following a role playing style story arc that would unfold over a five-year (game time) period. Read less
Remove Ads with Grouvee Gold

Details

Developers
Dynamix
Publishers
Activision, Cross Media Soft
Genres
Shooter, Simulator
Themes
Action, Science fiction
Franchises
BattleTech
Series
MechWarrior

Release dates

  • 1989 (North_America) DOS
  • Jul 10, 1992 (Japan) Sharp X68000
Remove Ads with Grouvee Gold

Rating distribution

5 stars
3
4 stars
12
3 stars
13
2 stars
8
1 star
2
Remove Ads with Grouvee Gold

Community All Reviews Statuses

Chovus

Status Chovus Jul 15, 2019

Beat the game. Died on the first level due to not knowing how to play, but figured it out fairly quickly. I pumped all of my money into armor and made due with the basic starter weapons. My plan was to scrape by while spending the least amount of money in order to save up for the best mech. Eventually …

Read more

Beat the game. Died on the first level due to not knowing how to play, but figured it out fairly quickly. I pumped all of my money into armor and made due with the basic starter weapons. My plan was to scrape by while spending the least amount of money in order to save up for the best mech. Eventually the game became too difficult for the starter mech and I had to buy another; I bought the cheapest one. After some fiddling around and trial and error I settled on 2 mechs:

The starter mech, I took off the jump jets, replaced the small laser with a large laser, kept the small missile launcher and put on as much armor as possible.

My 2nd mech I set up as a glass cannon sniper. It had a particle cannon, enough heatsinks to be able to fire that constantly, 0 armor, no jump jet and the engine that gave it the most speed with that setup. It would die in a single hit and take forever to kill anything, but it could backpeddle kite to infinity.

The starter mech was really not doing all that well because it did not have enough armor or firepower, so I ended up grinding for the most expensive mech using my glass cannon. I did manage to beat the first boss using my glass cannon but it was very close. I could not backpeddle out to infinity because the rough terrain slowed me enough to allow him to catch up while flying, so I had to kite him around the base at the center of the map. It was hard because I could die in a single hit; no room for error at all.

When I finally saved up enough for the best mech I gave it a particle cannon and 5 short range homing missile launchers, maxed out armor, the 2nd best engine (which came with it), no jump jets, and the rest on heat sinks. I left the long range homing missile that it came with on for a while, but later ditched it. The end missions of the game were extremely difficult and frustrating, and there was nothing I could do to improve. The base defense missions were impossible; I even used cheats for invulnerability and infinite ammo and still failed. Took many tries and luck to win. These missions are by far the worst aspect of the game because winning is not based on skill (like an action game), stats (like an RPG) or intellect (like strategy), but it is based mostly on luck. That is just bad game design. I also ended up cheating to win the standard missions because I literally did not have enough health and ammo to win. At least I know I could have won if I used my speedy glass cannon, even though it would have taken forever. I was not able to beat the final boss using my best mech; he was faster and I could not kill him faster than he could kill me. I did beat him using my sniper though; very boring fight.

While I like the core mechanics and premise of this game, it is riddled with poor game design.

Read less