MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries


MechWarrior 2 fans have a great deal to look forward to in the next few months. Macintosh, Sega Saturn, and Sony Playstation versions are on the way, as is a new version for the PC featuring graphics optimized for Rendition's 3-D accelerator chip. The most exciting development in the MechWarrior series, however, is the imminent release of MechWarrior 2: Mercernaries, a prequel to MechWarrior 2 that takes place in the Battletech universe before the rise of the Clans.

Mercenaries dispenses with the Clan-based story of MechWarrior 2; players will no longer choose their loyalties and then work their way through the ranks. Set in the Inner Sphere, players will assume the role of a MechWarrior for hire, taking contract missions, earning money to improve and repair their Mechs and buy weapons and ammo. In the process, they will gain access to higher paying gigs and improved technology. Besides single missions, there will be campaigns in which player will be able to hire out his or her Mech to the Inner Sphere to impede the encroachment of the Clans. The economic elements of Mercenaries adds some new strategic challenges. For instance, players will have to maintain their Mechs in top working order, since any damage sustained in a mission will carry over to the next unless the Mech is repaired. Parts can be salvaged to earn Comstar Bills - the currency of the Battletech universe - and with enough cash, players will be able to hire other MechWarriors to assist them on missions.

Forty new Inner Sphere Mechs will be available in single player games. In multi-player games - which will permit head-to-head play and up to eight combatants over a local area network - players will have access to all the new Mechs as well as every Mech from MechWarrior 2 and Ghost Bear's Legacy, totaling more than 70 Mechs in all.

Other new features, most notably the more realistic damage model, dramatically improve both the atmosphere and the gameplay. (Now if you shoot off a Mech's leg, he will fall over.) The game's visuals have also been dramatically improved with texture-mapped Mechs, more realistic skylines and terrain, and environmental effects such as snow, rain, and sandstorms.

MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries is scheduled for a September release for DOS and Windows 95.

Download this AVI Trailer of MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries (mercavi.zip, 9.3 MB)