Mechcommander is still a blast !!
Anyway in case you guys have being living under a rock for the last few months, the FULLY PLAYABLE game is now free for download. Hop to microsoft site and look for it. MC2 is now fully open-source and free.
Well if the free part has not gotten your attention, it still quite a blast. The graphics might not be top notch, but they are perfect for a mech ! Mech's are big and squarish thingies so even ol school blocky graphics don't hurt them at all. The sound is still crisp and sharp especially for the PPCs and the booms from airstrikes and ammo dumps are still decent. The game does lack replay value due to lack of a skirmish or instant action mode but you probably won't need it. Each mission takes relatively a long time to complete and will get even longer when you realise that you have to juggle between Secondary and Primary objectives... This is definitely not your 5 minute jump into game, you will need time and lots of it !! Especially if you want to do everything perfectly or play on hard mode. So be warned, be ready to invest time before you start off any mission.
The game is basically a tactical RTS with some tweaks (like airstrikes, collecting "resource points", dropping in a helicopter etc) and the occasional RPG factor. The RPG factor comes in on your AI pilots and developing them to gain "special abilities" is the key. This means that pilots that fight more gain more experience and they will level faster, get better stats and gain more special abilities. However, you do not just want a single core of elite soldiers all the time, if one happens to get KIA, YOU WILL feel the loss since most of your replacements are usually Green and Regulars, not the kind of dudes to bring to the late missions. So eventually you will rotate pilots so you will have at least half a dozen of strong backups for your main team. Of course the game isn't so straight forward, this a Battletech game, it is naturally complex !! Not only you have to juggle your men, you need to accumulate cash to buy new mechs, accumulate new tech and then pouring out the cash to shoehorn that spiffy new Gauss rifle tech that you just got into your shiny new Highlander. Then you have to mess around with the mech lab since customizing is always fun and then burn more time in the process, and oh after missions there is salvage, injured guys to rotate, special abilities to choose for pilots and complement your team requirements.... The duties just go on and on and wait, we are not even on the battlefield yet !!
Once again i state, this is a game that is time intensive and instense. If you have the spare time, paitence and really into Battletech / Mechwarrior, this game will work for you !!! The missions might be too damn linear but for the perfectionist in you this game rocks, especially if you completed the mission with all objectives achieve, not one mech down and even fact gained more and blah blah.
So go and DL it now !! No harm trying since its free ! :D