MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries
" Immersive action simulation with deep mech customization and co-op, but slow start and bugs "
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries Review
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries offers players a mech combat experience centered around piloting, customizing, and managing a mercenary lance in a sandbox world. The game features a campaign with story and side missions, where players earn money and salvage parts to upgrade or replace mechs. Customization is a core appeal, especially with mods like "Yet Another Mechlab" that restore complexity to mech building, catering to fans of detailed mech design.
Players enjoy the weighty, immersive combat and the satisfaction of progressing from light to heavy mechs. The multiplayer co-op adds fun, though some report connection instability. The modding community significantly enhances gameplay variety, mission types, and difficulty adjustments. However, the base game is seen as repetitive with simple mission design and a slow, confusing start. Joystick support and bugs remain concerns. Overall, while not perfect, the game is praised for its engaging combat loop and strong mod support, making it highly replayable and enjoyable for mech enthusiasts.
Highlights
Players praise the deep mech customization enabled especially through mods, offering endless build possibilities.
The combat mechanics are described as explosive, weighty, and immersive, providing satisfying battles.
The game's graphics and visuals are generally considered up to date, though some find them grainy.
The story missions have a decent narrative sense and balance, with DLC adding more mission variety.
Strong modding support enhances gameplay, mission variety, and difficulty, significantly improving the base experience.
The co-op multiplayer mode is enjoyable and adds replay value despite occasional connectivity issues.
Criticisms
The game suffers from a slow and confusing early game that can frustrate new players.
Mission design is often repetitive and lacks variety, leading to boredom over time.
Base mech customization is dumbed down compared to earlier series entries, disappointing longtime fans.
Poor AI and occasional bugs, such as enemies getting stuck and mission progression halting, are problematic.
Joystick controls are criticized as clunky and not user-friendly without external fixes.
Some players report performance issues and poor optimization even on high-end hardware.
Many feel that half the content is locked behind DLC, and mods are almost essential for a full experience.
Pros
- • Extensive mech customization with mods offers deep and varied gameplay options.
- • Immersive and weighty combat mechanics provide satisfying mech battles.
- • Strong modding community enhances missions, difficulty, and overall experience.
- • Co-op multiplayer mode adds fun and replayability with friends.
- • Campaign progression from light to heavy mechs feels rewarding.
- • Decent story missions with good narrative balance and pacing.
- • Graphics are generally up to date and visually appealing.
Cons
- • Early game is slow, confusing, and has a steep learning curve.
- • Missions are repetitive with limited variety in objectives.
- • Base mech customization is simplified and less satisfying without mods.
- • Joystick support is poor and requires external fixes.
- • AI behavior is often weak and unchallenging.
- • Bugs can cause mission progression to halt, requiring restarts.
- • Performance issues and poor optimization reported on high-end PCs.
Rating Criteria
The year is 3015. The battlefields are dominated by war machines known as BattleMechs. Level entire cities and decimate the enemy in your BattleMech. Follow a quest for glory and revenge. Manage an expanding mercenary company. Fight alongside your friends with a four-player PvE co-op.
