Recent reviews by Pandabaron

you'd have thought by the 5th iteration of the game, you could play with a friend through steam by pressing 'join game'.. like every other multiplayer game this platform hosts.. without port forwarding, having to share IP addresses, or or going through some dodgy guy's 15 year old llama website.

I booted up the game to play with a friend, long time fan of the series and we played 1 match together, little did i know the Keyboard controls are bafflingly 7,8,9,0,U,I,O,P for the attack buttons, adamant to change them we both went to our separate options screens, changed them, an could never connect to another game together again. 'Unable to receive room information'.

The UI of this game is horrendous, and as a clear console port, no effort appeared to be put into it's design whatsoever. 9 is select, 0 is cancel, enter is select sometimes? the menu is an absolute mess and you can't quit out of a match? It will be my solemn delight to refund it immediately and just play a port of one of the classic games instead

Unintegrating this DLC from my game is essential for an Ironman experience.

Warhammer 2 is still objectively a better game than Warhammer 3 a year and a half after 3's release. This game was the reason we were expecting something truly great in 3 and were sorely disappointed.

I hope CA's future total war titles embrace what made this game spectacular going forward. it's probably my favorite game of all time and deserved a much better sequel.

Warhammer 2 was objectively one of the best game’s ever made. I supported it blindly because of how brilliant it was. Pre-ordered DLC for it time and time again. It was truly CA’s crowning achievement, I was so excited to see what came next. One final sequel.

Warhammer 3, the capstone, the jewel in the crown was in comparison an utter disappointment. I have been holding off on this view because of how much I loved 2, how much I played your game to death. Now with your pricing changes to recent DLC’s providing far less content for triple the price, I have to support the community in downvoting Warhammer 3.

For the update bug fixes that never come
For the bug’s you’ve had since WH1 that you don’t fix
For the broken AI you can’t fix
For the lack of communication you provide
For the shameless price gouging
For the reputation you’ve destroyed after a lifetime of playing your games
For Nakai.

As a veteran of the game's predecessor, it took me no time to realize that despite using old, familiar assets to create Hawken Reborn, they have managed to capture none of the essence of what True Hawken was to it's die-hard fan base, the dev's somewhat callously shut out on steam five years ago. A game that fundamentally at it's core was a blisteringly good arena shooter with a proud, close-knit community. this reputation seems all but ruined now however against the expanse of one of the most horrendous cash-grab's i think I've witnessed in my decades of gaming. Reborn.

A question immediately popped into my mind when I first knew about this games creation; if you had the resources to make Reborn, why didn't you save your energy and open up the old Hawken servers and just have added a battle pass and more badass content to buy. minimal effort required. There are hundreds of players that would actually pay 10 bucks happily towards a battle pass and some who, like me, actually bought in game currency just to keep the game going. Alas I hoped that Reborn would have something new and special to offer remembering the PVE mode from True Hawken and thinking of how it could be developed, but Instead I feel like the developers made a game that the fans never wanted and that newcomers don't deserve.

Inside the nuts and bolts, this game for me was far too easy. I managed to sink six missions without taking hull damage whatsoever; a new unloreful addition being shields protecting me emphatically. As a returning player, the controls didn't feel immediately fluid. mouse sensitivity issues and a clunkier general mech movement whose origin I couldn't put my finger on, seem to plague this iteration. The battles thanks to new reload (and the aforementioned shield) mechanics made engagements feel cumbersome, stop-start and slow paced, diving behind cover constantly, compared to the frequently razor sharp speed of true hawken. Reborn also thinks to add Infantry in a Mech game, this infantry immediately irritates and forms the bulk of most armies. infantry. in this Mech shooter. Yes.

During the same six missions I encountered only one recognizable weapon (two at a stretch) which was not nearly as powerful as it's original and not coveted thanks in big part to the grind it would take to get it, against an only negligible damage output. I counted maybe 7 or 8 weapons in total to create or pay for, and although this is in early access, This is from a game that prided itself on a wide array of decently balanced, often very original weapons. I'm going to just list the available weapons in True Hawken them to labor a point;

The AM_SAR
the B3-AR BBY
the B3-AR M4MA
the B3-AR PPA
the Breacher
the EOC Repeater
the Flak Cannon
the Hawkins-RPR
the Heat cannon
the Mini Flak Cannon
the PN-223
the Point D vulcan
the Redox-02
the ReFLAK-35
the Rev-GL
the SA Hawkins
the Seeker
the Slug Rifle
The Submachine cannon
The T32 Bolt
The T32-Bolt XT
the Vulcan XT
the Corsair KLA
he Corsair KLA-XT
the EOC Predator
the Grenade launcher
the Helix Repair Torch
the Hellfire Missile battery
the KE-Sabot
the SAARE Launcher
the Sabot Rifle
and finally the TOW rocket

yup, there seemingly really isn't any TOW rockets. In a Hawken game.

I missed out the assault rifle and the Rev GL as they seem to actually loosely make an appearance. apologies if i missed any more, I hand on heart didn't want to play further or pay for anything in this game, and I am perhaps one of the few who might have done.

To summarize, Mechwarrior 5 mercenaries is the game for you if you want to experience this type of mech shooter PVE. it's got a ton of content set in a wonderful universe, it's far from perfect, but it's exactly what you'd be looking for. If you want an actual Hawken game on steam, you may have to wait, but if the Developers are willing to flip a single switch. You may one day, with a bit of luck, realize what it's like to play 'My' Hawken.

Edit - Further in depth information below

- Strafing seems to be functionally almost useless because secondary weapons such as TOW's and Grenade launchers (at least of the secondary caliber) appear to have been axed resulting in having no big damage to 'dodge'. Almost all enemies in my playthrough had hitscan weapons and as they are AI, It didn't (nor would i expect it to) noticeably effect damage output overall.

- Items do not seem to appear in the game. That is Bubble shields, EMP's, Orb's, Detonators and HE's, Disruptors, Both turret variants, Scanners, Scramblers, Holograms, Heat charges and that weird Blockade shield used almost exclusively for 'climbing' True Hawken's maps with Dermax.

- internal Mech components seem to have lost some depth in niche functionalities (aerial 180's, choosing an Air strafe, damage mitigation while strafing etc) especially without the aforementioned Orb item. 'Walk speed' is notably a new pointless addition to a mech with recharging jet boosters strapped to it's back which features alongside general minuscule shield and hull buffs.

- No Mech abilities feature in the game. Imagine a Berserker with no Damage increase, a raider with no speed boost, and a Brawler with no Turret mode. Oh and then subsequently remember that none of these mechs seem to feature in the game either.

- I only spotted two mech variants after the solid massacring of 35-40 of them that didn't have identical weapons to me after almost two hours of gameplay

- II only saw one enemy strafe in total through almost two hours of game play, (though it really did throw me off for a moment)

-Most mech's utilized a Medium chassis, light mechs didn't use their speed advantage whatsoever, serving only to die quicker while walking towards their target or jumping and slowly arcing in the air to one side, and heavy mechs were more tanky, but never difficult, the only heavy mech i saw was also really ugly and didn't match the Hawken aesthetic for me.

-you have to pick up ammunition and parts manually, making you backtrack constantly in case you missed the one vital un-detonated explosive the level yielded to create a walking modification that adds 0.05mph to your walk speed, and you need 90 of them.

-The game appears to utilize AI artwork in the post tutorial cutscene, make of that what you will

- The developers possibly didn't do themselves any favors by not adding a few touches of well earned nostalgia. The original score may have helped as well as not changing the strafing walking and weapon sounds.

- the voice acting i actually didn't mind..

The Flashpoint expansion should be a few dollars in price. That's the long and short of it. I bought it for full price, expecting Urban warfare to be a bit more game changing, honestly just paying the money to support the developers to create something new. but after seeing maybe 20 adverts for Urban warfare from multiple online sources, I see my money has not supported the devs at all.

Battle tech has so much promise, but I find myself looking to the modding community to unlock the games true potential. Also this game is built for a coop campaign. you have a basic online infrastructure, Just do it. Stop recycling Mech Models from MWO and charging $6 a mech, Anyone can pick up around 100 new mech variants easily by modding the game. Make Heavy metal an actual expansion and stop wasting our time.

Battletech is an exceptional Strategy game and I've had easily 20~ years of experience with the genre. The story is great, the battles are hard, sometimes uncompletable and the payoff for a brilliant battle is euphoric. HBS have restarted this franchise very strongly and there is talk of much more in the not too distant future.

If you're on the fence, buy it. It took me a couple of days to get it, but In my opinion it is easily one of the best games released this year.

I'll see your lance on the field of battle; MechCommander.

(Also I'm hoping for that multiplayer co-op campaign soon guys)

Honestly, one of the best games in existence. This game can no longer be really classed as an 'early access' title. It's a finished game, just with more additions to come. The community is amazing, the game itself is well balanced, the mechs are all unique in thier playstyles, the art design is second to none. It's simply the best Arena shooter I've ever had the honour of sitting in front of. And it's free! Why are you still reading this? Jump in your cockpit and I'll see you on the battlefield.

From what I've read about the early days of Rome II, You guys really messed up. You released a game full of bugs and the fans have had no compensation. And you have the audacity to STILL charge as much as a steam sale price for the WHOLE GAME, on a single DLC pack? *stands back* are you being ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ serious?

The game itself (without DLC) leaves me feeling miserable, staring at a shadow of the glorious game it could've been. I played the original Rome more than I did school work at the time, and there are actually many features in the original rome that are left out of this game, making it feel shallow and unfinished. Just read this reddit article if you don't believe me;
http://www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/1qwj7a/everything_rome_1_had_that_rome_2_doesnt/

Also, I feel I need to direct your attention to something else. The community that have modded Rome II (and there appears to be hundreds of them) Are doing a better job than CA. There are some properly decent mods for this game and CA needs to go ahead and hire some of them. Or get the same staff from shogun II, because if you look at the amount of mods there are for shogun II, that's right. there are barely any. You made an amazing game of shogun II, and you had no idea until you so royally screwed this one up.

Honestly, just Buy the first rome, Buy Medieval II, Buy shogun II, they are all far better gaming experiences, and you get all the teams you're supposed to for no additional fee. That's right folks. The content is all there on purchase! =O and you don't have the jury rig your new purchase by leaning on this incredibly loyal (albeit duped) fanbase, to make them better. and even then over half the teams are missing.

♥♥♥♥ the DLC. screw this game. i will only take this review down if CA give you the DLC.