BattleTech Review

I felt a cheerful sense of wonder and empowerment as I made my way through the enemy forces in one of BattleTech’s large-scale skirmishes. It was exhilarating to command a squadron, or “spear,” of four mechanical warriors piloting their finely tuned battle mechs in a strategic brawl.

BattleTech offers some of the most satisfying turn-based strategy gameplay I’ve experienced in this generation. However, those moments of brilliance on the battlefield are often hidden behind some dull design choices and a story that seems to stick together. As a result, Battletech is a fun, but exhausting video game adaptation of the classic board game.

Game

The main achievement of developer Harebrained Schemes in BattleTech is the incorporation of deep strategic mechanics to create organic and evolving encounters. Check out the game’s HUD. There is a lot of information to consider in the decisions you make for each battlemech’s turn.

But the number of variations you have to juggle forms a seamless process once you wrap your head around it. Like any good turn-based strategy game, positioning, preparation and thinking ahead of your opponents are vital elements. BattleTech is based on these basic principles. A variety of weapons, skills and environmental factors contribute to your unit’s overall effectiveness.

For example, every move must end with you choosing the direction your battlemech will be facing. Such an action requires careful thought as the angle of your perspective determines which enemies you can target and which sections of your mech’s armor will be most exposed to hostile assaults. Therefore, precise positioning on the battlefield is critical as you can use environmental benefits, such as a protective forest, to tip the scales in your favor.

I liked the planning that had to go into every move as it gave such weight to even the most mundane decisions. I had to balance the risk of engaging all my weapons on a significant target with the possibility of overheating my battlemech and making it desperately more vulnerable as a result. And like any thoughtful strategic RPG, every moment really felt like a dice roll, even if you did everything possible to remove luck from the equation as much as possible.