Back when PGI first started marketing MechWarrior 5: Clans, the message was that they wanted to show the Clan Invasion from a different perspective. Previously, we’d only experienced the Invasion as the plucky underdogs fighting for freedom in MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries, and then later as the avenging force in MechCommander. We’d never taken part in the Clan Invasion as an actual invading Clan.
Enter MechWarrior 5: Clans and we’re not just playing as an invading Clan, we’re playing as arguably the worst of the invading Clans. Clan Smoke Jaguar committed the worst atrocities during the Invasion, and although they were paltry in comparison to the war crimes committed during the Succession Wars, they forever painted the Smoke Jaguars as the bad guys. That’s why a mere decade later the Second Star League would eliminate the Smoke Jaguars seemingly for good.
Now, there’s absolutely no mistaking the Clans—every Clan—as extremely warlike. You’ve got vat-born children who only know combat from day one and either grow up to be a warrior or live their adult lives supporting the warrior caste. That is simply Clan culture, one initially born of necessity and later sculpted by a madman masquerading as a savior.
But even Clan warriors need a reason to fight. It could be as simple as “I want that thing, let’s fight over it,” but there’s always a reason. So when it came time to invade the Inner Sphere, the Clans needed a cause beyond mere doctrine. The Clans couldn’t be the invading Mongols (despite what their nomenclature would suggest)—they needed to be the liberating saviors.
Narratively, I think MechWarrior 5: Clans’ greatest triumph is providing an entirely believable story that front-line warriors told themselves as they were mowing down Inner Sphere MechWarriors by the dozen. Throughout MW5: Clans, each of your Star will remark on how the Great Houses are corrupt, that their leaders’ greed has caused such great suffering and loss that the common people would gratefully accept the toppling of the old order in favor of the efficiency and stability of the Clans.
And it was this argument, most pointedly remarked by Ezra during the first Courchevel arc, that really made me see the Clan Invasion in a different light. Perhaps self-preservation convinced the political classes of the Clans to invade the Inner Sphere, but the common soldiers didn’t think of it as a preemptive defense–they thought of it as an ideological revolution, where the aristocracy and capitalists would be swept away in favor of state ownership. It almost sounds like a communist revolution.
To be clear, the Clans are not communists. Communism calls for the abolishment of classes where the Clans have a strictly stratified society (which is perhaps even more fascist than most Inner Sphere governments). While warriors and making war were the main drivers of the Clans, commerce still occurred, capital was still invested, and the allocation of resources was rarely based on an individual’s needs—it usually was distributed based on their leader’s whims (which is a lot like how most communist countries operate in practice).
There are a lot of arguments to be made that the Clans are not space commies, but the idea that the Clan Invasion was sold as an intergalactic worker’s revolution struck me as both amusing and believable. The Clans all descend not from nobility, but from the common folks who staffed the Star League Defense Force. Any nobles in the SLDF fled back to their respective families rather than follow Kerensky into exile. Imagine being the descendants of those commoners returning to the Inner Sphere after centuries of war, seeing how the ruling classes lived and how the civilians often died, and not feeling some desire to tear society down to its very foundations.
(For the record, I think a better BattleTech revolution would be for every mercenary company to unionize. Imagine how that would go.)
That’s just the first layer of MechWarrior 5: Clan’s narrative cake. Every interpersonal story, from Mia’s descent into the Crusader ideal to Ezra’s opening up to Inner Sphere perspectives, fills this pastry to burst. And within it are so many references to some of BattleTech’s deepest lore that I couldn’t help but think that non-fans might be totally lost playing this game (which is why everyone should direct their normie friends to Sarna if they have any questions).
Outside of the story, MechWarrior 5: Clans offers a far greater customization of OmniMechs through the OmniPod system. Like a try Clan Warrior, you’re able to customize your ‘Mech however you’d like based on available OmniPods. That doesn’t mean you can do anything you want (no YAML-levels of customization here), but you can do far more than MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries.
But honestly, you don’t even have to. I went through most of the game in stock variants and didn’t have much trouble. It was only after I reached the latter part of the game where every mission became a horde-rush of ‘Mechs that I felt compelled to customize my ride to have way more punch than any stock variant OmniMech.
I found the ‘Mech Lab intuitive, and although PGI maintains its love affair with clicking through multiple menu screens, at least navigating them was quick and easy. Honestly, given the massive amount of information that must be navigable on both PC and game consoles, I suspect the ‘Mech Lab in MechWarrior 5: Clans is the best it can be.
All the ‘Mechs feel as you’d expect. The Stormcrow still fights well above its weight class, even outperforming the Summoner and Hellbringer. The Timber Wolf is still the poster child of the franchise and for much of the campaign. The Dire Wolf is still the final destination as the campaign funnels you from light ‘Mechs to mediums, to heavies, and finally, assaults.
That’s one of my largest complaints against MechWarrior 5: Clans. The game provides a relatively linear escalation in difficulty. You can lessen that difficulty with strategic placement of pilot skills and ‘Mech upgrades, but ultimately, the final missions have so much ‘Mech tonnage thrown at the player, that there’s simply no way to win without bringing as much armor as possible, and that means the Dire Wolf.
I hate slow, heavily armed Mechs. I much prefer using speed and terrain (something that’s far more varied in MechWarrior 5: Clans) to outfight my opponents, but that’s simply not always possible. But being forced into the Dire Wolf reduces the gameplay to a gunnery test–dispatch each target as fast as possible to minimize the damage to yourself and your allies. It’s my least favorite way to play MechWarrior, although I admit it is effective.
I also admit that I am likely in the minority here as assaults seem to be the most popular class of ‘Mechs amongst fans. And perhaps better MechWarriors than I will prove I just need to ‘git gud’ to beat the game with something other than a full star of Dire Wolves.
That said, I think that forcing players into the assault ‘Mechs eliminates part of the power fantasy of MechWarrior. I felt like the armor and firepower of the Dire Wolf was a necessity, so I never truly felt like I was all that powerful even as I was coring dozens of ‘Mechs with my eight Medium Pulse Lasers and twin Gauss Rifles.
Balance is one of the hardest things to achieve in any game, but especially so in the MechWarrior franchise. I can’t say how I would change MechWarrior 5: Clans to allow lighter ‘Mechs in those final missions without also making those missions incredibly easy to finish. Perhaps I would simply let them be easy; this is a single-player game, after all. It doesn’t always need to be a straight-line escalation in difficulty.
But my biggest complaint is the game’s lack of New Game Plus. Once you beat the game, you can replay missions in the Sim Pod, but there’s no way to continue unlocking ‘Mech upgrades (although you can acquire ‘Mech XP for chassis upgrades by completing milestones). If you could start a new game with everything you’ve already unlocked, you could continue playing to simply unlock everything you missed the first time around. Perhaps with every upgrade and pilot skill acquired, I’d be able to tackle the final mission in an Executioner or even a Gargoyle.
I think that sort of says it all. If my biggest complaint is that there isn’t a better way to keep playing the game than to start a new save, then it’s a good game. A very good game. Certainly the best MechWarrior of them all. [ed. New Game Plus is on the way, but we might have to wait a minute.]
Do I have other complaints? Sure, but it’d just be nitpicking, and if MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is any indication, most of those nits will be picked in future updates, and then a whole world of possibilities opens up. Do we get sequel DLCs? ‘Mech packs to play the campaign in second-line, non-OmniMechs? Or perhaps a completely new story with an entirely different Clan a la Ghost Bear’s Legacy?
I don’t know what the future has in store, but for the MechWarrior franchise, I know it’s looking bright. Two Hunchback thumbs up.
And as always, MechWarriors: Stay Syrupy.
Being forcibly funneled into heavies and assaults in the late game seems to be the biggest complaint of first timers to the Mechwarrior series as well. I’ve seen plenty of reviews from people with backgrounds in Armored Core or Gundam who recognize MW is a different genre and won’t be as fast or mobile as the games they’re used to but find lights and mediums fast and fun enough. Then they’re forced by the mission design into a slow tank play style they don’t enjoy in the second half and check out.
Being forced into heavies and assaults is a near-universal problem in almost every adaptation from the tabletop game, because none of them ever have the checks and balances that tabletop does to make light and medium mechs viable. Whether Mechwarrior, Battletech 2018 or MechCommander, you almost invariably end up controlling 1 or 2 lances of mechs at most, while difficulty can only scale by throwing more and bigger enemies at you, and mission completion almost invariably hinges entirely on winning a straight-up fight. And realistically, a light mech cannot kill plausibly penetrate the thick armour of an assault mech with its dinky weapons, while an assault mech only takes as long to crumple a light mech’s tin can armour with its massive loadout as it takes for the assault pilot to get his crosshairs over the light (never mind homing weapons like LRMs). An assault mech may lose to its weight in light mechs, but that’s simply not how these games play. Battletech 2018 made a valiant attempt to give lighter mechs a place in the game with the evasion system rewarding fast movement and the initiative system giving lights more flexibility, but it still wasn’t enough against the sheer numbers you end up facing. Until games start incorporating BV or drop weight restrictions, it’s going to always be a rush to the heavies and assaults and then you never look back.
While I have had fun getting both endings I do hope that any future DLC we get attempts to de-lobotomise the AI, too many time did I shoot at enemies just looking off into space or watch my star forgot about mechs behind them as they look at their feet drooling.
I do also agree with wishing we didn’t need to play heavies, I loved my nova with 10 medium lasers but as soon as the Mad Cat became available I had to switch.
The only real problem I have is a consistent glitch in the menus, I cannot easily click on anything. Otherwise, I am loving it. Keeping the fixed components of an Omnimech finally. I just find it a little odd that the Ebon Jaguar is not in it. I know they need new toys for dlcs, just find it funny that it is not there.
I am also tired of people being incredibly belligerent about the inability to change fixed equipment in the steam forums, I have never seen so many man-children…
I haven’t finished the game yet, but I was doing some thinking about the problem mentioned of being forced into heavier and heavier tonnages. I just played (and failed) a mission where, trying to minimize spoilers, it takes place on a pacified world and the briefing says the mission will be a standard patrol and inspection. The mission had a recommended tonnage of 410.
I deliberately went in undertonnage, because why would I take assaults on an inspection run? Obviously, got stomped when the game sent wave after wave of assault mechs at me.
But this made me think about TIE Fighter from the DOS days. In the first few campaigns, you were assigned whatever craft fit the mission profile. Even after your first mission in an Assault Gunboat, you would often go back to flying a TIE Fighter or Interceptor on the next mission. Since Clans is a linear game, the developers could have created some missions, even deeper into the game, where the mission profile better suits a star of lighter mechs.
You know, it would suit the Clan ethos better I think. Say one mission is a big slug-fest against waves of assault mechs. By the next mission, your opponents would have spent their heaviest machines already, and Clanners hate to commit more forces than necessary, so you’d get to switch it up with lighter mechs yourself.
I expected the weight class funneling, because that is what happened in Mercs. What I wasn’t expecting was the limitations on omnipods. Each section was limited to a variant configuration that you could unlock, and that was it. It didn’t bother me at first, but as the heavier mechs with more pod space and tonnage became available, I started to disliking the system more and more. As good as the narrative was for a Mechwarrior game, and it was a very refreshing take, I found it mechanically disappointing and lacking in replayability.
I enjoyed the game a lot but I’ll go over some of the nitpicking items:
* Kerenskies and buying/selling mechs (and weapons/etc) should be some sort of requisition system instead. We’re going to war yet I’m buying mechs from my clan?
* Along the same line, all the upgrades didn’t makie sense either. We’re going to war as a clan but I’m requisitioning scientists for my star? What? The game developers seem stuck in MW5 Mercs mode.
* IS ammo crates / repair facilities. Granted I’m really nitpicking here, but these technically shouldn’t function on clan tech.
* A clan mech challange system would have made the game more realisitic for battles, but I can see where it just woulnd’t work here. The nitpick is really just every battle is a declaired melee.
* I found most of the characters way too Inner-Sphere like to be clan warriors bred and raised for warfare. The way they talked, acted and and even the plot just felt wrong.
* Minor nitpick but The. Way. Jayden. Talked… Voice. Actor. Dude. Please. Read. Smoother.
* Colonel Westrick really gets around! (more voice actors needed)
* The whole first mission series with the pirates felt like playing a intro to the actual game. I just wanted to get on with the invsasion already. Also fighting so much extremely well equipped pirates and militia it didn’t feel like we were invading a powerful IS house at all.
* While balanced pretty well, the damage reduction that enemy mechs/tanks took was very obvious.
* Jump jets were useless.
Good points, I’d like to comment on a few.
First, the Kerenskis were kinda the requisition system in my opinion.
Second, I agree on the requisitioning scientists… Seamed odd, though the techs kinda makes sense as they’d be prioritising better preforming stars.
Third, my thoughts exactly. But as you said, makes sense as a gameplay point.
Fourth, I was ready for this. As the AI would be more difficult to code in some ways. I just figured the Jags declared them Dezgra fast, and called it a day.
Fifth, none of the games had great voice acting unfortunately. I just thought the teeth needed to move more…
Sixth, I mean, budgets are small… but yeah.
Seventh, they were REALLY well equipped for pirates in the succession wars. These missions should have been more like clubbing seals. Well, seals that played dirty.
Eighth, wait, they were buffed? That explains a lot. (Like the locusts not evaporating under my three large pulse lasers)
Ninth, I found them useful on occasion, but the maps don’t have anywhere that required them. I use them to pop up and spin a bit faster at times or to hurl myself over a bit of cover to say ‘HI!’ So I see it as a play style.
Cheers!
I’ve seen some comments that the voice acting was recorded during the Pandemic which suggests some (or all) the vocal performances were recorded in the actor’s homes. Not the ideal setting but I’m glad we got more voice acting than in Mercenaries (though that steadily increased over the DLCs). This probably explains the weird sound quality variations in Mia’s lines (at certain points she sounds a little muffled).
The Clans are a rare example of a stratocracy (rule by military forces), which may have some socialist tendencies, such as nationalized production, but are not socialistic strictly speaking.
while yes Kerenskies are typically what the Clans use as their virtual currency for requisition purposes (I think this was explained in MechWarrior’s Guide to the Clans), it would have felt more appropriate if they used Trials of Possession instead to get better mechs instead of having to buy them outright.
There should have been no drop weight resitriction BUT(!!!) dropping with a lower weight or disabling weapon types (ahem bidding away ahem) and equipment should net you better honor.
The scientists and research was a WTF is this moment, because really, a mere Star Commander should have no authority to make the scientists do anything. If anything, it would have been better if tech improvements were tied to experienced gained on weapon, mech, equipment use FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL PILOT, instead of an actual research. I mean, how else would you represent the advanced skill of a Clan mechwarrior, by their proficiency! This was such a missed opportunity, I hope we get a patch going that would change the entire research, upgrade, and pilot experience mechanic.