MechAssault: Phantom War. This is a game I actually picked up and own to this day for my Nintendo DS. Instead of the masculine no-named Wolf’s Dragoon MechWarrior from the first two games, the player gets Vallen Brice, A multi-talented pilot from the Lyran Alliance. Her unique (from a video game perspective) blend of technical […]
Read More →In this edition of Product Reviews, we take a look at Technical Readout : 3145 Republic of the Sphere, the last of the faction TROs in the 3145 series covering the late “Dark Age” era. The Republic of the Sphere is somewhat unique in that there was no equivalent whatsoever in the “pre Jihad” era. […]
Read More →Like the original MechAssault, the sequel MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf centers on a no-named Wolf’s Dragoons MechWarrior supported by Lieutenant Foster from the original. The graphics are a few years more advanced of course, as are the sound effects. But I feel that even more than the new BattleMechs, the dismounted gameplay in Lone Wolf is […]
Read More →I remember having mixed feelings about this game when it came out. I never owned an Xbox, and only played it when over a friend’s house, so it was actually to my benefit that the game was more of an episodic arcade style action shooter. I could leave off practically anywhere. I also remember quite […]
Read More →Recently the latest experimental technical readout (XTRO) has been dropped on us. I’m not sure if the April 1st release date has anything to do with the contents of XTRO, but it’s a quite amusing, but interesting, addition to the BattleTech lineup. The main gist of this release is a tie in of various designs […]
Read More →I remember it taking a while to find a copy of this game that actually worked. I believe there was a technical issue with the software when it was first released. I’m not sure what exactly the problem was but it took nearly a year after my initial purchase to actually play it. It’s another […]
Read More →Book Three of the Blood of Kerensky Trilogy by Michael A. Stackpole Lost Destiny concludes the Blood of Kerensky Trilogy, which was preceded by the rather good Blood Legacy by Michael A. Stackpole. We’ll be concluding our retrospective look at Lost Destiny as part of a continuing series of articles (starting with Lethal Heritage and Blood Legacy) […]
Read More →This week in product reviews, I examine Technical Readout: 3145 The Clans, the seventh in Catalyst Game Lab’s faction TROs covering the late Dark Age era. I’d like to open with another personal statement on my philosophy regarding ‘Mechs : I like tripped out units. There it is. I like BattleMech designs that take advantage […]
Read More →Book Two of the Blood of Kerensky Trilogy by Michael A. Stackpole After the conclusion of “Lethal Heritage” you’re left in a bind. Michael A. Stackpole left us at the end of that book with a heck of a shock. We’ll continue exploring Blood Legacy as part of a continuing series of articles (starting with […]
Read More →First, I want to extend my apologies to the staff and readers for being away for so long. A few months ago I took a new job in a new city. (A rather large city, in fact.) It has taken me this long to get settled and to reach a mindset where I felt I […]
Read More →One thing about the BattleTech fanbase is that many of us have been around a while. And I’m willing to bet that quite a few readers out there remember Target Earth for the Sega Genesis and/or Cybernator for the Super Nintendo. They were well animated, side-scrolling platform Japanese robot combat suits from the early ’90s […]
Read More →I recently watched the mid-90s cartoon show on Hulu for the first time since it aired on television. And I have to say that it touches me on a level that I don’t think anyone marketing a cartoon to sell toys really has before or since. I grew up in the 80s and 90s, when […]
Read More →Ah yes, Technical Readout: 3050. The Clans have arrived, and the Inner Sphere has upgraded it’s technology. It sets a tone and a standard that all of the other Technical Readouts since have tried to match. The Inner Sphere designs include both refits and upgrades of existing designs and the beginning of some new ones. […]
Read More →A lot of fanboys quietly held their breath when FASA suffered a catastrophic reactor core breach in 2001. A lot of us didn’t know if there would be new BattleTech-themed videogames, or even tabletop games. Heck I still don’t know how entertainment companies work. MechWarrior IV was the last classically developed first person sim in […]
Read More →If I had to pick any of the BattleTech licensed videogames, I’d pick this game any day of the week. I like the FPS sim format fine, but MechCommander has more of the feel of the table top game as well as a more fleshed-out storyline. It has to be because you’re not just getting […]
Read More →I almost didn’t get through art school because of MechWarrior 3. Well it and MechCommander: Desperate Measures, which I purchased at the same time and didn’t sleep the whole weekend. Both drop you straight into Operation Bulldog. But I’ll be getting to the latter soon enough. I think what first grabbed me about the game […]
Read More →Atraitus has a great YouTube channel reviewing old videogames, and he started with MechCommander Gold. Check out his super in-depth video review below:
Read More →Book One of the Blood of Kerensky Trilogy by Michael A. Stackpole It’s hard to imagine the state of the BattleTech universe without the influence of Michael A. Stackpole’s work upon it. Back in the 90’s, my first BattleTech novel that I had picked up completely by sheer luck was indeed Stackpole’s “Lethal Heritage“. It […]
Read More →I specifically remember the summer of 1995. I was fresh out of high school and had started reading the Lethal Heritage trilogy (which was reprinted that September) and got my first taste of the Clans. I also had one of those friends; I think most people know one. The type of guy that had every game […]
Read More →This week in product reviews, we take a look at Technical Readout: 3145 Free Worlds League, the fifth in Catalyst Game Labs Technical Readout: 3145 faction series. First, though, a disclaimer: Everyone has had their own experiences playing BattleTech, and everyone develops different tastes, preferences and opinions regarding what kinds of ‘Mechs, weapons, equipment, etc. […]
Read More →Finally getting to my next review; we get the Davion entry for the TRO: 3145 series. I really wanted to like Technical Readout: 3145 Federated Suns. Like many long-time Classic BattleTech fans, I always regarded old House Davion as the “good guys” among the major factions in the early years. This, of course, was how […]
Read More →CGL’s Technical Readout: 3145 Draconis Combine, is the third in a series of faction-specific Technical Readouts of the 3145 Dark Age era. As in my last review, on TRO: 3145 Capellan Confederation, I was incredibly pleased by the selection of units offered. Simply put, most of them are the kinds of equipment you’ll want to […]
Read More →This week, I review CGL’s Technical Readout: 3145 Capellan Confederation, the second in a series of faction-specific TROs of the Dark Age era. The ‘Mechs and equipment of House Liao were quickly gaining in popularity with many BattleTech fans in the years leading up to (and encompassing) the Jihad, with a long series of strong […]
Read More →In my second review for Sarna.net BattleTech News Blog, I report on CGL’s latest release of this writing, Technical Readout: 3145 Mercenaries. Describing the equipment here – a promising mix of ‘Mechs, battle armor, tanks, VTOLs and other units – as “mercenary” is something of a misnomer. One of the delightful peculiarities of this ‘Dark […]
Read More →So I open with a disclaimer: Battletech’s Dark Age era was never my cup of tea. This was not a reflection on the novels, mind you, but more a conscious decision not to get involved with the MechWarrior: Dark Age system. (I had had my fill of collectible RPGs with Magic: The Gathering, thank you […]
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