BattleTech: A mighty battle

Express News Service

BENGALURU: BattleTech isn’t a new game it came out in 2018, in fact. However, like Civilization 6 which I wrote about recently, it’s only gotten better in the years since, thanks to a stream of additional content. Is this the best giant-mech simulator out there? Spoiler yep.

BattleTech casts you in the role of a commander of a mercenary company of battlemechs — giant bipedal heavily-armed combat robots. As such, you’ll not only command your mechs in battle but you’ll also take charge of your company’s finances and upgrades. You’ll also be called upon to make decisions as you work your way through the campaign. 

As for gameplay, BattleTech is inevitably going to draw comparisons with the new XCOM games; however, that’s no bad thing and BattleTech does enough to set itself apart. In a game like this, the combat needed to be really good; thankfully, it is. You’ll have to juggle cover, various terrain types, facing and your mech’s rising heat levels as you face off against a variety of enemy mechs, vehicles and static defenses. And that’s without even mentioning the various types of mech you’ll command — from speedy scouts with jump jets and paper-thin armour to up-close-and-personal brawlers who eschew fancy weapons in favour of a good old-fashioned giant robot punch.

Managing your company’s finances runs deeper than you might expect, and the early struggle to stay afloat is genuinely worrying. Whatever profit you make from missions is soaked up by repairs to damaged mechs, salaries and various other debts that show up from time to time. You’ve also got to juggle the need to constantly upgrade your mechs to ensure that you can go toe to toe with more powerful opponents, but a mech that’s being refitted is a mech that you don’t have access to. Being forced to take on a mission with some underpowered mechs and novice mechwarriors because your veterans are injured feels exactly like XCOM, and also exactly in character for a rag-tag bunch of mercenaries.

Missions can last well over an hour, and it’s a kick to the gut when you make a small mistake at the very end of one and see your best battlemech blow up because of it. Although the AI isn’t particularly innovative — it does tend to favour the ‘swarm’ approach – it will choose its battles (fighting near defenses) and is absolutely ruthless at punishing mistakes. This is no walk in the park, but that does make it extremely rewarding when your plans come off.

Since release, Paradox Interactive have added a number of new features to the game — there are new mechs, new biomes, new mission chains and deployment types and even urban environments. All of these ensured that BattleTech felt almost like a new game when I went back to it recently, and it’s a testament to both how good the basic formula is as well as the support it’s received from Paradox.

If you like turn-based-strategy games, you need to play this one.

Arjun Sukumaran

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(Arjun is a gamer, book lover and an all-round renaissance man)