|
 n
the 31st century five stales are continually fighting
for supremacy. As 18-year-old Jason Youngblood, you're
still at school but instead of learning quadratic equation
you're being trained how to be a Mech warrior, defending
the Lyran Commonwealth. Mechs are massive military robots,
armed to the teeth with lasers and machine guns, and
piloted by humans.
Jason
is currently based in The Citadel and as well as receiving
various types of training he can stroll around the town
(shown from overhead) and buy armour and weaponry from
the shops. Mech training missions are completely free
of charge, but combat and mechanical classes cost hard
cash. His only income, however, is a small allowance
so it's necessary to invest this in one of three companies
(of varying risk) to make enough money for lessons to
improve his basic skills.
Two
mechs fight to the death
The
first few training missions involve getting used to
controlling a Mech -- there are three types with different
abilities, but all are controlled in the same way. Either
cursor keys or mouse can be used to control general
movement, but once an enemy is spotted control changes
to a menu-driven combat mode. Commands include WALK,
RUN, JUMP and KICK (for booting a nearby enemy). Each
of your Mech's weapons may be targeted on any enemy
in range. When the command BEGIN FIGHT is given, the
Mech moves where you told it to go and fires at the
targeted enemies.
If
Jason's training is successful, he can leave The Citadel
and wander around the countryside between cities, killing
enemies and recruiting friends to join him. In combat,
these are controlled in exactly the same way as Jason.
That
little blob on the road is Jason!
The
simple overhead graphics are ill-defined and badly animated
on both 64 and Amiga. Jason is a tiny blob which jitters
around the jerkily scrolling play area. Sadly, gameplay
is also extremely dull. Jason must wait between missions,
just ambling aimlessly around the city. This is made
worse on the 64 by frequent disk-accessing (every time
you enter or leave a building). Interaction with other
characters is virtually non-existent -- they usually
don't even want to talk to you. If he's got some cash
at least he can buy a few weapons, but whether his investments
do well is merely a matter of luck.
Hours
of play need to be put in to get anywhere in Battletech,
but the experience is so uneventful, only a dedicated
reviewer or RPG fan (like me!) could be bothered to
persevere. The only pleasure lies in building up Jason's
skills and later recruiting friends. Instead of being
explosive (as claimed in the packaging) combat is dull,
merely consisting of two or more Mechs firing laser
after laser at each other. The shots don't even appear
on the main screen. Instead, a small window displays
messages and sometimes shows an animated Mech firing
a laser. This is both confusing and distinctly unexciting.
Battletech
is based on the RPG of the same name. If you're a dedicated
fan of this you'll probably get some enjoyment out of
the computer version, but I would prefer to play the
real RPG with a few friends instead of watching a few
splodgy sprites fire 'messages' at each other!
|
