MechWarrior 5: Clans can be as frustrating as fighting an Atlas without an arm, but it can also be as thrilling as when a Gauss rifle shell smacks into an enemy mech’s cockpit. On the one hand, it is a captivating, mechanically superb mech combat simulation that perfectly captures the complexity and personalization you would anticipate from this walking tank franchise. There are not many things more satisfying than modifying your mech until it has the ideal weight, armor, and armaments to fit your playstyle or coring an opponent’s mech with a single round from a pair of Gauss guns at range.
The campaign plot for Clans, which can be played alone or in cross-platform cooperative play with up to five people, also features some haymakers that tackle difficult subjects and explore huge themes. In contrast, the game is plagued with problems that prevent complete triumph. However, one of my first reactions upon rolling credits following my 25-hour playing was, “Dude, I want to play this again.”
You play as Jayden Smoke Jaguar in Clans, a teenage MechWarrior who aspires to establish himself in the Smoke Jaguar Clan and his team, Cobalt Star. Your team is thrown into the Inner Sphere Clan assault shortly after you become leadership. Your ultimate objective? Reclaim Terra, the cradle of humanity, and bring honor to the Smoke Jaguar Clan. It is both your fate and the destiny of the finest Clan, Smoke Jaguar. (At least, that is what your Smoke Jaguar Clan superiors say.) The characters are intriguing, and even if the plot takes a bit to get rolling, it is still captivating in the beginning.
Clans does a good job of drawing us into the propaganda of its dystopian sci-fi society. Briefings, mid-mission dialogue, and some of the most beautiful, well-animated cutscenes I have ever seen in a video game all tell you that Smoke Jaguar is the best Clan, that taking back Terra will free its inhabitants from the oppressive grip of tyranny, that what you are doing is right, good, and proper, and that doing battle honorably is more important than anything else. But is Smoke Jaguar lying, or is it real? Are you the villains or the heroes? Seeing these folks embark on this journey and consider the nature of full-scale battle is probably obvious from the outset.
There were instances where the gameplay and story blended so well that I had to lean forward in my chair. Piranha has done a fantastic job of capturing the essence of the MechWarrior universe by not sugarcoating the reality of battle, particularly wars of conquest. I have rarely experienced such a visceral reaction to missions I have played in a computer game. “We train young men to drop fire on people, but we will not allow them to use contractions while they are operating their mechs because it is disgusting,” to paraphrase a fantastic passage from Apocalypse Now.
Additionally, the voice cast does a fantastic job of portraying the emotion and, frequently, discomfort (keep in mind, they are practically a group of homeschooled kids born and bred for war) that underlie these characters, except for a few weak (but by no means horrible) links. The way the performers portraying Jayden and Galaxy Commander Cordara Perez deliver their words makes them particularly noteworthy.
Every weapon in Clans has a fantastic feel
Whether you are aiming to time your autocannon shots to maximize your fire rate and avoid jams, controlling the heat generated by your lasers, figuring out which enemy will take the brunt of your missiles, or simply watching your heavy mech lurch backward from the recoil of a gauss rifle, every weapon in Clans feels fantastic. It looks, sounds, and feels amazing when you make a particularly challenging or well-placed shot. This is especially true if you are using a controller.
You also need to control the endurance of your mech and your ammunition, if the weapons you are utilizing call for it. You will begin to sustain structural damage if you lose too much armor. You could lose an arm and the weapons attached to it if you take too much of it, which would make fighting impossible. Or perhaps you become less mobile after losing a leg. And what if the attacker gets a nice strike or two after piercing the armor protecting your core? Gracie, good night.
After a hard battle, you can use the mech repair bays that missions will occasionally have to patch up your armor and that of your squad, but you can not rely on them. They simply are not present in some missions, and when they are, they are a scarce resource. This implies that your best course of action is to minimize the damage you sustain and keep your mech’s vulnerable areas hidden from the adversary. It is an interesting system that promotes strategic play. Losing a weapon is always devastating, but when I was at low health and fought my way to a repair bay without losing anything, I felt like a great Star Commander.
Verdict
I was taken aback by MechWarrior 5: Clans’s outstanding campaign, which was supported by a well-considered and compelling narrative, an amazing task design, amazing walking-tank combat, and an extensive customization feature set. Several story moments and missions will remain with me for a very long time because they forced me to think about the morality of war while simultaneously arranging my rockets and lasers to destroy a target and moving my damaged armor out of danger. I truly enjoyed playing Clans, especially in co-op. I only wish my initial playthrough—especially in co-op—had not been so glitchy. In any case, I will undoubtedly be dressing up for the Smoke Jaguar Clan for another run in the future. If Piranha’s promised post-launch fixes can resolve its faults, Clans will have a lot less disappointing lows to bring down its many outstanding highs.
