BattleTech: Just One More Mission

So, this has rapidly taken over all of my free time. Who knew that almost 30 years after I was playing those early BattleTech computer games (including some very early Westwood Studios titles), there would be a tactics game that captures the magic of detailed combat between 'Mech miniatures simplified down without losing the charm and weight of those mechanics.

When X-Com (originally UFO: Enemy Unknown to me) was rebooted into a new tactics game, I just could not get into the simplified systems. Maybe this was made worse by my continuing to go back to that original and throwing dozens of hours into the campaign every few years but something about moving from action points to move & fire phases didn't click with me. I knew how this game worked and a steady shot came from moving less and having more time to aim properly. It was all a complex set of choices that set the pace of progression and the chances of coming back with most of your squad in good health (or at least alive). Without that as the backbone of the tactics game, I just couldn't get into the larger strategic layer.

For whatever reason, I don't feel similarly constrained by that in Harebrained Schemes' latest game. Maybe it's the secondary systems like heat management and armour facing or that all of that stuff comes from detailed loadout decisions made in the strategic layer but the simplifications here feel necessary and improve the flow of each mission (which can sometimes finish in minutes but normally run closer to an hour). There was never going to be a time when 'Mechs could shoot more often (if it used APs) because managing the heat generated already restricts your actions as much as the turn counter. I've also not been going back to a different BattleTech tactics game and getting my fix there in the years up to this release so each mission feels like fresh air, every dodge and answering body-block feel like the taste of metal behemoths becoming mangled for my enjoyment.

I could probably play just the tactical layer for another 40 hours without anything else to draw me in. Keep that random scenario generator running to build missions and some fresh 'Mech loadouts to keep things interesting & my playbook changing and I'd be set. But here we get a full set of scripted story missions and universe building which situates you inside the world some of us have been diving into for decades.

As a mercenary, you're responsible for making payroll every month and ensuring your equipment is replaced after every mission. It can genuinely feel desperate when you're trying to make enough from contracts to keep going and you know that the damage you take can eat through your profits. Far worse, injuries and repairs are going to prevent you jumping into another contract for some time and that payroll is only getting closer. Time is money and even if you win a scenario, you could still come out with a loss. That's where the fiction continues to meet the mechanics: unless you're on a story mission then you are encouraged to consider cutting your losses and abandoning a contract. Optional objectives can increase your pay but none of that is worth it if you're stuck for a month repairing the damage you took completing it. Even before you're done with the core objectives, sometimes it's time to evac and write it off. There are dozens of little things that mesh the narrative and the mechanics like this.

The production values are somewhat mixed (there is a bit of the "KickStarter budget constraints" visible in spots) with some functional-if-TellTale-Games(ish) characters for a lot of the dialogue between story missions giving way to the occasional but far more evocative animated painting cutscenes backed by excellent music. In the tactical layer some of the lighting, atmospheric effects, and 'Mechs look excellent but then it's also easy to note some rather variable detail levels, dodgy action camera shots, the odd framerate canyon, and something seems straight up broken about the loading system (it hasn't crashed, it's just trying to load the loading screen). I grabbed a new Ryzen this month and BattleTech is possibly the only place where I've not noticed the improvement (something is going on during those load screens, if they even render in, but it's not taxing CPU cores doing it). But these are minor blemishes on what is often a gorgeous game that oozes a coherent style.

This is an exceptional tactics game that simplifies the miniatures without stripping that character, of huge 'Mech combat in a crumbling universe of fiefdoms. Come for the tactical mission encounters, stay for playing as mercenaries trying to make ends meet while pawns in much larger events.