BattleTech Reviews

When it comes to tabletop RPGs involving massive walking mechs, there aren’t many, if any, with bigger names than BATTLETECH. With over 60 games in its series including various tabletops, RPGs, and a ton of video games (most of which go under the title MechWarrior), BATTLETECH is no stranger to gaming.

Monitoring everything from your debits and credits to your hit points and heat levels, BattleTech is brutal, fragile, smart, and struggling a little under its own weight. It has more heart than you're expecting. Couldn't stop playing.

Slow and steady wins the race in Harebrained Schemes' detailed strategy epic.

Strategy-RPGs hold a special place in gaming. While other genres have seen great leaps in iteration and scope over the last 20 years or so, Strategy games have remained remarkably still, a testament to their mechanical purity and hardened roots in table-top gaming. It’s this focus on traditional game design that enables strategy games to thrive, to get deeper, more complex. They’ve definitely modernised with the times, but in more subtle ways like easier UI navigation and faster pacing, with the core feeling remaining the same. BattleTech is a game deeply devoted to being a pure strategy experience, one based on a beloved table-top series. It is impressive in its depth, thrilling in its narrative, daunting in its complexities, and ultimately held back by its disregard for modern audiences.

The beloved MechWarrior/BattleTech IPs return to the classic strategy space loaded with giant mechanized armors and the pilots who command them. As a longtime fan of the franchise, I was pleased to see plenty of customization options for my mechs big and small, true to form with heat sinks, jump jets, and particle projection cannons (PPCs). However, frustrating gameplay elements, a plodding pace, and frequent “stress to progress” initiatives keep players in tough spots even as they attempt to acquire a bay full of combat-worthy scrap.

The only areas Battletech really seems to fall down are where it doesn’t fully explore the things it is trying to do. It is, in many ways, a difficult game, for people who enjoy difficult games. But when things go your way, it allows you to feel powerful, smart, and engaged. This is a very hard balance to find, but Harebrained Schemes has pulled it off.

Note: BattleTech also supports PvP in the form of 1v1 Skirmishes. The developers have went on record stating that, at least at the moment, they see it more as a mode meant for fights between friends than for high level competitive play. This review does not cover the Skirmish mode.

An excellent turn-based strategy that mixes tense battlefield tactics with an engrossing meta game of money-grabbing mercs and expensive-to-maintain mechs.

BattleTech provides exciting strategic decisions and a compelling story, plus the slow-paced and meticulous fun of building up and customizing a mercenary company but suffers from the frustrating unpredictability of its weapons and procedural missions, and losing a favorite mechwarrior to a random head hit feels like it somewhat undermines the choices I’ve made along the way. Those frustrating moments didn’t ruin my many hours with BattleTech by any means, but they did mean I wasn’t rushing back for more after I beat the campaign.

When the issues of a game are rolled and stomped by its greatness, then it’s something to invest on if you have some spare.

There is something great glinting just below BattleTech's dour and crusty surface. So much now depends on whether future updates will dig for it or not - I pray they do. I've put an inordinate amount of time into playing Battletech, even starting the campaign over at one point, so convinced was I that I must be missing something or playing it wrong, but now I have reached an inescapable conclusion. If you want a picture of BattleTech, imagine a giant robo-tank silently firing an ineffective laser at another giant robot-tank - forever.

Mech love and listen to death from above.

An unmissable strategy gem that will unquestionably keep you playing one more contract. If you like mechs or tactical strategy games you’ll have a great time here whether you are a newcomer to the universe or not. BattleTech gets my full recommendation.

Though it’s rough around the edges, has difficulty spikes and very much feels like the foundations on which Harebrained can build upon, the core turn-based tactical gameplay of BattleTech is great. Micromanaged the tactical combat is gripping and tense, whether you’re crossing your fingers that the damage won’t pierce your armour, or laughing as your mech punches a hole through the middle of an enemy. This could easily grow into something special, and I hope it does.

Battletech is an addictive strategy game that smushes everything we love into one game, and dares us not to love it. It combines Firefly, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, XCOM, and giant Mechs punching each other and shooting laser beams. It’s an occasionally tough game, with the AI being almost human-like in giving no quarter and finances/time being a constant pressing concern, but it’s still accessible for less hardcore strategy fans. If you got through XCOM you’ll be fine with Battletech.

Fans of the tabletop games will find much to love, as will turn-based strategy players. Previous players of the MechWarrior videos games will find everything gladly familiar in this edition, and anyone willing to give this title a try will find an immersive, rewarding strategy experience that offers a great insight into the setting. The gameplay is tactically challenging and the story campaign is well-produced and very in keeping with the franchise.

Harebrained Schemes finally gives fans a faithful recreation of the tabletop mech combat series!