Watch huge robots smash stuff in this new MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries trailer
The trailer is meant to showcase the game's biomes, but it's really all about the explosions.
We spent some time with MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries in December, and came away optimistic about its potential. The AI was weak, our resident robot jockey Steven declared, but it's "shaping up to be the mech game I've always wanted." It's a good look at the state of the game so far, showcasing changing mission conditions, various types of enemy units, the inconvenience of enemy reinforcements, and other elements of gameplay.
But sometimes you want to just kick back and watch a few minutes of giant robots blowing the 31st-century crapola out of everything that moves. For that, the new "Biome Update Teaser" is what you need. It makes no pretense at demonstrating how to play the game; there's nothing in it about heat management or weapon linking or sensor configurations. It's just "pew pew boom" with a few landscape shots, all of it buried underneath a repetitive but appropriately martial (and loud) soundtrack.
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is set to come out in December, and my hopes are high. The free-to-play MechWarrior Online has built up a dedicated community over the years, but fans of single-player campaigns (like me) have been left out of the fun for far too long. MechWarrior 2 is one of my favorite games of all time, and I very much hope that MW5: Mercenaries can recapture that magic.
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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.