Mech Warrior 4: Vengeance

MechWarrior 4 casts you as Ian Drusari, the nephew of a powerful duke, who returns to his home world from the Clan Wars to find it occupied by a rival noble family: House Steiner. You must launch a civil war and reclaim your birthright as you command a ragtag army of awesomely armed, 40-foot-tall, 80- ton, 90-mile-per-hour BattleMechs across the remote battlefields of your hostile world.

Not a bad tale to tell and Microsoft made sure the telling would play as well as it looks. The graphics are flat-out amazing. Lighting effects, smoke trails, smoldering Mech armor, laser discharges, and missiles all look incredible. You can fight in deserts, arctic regions, forests, and even on the moon: all look sci-fi-movie perfect. Mechs have more animations than ever before as well. They stomp across the battlefield and reel from weapons fire convincingly, and when the cannon fire finally punches through their armor, they light up like Christmas trees. Thermonuclear Christmas trees, that is.

The Mechs are faster than in previous games yet you still feel like you're piloting a lumbering, walking tank--this is a Mech combat simulator, not Quake III in power armor. The controls have been simplified, but this is a good thing. It used to take a long time to learn how to pilot 100 tons of armored death, but now the controls are much more intuitive. No longer will players have to cycle through weapons lists; now, each weapons group is controlled by its own button on the joystick. We recommend Microsoft's Sidewinder joystick, as the game's controls were written with that stick in mind.

The enemy Mechs in the single-player game play well. Both your allies and the enemy use their Mechs' capabilities wisely and provide a challenge throughout the game's long and entertaining campaign. Multiplayer is offered via Microsoft's easy-to-use Gaming Zone and there is also an Instant Action mode that'll keep you playing long after the campaign is over. MechWarrior is back and looming large over the gaming scene. --Bob Andrews

Pros:

• Immersing techno-feudal storyline
• Excellent balance between simulation and action
• Challenging, yet easy to learn.

• High system requirements
• Sometimes cheesy voice acting

There are 25 single-player missions spanning seven different terrain types: lunar, alpine, arctic, swamp, urban, and desert. Before going into battle, choose your lancemates based on three variable factors: their personalities, their piloting skills, and their mech. Full Internet support is included: create missions, host servers, and participate in missions cooperatively.