Are you a fan of giant robots with lasers and missiles galore? Or perhaps you just love to hate yourself as you carefully manage heat waste while trying to stay alive against an enemy Mech with superior positioning? Or maybe you’re one of those few and proud gamblers who will roll the dice on that jump jet use to come slamming down on an enemy risking both an overheat and possible leg damage? Why yes, I’m talking about BattleTech, to be specific the latest video game incarnation made by Harebrained Schemes and published by Paradox Interactive. The new DLC Flashpoint just dropped and it promises 30 hours of new content, new toys and ok let’s face it, it’s really all about getting your hands on a Hatchetman, isn’t it? This is our BattleTech: Flashpoint review.
BattleTech comes as one of the more detailed versions of the game more closely resembling the tabletop experience than most have before. With the Flashpoint DLC Harebrained wants to keep players coming back with more content. The main thrust of it being the Flashpoints themselves. These are generally high-risk missions with short stories that can often involve the Great Houses, that branch more into your mercenary career as an aside from the main story of the game itself. These include special events, more crew conversations, more choices and sometimes rare rewards. The missions I dabbled in had varying degrees of difficulty, I had some especially interesting experiences with the missions that were linked deployments not letting me heal or repair in between missions. While the stories are short, they add a nice side course to the meal that is the main story. The rewards are definitely worth the risk in these missions.
Besides the Flashpoint missions themselves, there’s been more added to the game. There are new tropical biomes which add their own spice of things with spores in the environment not to mention possible heat risks. The biomes provide great eye candy in their design and look, but also add for a nice new location to play around in and try out some new tactics so that things don’t get stale. A new encounter type has been put in called Target Acquisition, in it you manage three areas with light and medium mechs to triangulate fire on an enemy area before time runs out. It’s a nice new addition that can be fun to play.
With all of the above, you also get new Mechs to control. In Flashpoint We are introduced to the Crab, Cyclops and the Hatchetman mechs. All three of these mechs are a great addition to any Lance, but the crown jewel here (if you enjoy having your Mech get up close and personal with the enemy) is the Hatchetman. Having a giant axe welded onto its arm makes this Mech a melee beast on the field of battle. The downside to this is the tonnage the weapon takes up means less space for ranged weapons; but let’s be honest, if you’re driving one of these things you’re not looking to snipe the enemy.
A review copy was provided for this review.
