We will boycott MW5 and DLC until it is at 80%-off sale, or under 25$

Quite frankly, I am pissed at their PGI, and their sensitive snowflake ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of moderators, so ♥♥♥♥ it, I pirated the game. I'm still going to buy it, for reasons below.

No, I didn't play it vanilla, I've seen the showcase and I am not impressed. Unfortunately, the mods however are glitchy and broken with the high-seas edition, I wanted MW5 Reloaded, the SMMOD Visual Audio Overhaul, the Coyote's Mission Pack -- the Battlefield is what Warzone should have been, but some missions are broken and recon is DEFINITELY BROKEN. Unless the DLC and the QoL change in MW5 impresses, I'm mainly going to buy the Steam release version for better modding support.

There are mods that work however:
- Navid's Rescale, Effect Fix, Inverse Kinematics, and Improved Laser works
- Yet-Another Mech and Weapon works, though there are missing weapons, and RAC is kind of bad
- 3D-Hud works wonders, I have it set on green
- Kh0rn's Audio Overhaul is a must though, just to replace the godawful butt-metal
- Improved Heatsinks because I like firepower
- Paint-Saving and hidden camo is also okay
- Better Negotiation works, but you need to put it into higher load order
- Reduced Travel Cost works well
- Atlas-Eye-Glow, Revamped Avatars, mmissile head replacers also work
- No Friendly-Fire also works, though I never experience the friendly-fire mode and will never want to

The mod conflicts however is unbearable, it's clearly unlike BattleTech where they have ModTek that consolidates all of the changes in a separate loaded mod, thus fixing the incompatibility issue. I think that needs to exist.

GAMEPLAY AND COMBAT:

The King-Crab on the start is foreboding, but the GUI is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, there's too many clicks just to get to the mechlab of the Instant-Action. I like it better when BattleTech has a separate ready-to-use mechlab just outside. In fact, I think the game should allow you to make custom variants of mechs, that will show up in the campaign later on.

The procedurally generated biomes are surprisingly solid, yeah you see that it's obviously just chunks after chunks within the full map-view, but it's hardly even noticeable while fighting. Still, it should have smaller chunks.

The graphics are dated, and it's made worse it has the same problem as with MWO, that the sights to see are rubbish. But now there's too much visual noise that it's hard to discern mechs and tanks from the buildings, you have to rely on locking. And the locking itself is also rubbish that you need visual to be able to mark them in the map. This ain't MWO that you should be able to creep up on enemy players, there's dozens of them in the map all at once. It would be made better if there was UAV that could be used.

The Mech-Combat is something they got right, considering that it's 8-years of work and maintenance with MWO, it's not really surprising. AI is dumb though, but i wish I could just better control them. MWO has this map-marking system, i hope it made into the game but it didn't.

The recoil of the weapons as you fire however is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, it's jarring. It's not fun when you're getting hit in MWO that it disrupts your concentration, it's not fun when you're doing it to yourself every time you fire. The burst fires are okay for a concept, but the spread makes them dumb, and the AC10 and AC20 burst-fires have so much burst while still having their low velocity makes them hard to use.

The mechs also have no structure and armor quirks like in MWO. It's quite dumb actually, considering that the bad hitboxes seems to be there. And unlike MWO and without MW5, the mechs are relatively slow and easy to shoot at.

The Mech-Lab is kind of garbage though, but I didn't exactly experienced how garbage it, mainly because of Yet-Another-Weapon improving the hardpoint selection. I would prefer the MW4 styled sized-hardpoint, on the MW5-Reloaded Mechlab. It has it's moments though, like you don't need to complete the 10 heatsink anymore, that allowed me to put Gauss on the damn urbanmech that made it an effective sniper.

My favorite build so far is the Shadow-Hawk 5M with AC10-BF and SRM10s because they are so well synced.

STORY:

The story is BAD -- it's basically just a worse HBS BattleTech revenge story but at least there you actually get to ♥♥♥♥ the Aurigan Directorate off. In this game however, you just screw off some pilots for revenge, and then defend a base in the end which is just a glorified warzone. But if it's any consolation, it's barely there.

The campaign is just a glorified grind-fest, it becomes apparent that even the story missions are basically just variations of the mission types of go-here-and-shoot-things. Though personally I am okay with it, coming from Monster-Hunter where I am used to the grind.

Though it's still an avenue for improvement, that there should be more variety of missions than just the five and more objective oriented too, not just throwing all the targets they can because that just invites more use of heavier mechs to soak up the damage and win trades. More story in one mission and more scripting.

It is also unlike MechWarrior 4, that is arguably more BattleTech, has more personality, and more agency, that your choices affect something. MechWarrior 4 Mercs have actual separate stories that you participate in, more scripted but also more impactful storywise; you get to be lured into a trap; you can save people for free with no payment; play in gladiator battle in Solaris 7 with the voice of Duncan Fisher cheering for you; there was some stealth-section; you fight in a Trial of Possession and earn a bondsman (woman if you're PC); Trial of Position to become a Clan Wolf.

Moving around the Leopard is also ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. While in the menu, your character is actually still moving that you find yourself someplace else than when you accessed the menu. The game forces you to speak to Ryana, but you still need to walk to her.

And when you talk to someone, my got the dip into the uncanny valley. Adam Jensen's voice is also wasted, and come on, why the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bust when you're not going to animate it anyways? MechWarrior 4 just got by well with a still picture and B-Movie writing by at least decent voice acting.

Still I ain't paying full price, it's rubbish to pay full price for a game that already released 1 year and 5 months ago, much less still being in half-baked state. I'm mainly going to buy the Steam release version for better modding support.

I won't recommend this just to anyone looking for getting in the franchise, you deserve to play something older like MechWarrior 4 Mercs to appreciate the quality-of-life improvements, and to understand for yourself how the game comes up short.

Wishlist:
- Leopard teleportation; when you need to speak to Ryana, just teleport the player to her.
- Improved animation and acting, the dip to the uncanny valley is bad. And if you're going to have a bust, make it move or just turn it into a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ portrait.
- Make your own commander, I want a female avatar and voice in career mode.
- Lock-On mech outline, not just the box but the whole mech
- Make completed mission affect the area, like gaining territory for a faction, or removing a system from the conflict zone as the conflict concludes.
- Solaris 7 where you could just play Free-For-All like in MW4
- Needs Flashpoint like BattleTech that has better story than just a wall of text.
- BattleGrid based marker and AI control.