The latest in Mechwarrior combat for the PC platform. This time you align yourself with one of the great Mercenary Companies through a sponsorship program. Northwind Highlanders, Wolf Dragoons, Gray Death Legion, Kell Hounds... all of these Mercenary Companies have certain benefits when you join them, like early access to Clan weaponry and 'Mech chassis, or better payment plans.
Set against the height of the Federated-Commonwealth (Fed-Com) Civil War, you take on various contracts around the Inner Sphere. You'll fight for various houses and in different realms, but eventually you'll have to choose which side in the civil war will support, either Prince Victor on the Davion side, or Archon Katrina on the Steiner side. Luckily the conflict isn't that black or white, since there are four endings to the game. The others involve you joining Vladimir Wards Crusader Clan Wolf, or you claiming a large base on Canton.
The game takes you through the highlights of the Civil War as described in the Battletech novels, as well as Solaris VII, the gaming world. There you can compete in the Arenas fighting for cold hard cash. Placing first makes you the most money, and for each kill you score you gain a cash bonus of 200.000 C-Bills. It's tempting to go all out in each round, but doing so makes it hard to see it all the way to the top, the Grand Championship. Each round you fight you can dedicate your victory to either House Steiner or House Davion, or decide to remain neutral. The Solaris Championships are a good way to raise a lot of cash, especially since there are no extra costs in the terms of paying the salary of your pilots, or maintenance on your 'Mechs.
If not for the Solaris games, the game would be really short. The missions are certainly varied, but at times the game can get tedious. Replaying the game after you finished it with one Mercenary sponsor is only for the die-hard fan, I can't imagine a regular gamer wanting to go through all of it, and especially Solaris, more than twice.
A final note, since the franchise shifted from the clutches of Activision, there seems to be a much smaller role for background events. In the Mechwarrior 2 series, which was in comparison a true simulation of 'Mech combat as described in the books, in between missions you were treated on the large scale events through news feeds. Ranging from local news, weapon development and galactic events, players got a fairly good idea on how large the Battletech universe really is. This has been downplayed during the later games. In Mercenaries, this tradition is once more picked up, although not as in depth as the earlier games. It's good to see some traditions making a comeback.
