This game is actually the fourth installment in the Mechwarrior 2 series. 31st Century Combat, Ghost Bear's Legacy and 8 Player Pack all focused on the Clan sides in the Clan-Inner Sphere conflict, this game makes you switch sides.
You are a Mercenary, a Mechwarrior who fights for only one thing: the almighty C-Bill. You do not care about politics, your job is to get the job done and cash in a fat paycheck.
The game opens with a FMV showing you how your Merc Company's CEO is killed in action while on mission in the Draconis Combine. This gives you the choice: Do you start your own Merc Company, or do you sign up with an existing one? If you join an existing Merc company, you tag along a preset line of missions, this is perfect for players who are new to the game. On your missions you will be accompanied by squad members and pay will be less.
It gets a lot more interesting when you take on the role of Merc Company CEO yourself. Now YOU choose the contract, now YOU buy new Mech's and hire new pilots. Don't forget, spending your money foolishly may leave your little enterprise bankrupt, and even so much as changing a weapon on a chassis costs a lot of money.
The tone of the game is much darker. Story wise it's set just before the Clan invasion of 3050. Throughout the earlier missions, the news terminals on Outreach (the Merc home planet) display news on major events in the Inner Sphere. Now and then, it gives hints at which contracts are the most profitable. From the start, there are vague rumors of pirates on the core ward periphery which leave only destruction in it's wake and there seems to be no survivors who can claim if these rumors are false or not. The more you advance, the more is known about the grand threat. Eventually it will take you to the greatest battles in Battletech History, like the battle lines on the Draconis Combine home world of Luthien against the invading Clans.
A very good SF Mech game, with good plot. It even gets better when the 3d Accelerator upgrade is installed.
