Scott Farsace

Pros: - Very satisfying gameplay loop! - Robots walk right through buildings like they're nothing. - You feel extremely powerful, like you should driving a giant metal man, made of tanks. - Managing your Mercenary Outfit is pretty simple but has enough depth to make you choose contracts strategically. - AI allies do their jobs pretty well. - Environments are well done. - Being able to target enemy components makes the game mode tactical. See an enemy with a big gun? Shoot it off! Cons: - Maps outside of main story or high profile side quests can feel repetitive. - You can give your Mercenary allies only rudimentary orders. Attack this target, go here, form on me etc. Can't tell them to target specific parts of enemy mechs, or skirmish, for example. (Although I suspect what weapons / what kind of mech you give them changes their basic behaviors). - Jump jets seem rather pointless. The AI CAN use them, but not well, and adding them on takes away armor (in PVP I'm sure they're pretty good though). - Missed opportunity to make this game much more immersive* * You can walk around your Drop Ship in between missions but there's basically nothing to do. Every functionality of the ship is accessible through any of the screens (thankfully), but it could have been so much more with little effort... For example, have your Mech Pilots wander around the ship. We never see them outside of a profile picture and some uninspired voicelines. Speaking of the pilot voices, they could have made that more immersive. They only comment on the biome you're in, if they've made a kill, if they lose a component etc. They could have talked about who you're fighting, talked between one another a little, talked about the mech they're in etc. The throw away lines aren't rattled off very often but, it could have been a tool to make them more personable. As in Xcom you do still grow attached to your crew members and pilots, especially as they level up, but it's less than it could be. Ignore people who give this game 1 or 2 stars, it's really not deserving of it.