MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries

The Good
The gameplay is the same good ol' fast paced 'Mech action, and now you get to trade 'mechs, weapons, and pilots on the market. I liked how you could buy 'mechs fully equipped rather than be limited to what you could salvage from the battlefield. And now eight pilots can go into battle at one time! And if you want a break from the normal action, you can always go to Solaris VII for some gladiator 'mech battles. It has a great story too. The voice acting was done well, and the dialogue was great.

The Bad
The Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance engine is a bit dated, and the graphics could use an update. Heat is very annoying, as always, at least you can turn it off. I really hated it when I was in a huge 'mech and smashed into a lightweight 'mech and the smaller one wouldn't fall over, which isn't realistic.

The Bottom Line
If flight sims intimidate you, this game won't. It's got all the greatness of any other action-sim game, but it's a lot more fun then spending five hours learning how to fly a virtual plane ever will be. If you're a fan of flight sims, use your joystick with Mercenaries. If you like first-person shooters, Mercenaries is fully compatible with keyboard and mouse, and is extremely easy to get into. If you've never played a computer game before, Mercenaries is still fun! PLAY THIS GAME!