Titans of Steel: Warring Suns

The Good
Titans of Steel: Warring Suns (ToS:WS) stays true to the tabletop gaming roots which inspired it: it doesn't insult your intelligence by oversimplification, yet is accessible to the average gamer who is interested in this genre.

The inclusion of random maps as well as an RPG-like progression for your customiseable squads means near-infinite replay value - no longer are you confined to campaign-limited games with stock heroes. You can build your squad from scratch, from recruiting pilots to assembling your very own custom mechs (or simply buying existing designs and modifying them). Best of all, it incorporates multiplayer, as well as a map editor - covering practically any play mode you could ask of it.

The Bad
The animations take some time, although you can toggle them off, in which case things move instantaneously - there's no slider to adjust in case you want SOME animation but at a decent pace.

Being a 2-man development team, I don't blame them for the old-school looks, but ToS:WS could really use more sprites and textures to make things look less generic.

Also, the measurement scale doesn't really allow for much variation in equipment. Sure, there already exists a lot of it, but when one weapon differs from another by only 1 or 2 damage points, there's very little wiggle room to make custom ones.

The Bottom Line
If you're a fan of the old tabletop FASA Battletech game, or enjoy playing turn-based games, and like the idea of owning your personal squad of pilots and mechs, this is THE game for you. Realistic yet accessible, this game puts large scale commercial development studios to shame - they routinely produced watered-down crap which caters to mom and dad gamers. ToS:WS is a TRUE mech game for believers. You won't find it easy, but once you grasp the mechanics, you'll be hooked, and you'll never look at other mech games the same.