MechCommander
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| above = MechCommander
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| label2 = Developer(s) | data2 = FASA Interactive
| label3 = Publisher(s)
| data3 = MicroProse
Hasbro Interactive (Gold)
| label4 = Director(s) | data4 =
| label5 = Producer(s) | data5 =
| label6 = Designer(s)
| data6 = Ross Babcock
Tom Dowd
Mitch Gitelman
Tim Ryan
Steve Scott
Denny Thorley
Jordan Weisman
| label7 = Programmer(s) | data7 = Glenn Doren
| label8 = Artist(s) | data8 = Todd Labonte
| label9 = Writer(s)
| data9 = Tom Dowd
Joel Machak
Jordan Weisman
| label10 = Composer(s) | data10 = Duane Decker
| label11 = Series | data11 = BattleTech
| label12 = Engine | data12 =
| label13 = Platform(s) | data13 = Windows
| label14 = Release | data14 = Template:Vgrelease
| label15 = Genre(s) | data15 = Real-time tactics
| label16 = Mode(s) | data16 = Single player, Multiplayer
| label17 = Arcade system | data17 = Template:If first display both
| data30 =
| below = Template:EditOnWikidata
}}Template:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|ignoreblank=1|preview=Page using Template:Infobox video game with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"| alt | arcade system | artist | caption | border | child | collapsible | commons | composer | designer | developer | director | embedded | engine | fetchwikidata | genre | image | image_size | image_upright | italic title | modes | noicon | onlysourced | platform | platforms | producer | programmer | publisher | qid | refs | release | released | series | state | subbox | suppressfields | title | writer }}Template:Main other{{#if:MechCommander Coverart.jpg|}} MechCommander is a real-time tactics video game based on FASA's BattleTech/MechWarrior franchise, developed by FASA Interactive and distributed by MicroProse in 1998. An expansion pack, Desperate Measures, was released in 1999.
GameplayEdit
Players assume the role of the commander of Zulu company from the Federated Commonwealth's First Davion Guards, a member of the Inner Sphere (IS).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The planet Port Arthur must be taken back from the Clan Smoke Jaguar.<ref name="publicopinion">Template:Cite news</ref> The game's campaign progresses through 30 different missions broken into 5 operations with 6 missions apiece.<ref name="tampatribune">Template:Cite news</ref> Each mission consists of a number of objectives which may include destroying enemy units, capturing or defending enemy units, protecting friendly units, and capturing and defending bases. Some missions must be completed within a certain time limit.<ref name="sydneymorning">Template:Cite news</ref>
In each mission, players controls a limited number of units which are either mechs or support vehicles.<ref name="cgsp-review"/> This control is through a simulated aerial viewscreen above the battlefield.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Each mission restricts both the combined tonnage and the number of units allowed. Briefings are supplied prior to the start of the mission which lists the objectives and other relevant information. A wide range of strategies and tactics may be used on any given mission, and players can customize their forces for each one.<ref name="sydneymorning"/>
In between missions players can repair and refit mechs, assign mechwarriors to each mech and purchase mechs, vehicles, mechwarriors, and components.<ref name="tampatribune"/> These items are purchased with Resource Points which are awarded for completing previous mission objectives.<ref name="cgw-review"/> Few mechs, vehicles, mech pilots, and components can be purchased at the beginning of the campaign, but more become available as the game progresses. However, only IS technology can be purchased. Clan technology such as weaponry and new mechs must be salvaged from the battlefield.<ref name="gamerev-review"/> Salvaging equipment is an important feature of the game.<ref name="publicopinion"/>
Each mech is piloted by a mechwarrior. Pilots increase in skill as they use them during missions.<ref name="sydneymorning"/> The more missions and kills a particular pilot has, the more experienced and valuable he or she becomes.<ref name="gamerev-review"/> If a pilot gains enough experience, he or she will increase in rank. The four ranks from least to greatest are "green", "regular", "veteran", and "elite". Rank determines how effective a pilot is in a certain class of mechs (light, medium, heavy, or assault).<ref name="gamespot-review"/>
MechCommander: Desperate MeasuresEdit
MechCommander: Desperate Measures is an expansion pack that was released in 1999.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Set immediately after the liberation of Port Arthur, the player once again assumes command of Zulu company in a campaign to liberate the desolate planet Cermak in the Periphery, taken by a renegade Smoke Jaguar, Star Colonel Marcus Kotare (a character that was featured briefly in MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries), for an unknown reason that is revealed later in game.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Once again, the player starts with inferior Inner Sphere mechs (pilots and mechs from original campaign cannot be exported into expansion), though both mechs and pilots are better than in the start of the original campaign. The expansion features a total of three campaigns. Aside from the missions, the expansion also includes a new soundtrack, new landscapes along with redesigned and new buildings, new weapons, three new mechs for each side—Stiletto, Bushwacker, and Mauler for IS and Shadow Cat, Nova Cat and Turkina for the Clan, and new vehicles including Alacorn, Pilum and Regulator tanks, as well as ammo trucks that also doubled as mobile bombs and Centipede scout vehicles.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Desperate Measures also acted as testbed for the concept of custom NPC mechs that had their own names (like Kotare's Turkina), weapon configurations and overall superiority to the standard modifications. This idea was carried on to, and greatly improved in, MechCommander 2. A compilation called MechCommander Gold was released in 1999 that includes the base game and the expansion.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
ReceptionEdit
The game received favorable reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings.<ref name="gamerankings"/> Next Generation called it "a good first effort, and FASA is to be commended for trying something different in the overcrowded field of RTS games. Unfortunately, it lacks polish, and the repetition of each mission drags down the fun factor."<ref name="ngen"/>
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated the game for "PC Strategy Game of the Year" at the 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, although it ultimately lost to Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The game was a runner-up for Computer Games Strategy PlusTemplate:' 1998 "Real-Time Strategy Game of the Year" award, which ultimately went to StarCraft. The staff called the former game "great", but argued that "only StarCraft was stellar".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Due to its science fiction setting, MechCommander received an overt recommendation from The Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy), to the point of Sci-Fi's logo being present on the box art. Along with Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy, it was one of the few games to ever be officially recommended by Sci-Fi.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
ReviewsEdit
- The Duelist #34<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>