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***January 2025 Update***
I'm going to upgrade my score of this game to 8/10. Since the DLC was made free, My friends and I have had some fun with the horde mode. I have also added more campaign hours just playing through some missions again. I would recommend this game to a friend and I would definitely recommend picking it up if you see it on sale and are a Battletech/Mechwarrior universe virgin. I'd like to address some comments I've seen and put my 2 cents in on some of the negative reviews to give you some more data before deciding to buy this game.
-Tech Issues: (100% truth) The bugs and tech issues are real. I think this is part of why the game is not doing as well as expected. People are waiting for the bugs to be fixed before dropping money on it. Specifically, the game crashes inconsistently when in the Battle Grid, and PGI still has not fixed the error where it does not save my custom graphic settings. Yet, they DID fix the issue where custom controls weren't saving, so I don't know why they haven't fixed this yet. There are also FPS drops still but less often. The programming definitely needs a patch or two to optimize game performance with the UR5 engine. Fixing tech issues is my #1 complaint with PGI as it makes the game frustrating to play when it crashes mid mission (discussion on Checkpoints later).
-Replay ability: (complainants are grabbing at straws) You can legitimately play this game twice fully through. I actually recommend you start a brand new campaign the second play through and see if you can prioritize upgrades and mechs differently for a different feel than your first play through. You have some options with order of missions, and you eventually have to make a game-changing decision that will take your campaign in different trajectories. For perspective, if you thought Halo ODST was a good game, then this is very much like that. I only played the Halo ODST campaign once, then played the firefight mode with friends a bunch. Then I never played that game again. Last I check most people will tell you ODST was a great game. In Clans, you have your main campaign (that is very good!) and then you can team up with friends to play horde mode (Halo ODST's firefight mode). This is actually a pretty fun game mode and PGI has mentioned their intent to build new levels to play. I see no issues or faults with the replay ability if you thought the Halo games were good. I think you definitely get a high quality, stompy mech game for the price. Worth the purchase if you have friend and absolutely worth any sales price.
-Level Design/Game play: (definitely some truth, but mostly preference) If you're a fan of open world, this isn't the game for you. MechWarrior 5 Mercs is better in that regard. However, I eventually got bored with Mercs and just doing the same style missions over and over. Clans' deliberate, military progression was just what I wanted. I was tired of Mercs' style of "you now need to fight x number of completely predictable contract missions to get to the next reputation level to unlock the next campaign mission." In Clans, you feel that you are in the lower ranks and just having to fight the missions you are assigned. I think this fits the narrative very well instead of making you the "all powerful commander" and choosing your own adventure the whole game. This game's linear levels are very much in line with games like Halo 1 or 2. In fact...it's completely in line with all the other MechWarrior games prior to Mercs. So I don't know where the problem is. However, for level design, the hordes of enemies are definitely frustrating. Similar to the HALO games, the simple patch for this would be for PGI to incorporate a checkpoint system. I think most people would stop complaining about the Inner Sphere hordes if they didn't have to play through the entire level again. I found that if you are playing solo, you have to actually think about positioning your teammates. Plan deliberate phase lines/skirmish lines using the terrain like an actual military planner and you will win the battle (if the game doesn't crash in the battlegrid). I think most people just got lazy with the run-and-gun mech play of MWO. If you play Co-Op, these hordes can actually be fun. However without any checkpoints, I do find it frustrating that the end of many missions have you fight hordes and potentially must play the whole mission over again if you die. Story progression should not be tied to a horde mode for this type of game.
-Campaign Story: (besides some voice acting, complainants are grabbing at straws) In my opinion, this is the BEST MechWarrior game story we have ever gotten, hands down. The only BattleTech universe video game story that beats this is HBS's Battletech. I see some people complaining about DEI. They obviously have no idea what the source material from the '80s and '90s looked like. This story is spot on. Clanners talk and act like clanners (mostly), and the canon characters are the exact sex/race they were in the original material from the beginning. Just like Star Wars or Star Trek, the BattleTech universe has ALWAYS been very diverse. This is NOT a case of PGI forcing any progressive agenda. PGI was very faithful to the lore without completely isolating newcomers. Perez's voice acting is over the top and Jayden has wooden dialogue, but everyone else is exactly how I imagine these clanners would be. This story was a complete "lore-gasm" for my buddies and I, and we really appreciate the attention to detail.
-Mech Lab: (complainants are grabbing at straws) You are a lower level leader as part of a larger military force. This Mech lab makes perfect sense. I think people are too used to getting whatever they want with mods. I have literally been able to recreate every canon mech variant with the Omnipod system. You can also min/max to optimize your mechs for the pilot. I don't see what people are complaining about. They just haven't played around in the Mech lab long enough.
-Available Mechs: (some truth) I was hoping for more mechs, but what we get are the best-known and mostly lore accurate ones for the story. This is also early Clan Invasion Era (not MWO), so it makes sense the selection is a bit vanilla. Still, I'm hoping to see some more chassis show up as free patches (II C mechs please!) I'm sure we'll get more omni mechs in later DLCs.
***Original Review Below***
7/10. Game play is familiar to MW5 Mercs which is great for continuity. also, the models are all the same (with maybe minor tweaks) between MechWarrior Online, HBS, BattleTech, and MW5 Mercs...which honestly really helps make the virtual universe feel connected.
7/10 because of quality of life items needing patching such as graphic inefficiency with FPS drops (or sometimes crashing all together) causing me to lower my settings and not get the most out of the UR5 engine. Another knock is audio and graphics customized settings are not saving. Obnoxious and should be fixed. Final knock is some of the level design where they continue sending waves at you in a "firefight" game play mode. I feel this is unnecessary and they could build the difficulty into the missions without doing the waves. What it does is get repetitive and boring in-mission similar to Mercs.
The Story line is GREAT! I really appreciate the level of attention to detail with respect to the BattleTech Lore. this game would be a 9/10 with the aforementioned quality of life issues and some tweaks to the level designs.
Ultimately, pleased with this purchase and am enjoying it. Would recommend to a friend to play some Co-Op. Hopefully we get some patches and free DLC to improve the aspects I mentioned holding this game back. Future DLCs for purchase can definitely improve the level quirks I mentioned. But there should be some free patches and DLC to further polish this solid game. LIke I said, 7/10 currently with the potential to be cleaned up to a 9/10. Story is already there IMO.