In a way, this game is just utter nonsense. But let's back up a bit: Do you know about the game at all? Because I'm really only going to compare it against its predecessor, Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries (mercs). But let me sum this up quickly, okay?

Want to play solo? It's fine enough. Not a single crash, looked reasonably nice.
Are you so big on Mechwarrior lore that you need more? You want in on this.
Are you indifferent and just want to shoot robots? Get MW5 Mercs, plus DLCs, plus mods to tune it to your taste.
Want to play coop? WAIT. VERY WAIT.

Overall, I played through the whole game, had a decent enough time 'til the last few ending missions, got one of the endings and have no intention of going back for the other. So that thumb is upwards, it's in the blue zone, but the thumbometer is not pegged. Not going back for the other ending, and I'm only coming back at all if the multiplayer gets stabilized a bit. So there you go. Wait for awhile on this one unless you're a solo player and you're jonesing for a mech fix.

This is where I get rambly, by the way.

At first, I noted the maps were prettier, more organic, very not just a bunch of tiles slapped together. Story missions in Mercs tend to be pretty linear affairs, which aren't any different here. The map itself in Mercs corralled you, and here it's a bit more natural feeling with map boundary warnings to keep you on the straight-and-narrow to the next fight, instead of being trapped in Yet Another Canyon.

Battles are sometimes larger scale affairs. Sometimes you get a ten-on-ten. You'll know when it's happening in Clans, because it kills your framerates. This game can't handle too many mechs all at once. And that's too bad, because this gamae plays like a Bruce Lee movie: 20 or 30 thugs come out, looking for a piece of Bruce, but politely come at him one at a time.

And that's the same here: mechs come out in threes or fours, and the reinforcements politely wait for their fellows to get exploded before jumping into the fight. A single dropship will come in and plop a few dudes down, like lambs to the slaughter. The reason the clans are such a threat is because nobody in the Inner Sphere has tactics beyond, "Send our mechs out one at a time!"

If you like tuning your mechs there's less to do here. It's some business with "omnimechs" which means swapping guns is quick, and repairs take days instead of weeks, but there's a lot of stuff you don't get to mess with, like overall armour distribution, engine sizes, jumpjets.

And there's "boss fights". Most of them aren't unreasonable, except for two: some kind of "rule of three" ship that nips off when you shoot off its turrets, to grow new ones, and make you fight it in phrases. And some absurdly tough trio of clumsy bombers, whose name I forgot. Those were just annoying.

The game itself was smooth enough, in single player I never had a single crash. When I tried helping my buddy tackle some missions, though, I'd get ejected back to the main menu after each attempt. It wasn't too hard to join back up again, but it was annoying. Was it limited to him? Not sure.

In the end, I'm not smitten by this game. I had a fine time, and the cutscenes were sort of interesting, and there's a lot I could say about the characters but I won't--because this is about the game, not so much the themes in the game.

In a way, this game is just utter nonsense. But let's back up a bit: Do you know about the game at all? Because I'm really only going to compare it against its predecessor, Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries (mercs). But let me sum this up quickly, okay? Want to play solo? It's fine enough. Not a single crash, looked reasonably nice. Are you so big on Mechwarrior lore that you need more? You want in on this. Are you indifferent and just want to shoot robots? Get MW5 Mercs, plus DLCs, plus mods to tune it to your taste. Want to play coop? WAIT. VERY WAIT. Overall, I played through the whole game, had a decent enough time 'til the last few ending missions, got one of the endings and have no intention of going back for the other. So that thumb is upwards, it's in the blue zone, but the thumbometer is not pegged. Not going back for the other ending, and I'm only coming back at all if the multiplayer gets stabilized a bit. So there you go. Wait for awhile on this one unless you're a solo player and you're jonesing for a mech fix. This is where I get rambly, by the way. At first, I noted the maps were prettier, more organic, very not just a bunch of tiles slapped together. Story missions in Mercs tend to be pretty linear affairs, which aren't any different here. The map itself in Mercs corralled you, and here it's a bit more natural feeling with map boundary warnings to keep you on the straight-and-narrow to the next fight, instead of being trapped in Yet Another Canyon. Battles are sometimes larger scale affairs. Sometimes you get a ten-on-ten. You'll know when it's happening in Clans, because it kills your framerates. This game can't handle too many mechs all at once. And that's too bad, because this gamae plays like a Bruce Lee movie: 20 or 30 thugs come out, looking for a piece of Bruce, but politely come at him one at a time. And that's the same here: mechs come out in threes or fours, and the reinforcements politely wait for their fellows to get exploded before jumping into the fight. A single dropship will come in and plop a few dudes down, like lambs to the slaughter. The reason the clans are such a threat is because nobody in the Inner Sphere has tactics beyond, "Send our mechs out one at a time!" If you like tuning your mechs there's less to do here. It's some business with "omnimechs" which means swapping guns is quick, and repairs take days instead of weeks, but there's a lot of stuff you don't get to mess with, like overall armour distribution, engine sizes, jumpjets. And there's "boss fights". Most of them aren't unreasonable, except for two: some kind of "rule of three" ship that nips off when you shoot off its turrets, to grow new ones, and make you fight it in phrases. And some absurdly tough trio of clumsy bombers, whose name I forgot. Those were just annoying. The game itself was smooth enough, in single player I never had a single crash. When I tried helping my buddy tackle some missions, though, I'd get ejected back to the main menu after each attempt. It wasn't too hard to join back up again, but it was annoying. Was it limited to him? Not sure. In the end, I'm not smitten by this game. I had a fine time, and the cutscenes were sort of interesting, and there's a lot I could say about the characters but I won't--because this is about the game, not so much the themes in the game.