I think the biggest question that rested on my mind as I began the installation was, "Can it compare to Mechwarrior 2". Mechwarrior 2 was a title that had well done graphics, great online play, and a strong fan following. I wasn't too surprised with what the developers had done with this third title. The formula from Mechwarrior 2 was a proven one, and it seems they have left it alone. Turning their attention to creating an intense gaming environment through enhancing the visual and audio aspects of the game.

Mechwarrior 2 compared well graphically with the games it had to compete with at its release. Mechwarrior 3 performs no differently. Taking advantage of the latest 3D accelerators, Mechwarrior 3 has the ability to run at the high resolution of 1024 x 768, allowing the finest details in your experience. I am also really happy that the decision to allow software rendering was made. With the 3D trend in full swing, more titles are going for the "3D acceleration or nothing" stance. This usually cuts more than a few casual PC gamers out of the experience. Software mode runs fine, although it lacks the effects presented on a 3D accelerator, but it is still very nice to look at.

With this graphical leap comes the representation of details they simply were not able to convey in the first two titles. Little things, like footprints left by mechs, lifelike movements of the unfortunate people on foot, and well detailed towns and bases. I don't think anything could describe the feeling I got as I stood over a broken enemy mech and tumbleweed blew by. Details that small in each type of environment makes it feel so surreal. The movement of the mechs is something I have never seen in such detail in a mech simulation. Damaging the enemy's leg creates this wonderful little hobble, which not only shows damage to the leg, but also simulates it to the unlucky pilot. Weapon, Explosion effects, and flames are very realistic as well. Pulse lasers cut into your target's armor while the machine guns hit the target with sparks flying. Overall the leap in the visual area of the Mechwarrior series was well met, and in no way shames the title.

Fifty percent of the feeling of being in the game is conveyed by graphics, the other fifty is all about sound use. I have to tell you the music is rather bland. I think it is something we have all heard, and I really don't know how to comment on this. I turn off music most of the time in any simulation to enhance the sense of realism, so music to me isn't as important as it would be in an adventure title. The sound effects more than make up for it. From every loud thud of you mech's feet upon the soil of the planet to the turn of gears as you turn your mech's torso to engage an enemy. Every little sound of your machine is included in great detail. When your mech is damaged you can hear the bullets ricochet off the armor, or the lasers cut into you, and if hit with a hail of bullets right at the cockpit area, you can actually hear the glass cracking as the attack eats away at it.

Control is much tighter in this Mechwarrior than the past titles. One of the biggest problems I had with the second title was the zoom key command. They have fixed that with a simple to use command on your joystick that allows a one click zoom lens to pop up, which is more than adequate to get the job done. A lot of the work with controlling your machine can be done from the joystick, making acceleration one of the only major control responsibilities left to the keyboard. Those without joysticks should probably just buy a cheap twenty dollar one for this title. I can't possibly think of an effective way to play this title entirely by keyboard.

I am getting a little tired of companies releasing titles with a multiplayer requirement of 28.8 modem listed on the box ( i.e. Descent Freespace). So I started a multiplayer game with dread in my heart, and nightmares of giant 100 ton mechs porting in front of me and bearing down with everything they have. Instead I was treated to a playable game on my 28.8 connection. There were lagged up points in the gameplay, which were to be expected, but I was actually able to score a few kills. My advice to you regarding Mechwarrior 3 multiplay is this; if you can get a better connection than 28.8, for God's sake, please do. If you are stuck with a low connection I recommend Pulse Lasers and Long Range Missiles (LRMs) as your main attack strategy.

Now it's time for the bad news. Mechwarrior 3 has to be one of the buggiest titles I have ever purchased. The third time I started the title up it locked up on me, as well as several other times, which were during gameplay, or even while a game was loading. When speaking with several people on Microsoft's Gaming Zone I discovered there are several bugs that can be triggered by a number of things. The fault doesn't entirely lie in the title itself either. Another problem was with Microsoft's Gaming Zone; they still hadn't managed to get organized team play to work on their network. I know these problems will be fixed sometime in the near future, but it really does put a damper on gameplay. Sometimes you can't tell if the level is still initializing or the program is hung up on something. Without the proper methods of escaping the program you will have to end up rebooting the computer. Don't get me wrong, this doesn't happen that often, and if you pay attention to where these things occur you can actually avoid most lock ups. It is just something that needs to be considered before purchase. I am sure they will release a patch to fix these things, so anything listed in the paragraph above is temporary at best.

The Mech Lab could have been a lot easier to access. In order to reach it you need to start an Instant Action game and then set one up. Only then are you are allowed to work on a mech. The Mech Lab is used so often thanks to multiplayer competition that I find it strange they didn't make it far more user friendly. This game is also very short by today's standards. About twenty missions which don't branch. You do what you are told and you either win or lose, as simple as that. The missions are well laid out though, and the briefings are more than adequate in explaining objectives.