Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries (hereafter referred to as Mercenaries or Mechwarrior 4) is drastically different from the previous two games. Rather than having a storyline to strictly follow, you play a mercenary working for the highest bidder. You receive missions and do them, with the end giving you the goodies you need. However, there is a story and an ending. There is a war going on between two factions, led by Steiner and Davion, and you can align with either or stay neutral. You will always, however, play a pivotal role in the war, regardless of which faction you end up aligning yourself with.

The graphics of Mechwarrior 4 are still pretty good. The textures are low-resolution, but not so much that they are muddy and gross. The polygon count on the models is not particularly high, but these are industrial mechanized weapons. They don't need to be incredibly smooth and sleek. The sounds are all thoroughly satisfying, with great music and heavy weapon firing noises. While it doesn't feel real, it certainly has a weight about it that makes it far more endearing than you would normally expect. As always, the PPC is our favorite weapon, at least sound-wise.

The Mechwarrior games have always had a fairly simple basic method of play. You control a mech, which is a bipedal engine of warfare whose legs and torso are controlled separately. You destroy other mechs, materiel (such as tanks or helicopters), and buildings as your perform your missions. Missions are generally pretty simple, with most objectives being to destroy a particular mech, compound, or even just to escape from pursuing forces. It's in the various ways that the game approaches these objectives that the true replayability comes out, especially since there is a lot of variety in terms of mechs and gear to bring with you. It's both a strategy and an action game.

The action part of Mechwarrior 4 comes into play when you are actually on a mission. Mechs are normally divided into segments, with each segment playing a particular role in the functioning of the mech. For example, if you destroy the torso of a mech, it is destroyed completely. If you destroy a leg, it is slowed, and if you destroy both, it falls to the ground, disabled. If you destroy an arm, the mech can't use the weapons on that arm. If you destroy the cockpit (the least armored and smallest section on any mech), it's an instant kill. The importance of selective targeting can not be overstated, and the play styles of a player can easily be guessed by where they target.

Alongside selective targeting is the heat management system. Every mech can only withstand so much heat before shutting down to vent itself. Normally, you must manage your heat thorugh smart usage of your weapons, but some weapons also increase the heat of your mech as well, such as flamethrowers. When you are venting your heatsinks, you are completely shut down, and other mechs can come and attack you without repercussion. Thus, heat management is really, really important. It's easily one of the most punishing resources to manage in a game, but it also adds to the depth and complexity of combat, as heat plays a major role in who survives.

The strategy of Mechwarrior has two sides. The first is salvaging and rewards. As you progress through Mechwarrior 4, you will gain reputation and countless new mechs, pilots, and parts. Whenever you go into a mission, you can bring those mechs (if they have pilots) with you. During a mission, the parts of mechs (and mechs themselves) that you destroy can be scavenged from the battlefield, further adding to your stores of heavy munitions. This makes the game feel like a natural progression from a single mercenary to an entire private military corporation. It's rather addicting, thanks to the strong correlation between doing well in a mission and the rewards you get.

The other strategic aspect is the design of your mechs. Mechs are little more than an empty chassis, and the components you fit onto it are what make it tick. Things such as lasers, missiles, heat sinks, and armor all play heavily into how effective you will be. There's even variants of weapons which provide bonuses in certain areas while giving detriments in others. For example, Clan weapons deal more damage but cause more heat. This balancing act of designing your mech closely follows the same balancing done on the battlefield, which helps to establish a fun, cohesive gameplay thread throughout the entire experience.

Mechwarrior 4 is, quite simple, a classic game in a classic series. The fact that it is now freeware means that there's absolutely no reason not to give it a try. Its mix of strategy and intelligent combat is incredibly addicting, and the presentation manages to make it that much better. You can download the Mektek client, which is required to download the freeware Mechwarrior 4 release, from Big Download or the official site. Have fun hunting down those gigantic bipedal death machines!

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