I was 13 or 14 and in my mom's basement on my computer. I was playing MechWarrior 3 and losing. So I was yelling at the computer screen. Mom got mad and made me stop playing.
My joy when I first salvaged an Avatar and confirmed that I had everything I needed to reconfigure the Mech into a near copy of a Penetrator-4D. The Penetrator-4D and Penetrator-6S variants have been vying for the my favorite official Battlemech Design crown since I was introduced to the 6S (I used a 4D in my first Battletech tabletop game not long after the Tech Readout that introduced it was published.) Though I might like the Penetrator-8D more if I ever have the chance to try one in the tabletop game
What's great about MW3 is how it feels much more "mil" sim vs others in the franchise in a large part of from the briefings/mission structure, HUD, free aiming controls, environmental impact on cooling, how lasers work etc. MW4 and MW5 don't fully realise what MW3 captured
@@KeiNova Technically you are still a mercenary in this game. Your unit is the Eridani Light Horse which was absorbed into the new Star League Defense Force (long story that is explained in the manual). Mechwarrior 4 will be the first game where you are technically part of a House military. Technically since you’re part of a rebellion.
Agreed, and Epona is played by the VA for Ivy in SoulCalibur 2, and Dominic is played by the guy who came up with the name Wookie for Star Wars, voiced Launchpad McQuack, and much more!
He has one other game credit for some Star Trek game... and it has FMV so he actually appears on camera. Took me a long time to track that down. It's a shame he didn't do anything else. I absolutely love his delivery.
@TimberWulfIsHere No it doesn't. Everything is crystal clear with no radio distortion. Everyone is bright and projecting a forced character. Like, yeah, Duncan Fisher gets a pass because of the context. But the surfer dude recon pilot? The Peter Lorre lancemate? Hell, even Spectre himself is a Saturday morning cartoon. Meanwhile the characters in Mechwarrior 3 are gritty, grizzled, down to earth, and are treating the situation with the tempered seriousness it deserves.
My favorite thing about MW3 is how quickly we meet up with our buddy Keith Andrew. And we love it how all the plans come together. *cough* :) "Thanks... You know how to liven up the party. Keith? KEITH ANDREW!"
@@Sp3ctre18Gaming For me it was Epona's introduction: "Hellooooo?! Dancing with an Annihilator, here!!" It's always such a rush trying to save that poor bushwacker from getting wacked 😂
@@MeanderingBeing Occasionally, I still have nightmares of that first encounter w/ the Annie. Especially w/ MW3's sound mixing. *Receiving* an Alpha Strike was hellishly loud, and I instadied. Terrifying.
I'm an old timer that played all MW games when they came out. MW3 to me was the best of the bunch because it was the closest to a simulation it ever got. MW4 turned into a FPS with mech skins. I was so bummed when MW4 released because I was hoping to see an upgraded MW3 engine. A real shame because even MW online and MW5 although better than 4 stayed away from being a full sim. It's all about being accessible I guess. Long live MW3!
I haven't played MW4 yet, though I'm definitely a little leery after hearing how it turned out. It seems a bit like it killed the series. I'm not sure I hold that opinion wholly yet, but I guess I'll find out when I get there!
@@KeiNova It's a fun game but it was clearly made for the casual FPS crowd instead of the hardcore MW fanbase. MS wanted more profit but in the end it killed the franchise off.
That's exactly how I felt about 4, though I admit I didn't play as avidly as you. It felt like a step backwards. I didn't think it looked as good and I hated the gunplay. I felt it was trying to go more for a simulation style with the really cumbersome aiming and what felt like more restrictive movement, but I hated it and felt like 3 was a better representation of what the tech should have been like for a pilot anyways. Interesting to hear people say it was more casual, as I felt like it was more hardcore in a bad way, but I also was turned off fast enough I really didn't play a lot.
@KeiNova MW4 was still good, and Mercs was great. MW5 is probably the best game when it comes to actually handling the mechs, but it feels very flat in comparison to what MW4: Mercs brought to the table with the story and world building.
Another really well done review! This game is still my favourite Mechwarrior game. It has the limitations you mentioned but I was just blown away back in the day by the graphical improvements. I played all MW2 games and loved them but coming from them and seeing the much more detailed mechs and environments was a real eye opener. Also the small details like birds and the mech footprints on the ground or the steam rising from the water around your mech when it was starting to overheat made the game world feel more alive. I also preferred the mechlab to MW2 and definitely to MW4 which uses a slightly annoying system to streamline the way one outfits his/her mech - you will see what I mean when you review MW4. 😄 The ease of legging mechs in the game is an issue but when switching to the mode where the weapons are fixed to the rotation of the torso it makes it a bit harder, especially in close combat. That's how I played it most of the time.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I loved the game, it was a little flawed but when it ran right I actually blasted through it in a day and ended up playing through it twice. I didn't mind legging everything but I had to say something because that was what I did for all the footage 😂
My first MechWarrior or let's say Mech-Kneecapper game. Playing this beauty with a joystick was so much fun. Sadly I can barely run my original copy of this gem on modern PCs nowadays...
I'm another of those people who spent days off and on trying to get MW3 to work, and on two very different modern systems, yesterday I finally succeeded on one of them, and was very quickly then able to get it to work on the other as well. Down to fill you in on what I had to do if you're still having trouble.
This game desighner was doing double duty… mate thats the entire industry in 90s and early 2000s. Most if not all voice acting were staff. All the same guys voice acting was fantastic.
Loved the "calm professional" voice for the Intelligence officer. Reminds me of the pilot voices in Homeworld. Also loved the milsim nature of it, the destructible environment and feeling all the maps were connected. Though I just packed my Thor with ER Lasers and heat sinks and sniped legs from BVR.
One thing this title managed to convey really well is the lumbering nature of mechs. I felt mech's in MW4 were cartoonish, zig-zagging all over the place and jerking their huge weapons as if they were toys. Not until the latest titles - MWO & MW5 - did designers manage to recapture the heft & weight of mechs.
You are right, but when I was playing Pirates Moon today - I realized that it didn't have that conveyance this time around. I realized the obvious... it's because it's on the moon.
I played MW3 when I was like five years old, and for decades it was all I knew of the setting-but I loved reading those spec sheets. I wish there was a remastered campaign mod for this in MW5
I would be nice at this point, to just get a remaster collection. But someone told me they have a contact that said they are gearing up to rerelease the games on GOG and Steam. But it might just be a hopeful rumor.
@@KeiNova Just being able to play the games again would be nice. My original disc scratched in my early teens... The game would thereafter stutter-loop during the into cinematic, funnily enough getting stuck on the "but I can't, sir" line.
This was such an awesome game to play in my childhood. I never had the chance to play it enough, due to my age and accessibility. It was only at my grandfathers, that I was able to play. The only game that finally scratched the itch that not playing this game enough is Everspace. Both games allows you to customize your machine visually and the weapons as well. It was mostly the weapon customizing that I loved, but also the different parts on mechs being damaged. I always knew there was much awesomeness to this game, that I didn't even have the chance to touch.
Does anyone remember the old Star League online system built on a website to show battle results in real-time so to try and make MW into a real world campaign system? And remember Phil Kildare aka: Archon Kildare of House Steiner? I was his right hand man, his military advisor (and pre-clans Inner Sphere Battletech historian), my handle was MH Davion, as in Morgan Hasek Davion. I also knew Jordan Weisman and Sam Lewis from FASA too. Used to run the Renegade Legion boardgame demos at gemcons for Sam back in the 80s in SoCal too. And played for years at the Virtual World Battletech centers in SoCal too. Oh the fun days! Miss them a lot today!
FYI being that I had come from the original Battletech tabletop game days, I was an Inner Sphere fan/lover. And so when the Mechwarrior series of games appeared and starting right from the beginning AFTER the Clan invasion? Everybody was a clan-fan, and cared nothing for the original Inner Sphere years of wars. So in essence I was sort of a "pariah" to many, haha. That was a sad shame though, as the original Inner Sphere days had just as many huge, important battles as the later Clan Wars. There'd have been NO Mechwarrior universe, if there wasn't a Battletech first!
@@KeiNova i loved this game my friend and i would play online and destroy everyone to the point they made rules bout what mechs we could bring. my friend and i take credit for that patch as we were the ones accused of hacking the game so we shared and it all went to hell, the patch broke the game by removing all the exploits we figured out and it never worked the same after
This is my favorite of the Mechwarrior games! I completed it on stream a few months ago and I basically won't shut up about it whenever the conversation turns to this series lol
this is without a doubt the best mech game, the story telling is so engulfing you feel like your the guy in the mech. the intercepted messages just make you feel so vindicated
The plotline was somehow bleaker than Starsiege (which is an accomplishment). Being isolated, on an enemy planet (a clan one at that, with their degree of alienness), essentially stranded on a suicide mission, and then proceeding to engage in total war (i.e. commit war-crimes)... made it feel like every time you lost was a timeline where your characters did die instead of escaping. There were terrain glitches that could do you in part way through a mission - but I remember it as being very white knuckled.
Great review - as another commenter mentioned, extremely fair and well balanced. For me, MW3 is a game of incredible promise. There are many things it does better than any other title in the series, but it also has it's fair share of flaws as well. For me, it is the detail, immersion, and "sim" feeling that make MW3 what it is. The recoil you experience when firing a heavy weapon. The fear that comes from facing down a UAC20 wielding enemy mech, as each shot throws your aim off and leaves you in serious trouble. And the maps - did you catch the way that all the missions link together? There's really only 5(or 6, depending on how you count it) different maps in the game, but they're massive areas that are then divided up in the smaller individual missions, with each mission linking in with the last and the next. You can backtrack through previous missions if you want, which all adds to the immersion. In world, each mission is taking place immediately after the next, and I love that. And a quick thing on the voice acting, the in-game credits list Michael Mancuso as both the tactical officer, and also game design. Now, Pirate's Moon on the other hand....I look forward to your thoughts!
Thank you so much. So, it is Michael Mancuso then? Some believe it might have actually been the man who played Optimus Prime at some point. Honestly, I might just look through the game credits themselves to make sure. Guess I'll have to complete the game again! The maps were interlocked, and I really loved that. It did give a better sense of progression, and it was definitely like you were exploring Tranquil as you went. It just severely cut down on variety, that's all. I'll be working on that review for Saturday soon, hope you enjoy!
@@KeiNova Did you give up on Pirate's Moon? I'm currently slowly going through it and the game already kicked my butt harder than any other MW games (including underwater and zero g missions in GBL).
@@VicV I could barely get it working, and yeah, when I did - it was insanely hard! I haven't given up; I just got a little burnt out playing all the games so far.
Bought a computer that would play it in 99' been hooked every since. I currently have been playing MWO for almost 10 years now. It is very similar game play. Pirates Moon was a sweet version and MSN gamezone server was almost lag free.
To me, this is the best MechWarrior game. Playing 4 felt like a step backwards and I never really got into it. I understand 3 may not be quite as good in terms of simulation, but I just think the overall experience is much more fun. The intro cinematic was absolutely killer too and really got you in the mood to play. The voices, sound effects, graphics, and missions are all awesome. I mean come on the startup sequence in this game is too good and the weapons sound so much better and chunkier than other entries. I'll admit the variety of playstyles and environments can be a bit lacking. If you play just to enjoy though, not to minmax and destroy everything as fast as possible, it's just a great experience.
I have to agree, I really liked this one - and I feel like it's the last game with 'soul' in a lot of ways. I know it is controversial, but that is how I feel. I had way more fun playing through this one then anything in MW4, but you wouldn't believe the ire I receive for that!
I loved MW3 for its military feeling. Yet MW2 felt so much more like a SciFi game with multiple very alien planets and that ambient soundtrack, so it will always be my favorite.
I'm pretty sure the voice actor for the mobile base command is done by Garry Chalk. He voiced optimus prime in the 90's beast wars and I also remember he was in star gate sg1 as a Russian general. I'm pretty sure he also did the mw2 mercs tutorial teacher.
@@ThommyofThenn there is just so much that people don't even care to document, it makes finding info so hard. If you check MechWarrior 3 on IMDb and just about everywhere, it lists staff as voice actors.
MFBs. That alone, *made* this game vs. the rest of the series. Only seeing stationary 'gantry' style (M)FBs in MW4 and 5 (and *very* rarely), is a shame. Also worth noting, the style of and the way the textures are rendered, leaves MW3 'aging well'.
Sadly, it'll never be the same company :C. Real Microprose Software was dead long before this game, after Spectrum Holobyte got them and then changed them just to Microprose. All the other employees were let go or left.
@@KeiNova I used to know some of the guys that worked on MW3 and MW4. And sadly they were also working on a new M1 Tank Platoon III that was going to combine with a new Gunship II to be played in an all new never done before massive online battle system way before the Battlefield series of games were even a thought! But sadly the buyout by Hascrap ruined that forever! 😢
I have the big box with all the manuals etc. Started it some time ago on my Windows 98 retro PC, felt good. Should try to continue when I have the time.
@@KeiNova Maybe I'll try to get it to run on Windows 11. The retro PC is an option, though, and playing on a CRT is always the way to go with these older games.
9:53 The best weapon in MechWarrior 3 is the Clan ER Large Laser. A lot of the time you can shoot things before they are even close enough to have their models rendered.
As I recall it was a demanding game at the time that never emulated well over the years so it never got much attention. It's a crime against gaming that this series hasn't been preserved for sale.
Another main reason it didn't take off: Mechwarrior 2, when it first came out, needed an INSANE PC for the time to run right. Heck it took a while to even play it right on DOSbox, this is probably because optimization wasn't the best back then but still, your average family computer was NOT running that game even if they wanted to. (I personally remember my father having a water cooled/ overclocked CPU that still had issues running it, this was in the late 90's early 00's so water cooling was still REALLY NEW and NOT CHEAP.) Not many people had computers that could even run THAT game, let alone an upgraded MW3. PC gaming really has only just become mainstream in the last 10-15 years when tech became more affordable and easier to use. most people just played doom or something of the sort even at that time. Personally I am of the belief that the original MW5, if it wasn't wrecked by Harmony Gold, would have pushed Battletech as a whole into the limelight if it came out like it should have. At least from the trailer it seems that it would have been a perfect final vision for the franchise as a whole. Rough, gritty, lumbering war machines only capable of doing anything because the both crazy and talented pilots inside. Mechs in MWO and the actual MW5 we got feel far more like heavy soldiers running around with perfect execution, rather then the stumpy walking tanks that are easy to mess up in that they are.
We bought this game probably around 2000 and my was i relieved that sequels DID exist for this franchise. Without prior knowledge regarding the importance of CPU/GPU performance, our pc ran a pentium 100 with a trident 2D/3D card running the software at 10-23 frames per second. And this game is infamous for its bugs and glitches often freezing the entire computer. One of the biggest departures and letdowns of this sequel is Jeehun Hwang didnt return to score this installment. You know when a product is rushed, that only TWO tracks is present in the redbook audio of the game which had me CRUSHED. Overall, i beat the game using the same primitive system specs and felt underwhelmed by the end of it. Good luck finding a copy on Ebay with the box...its over $300 now. This game was a total miss for me. 🤷♂😔
I was lucky and all the patches and fixes were already available to me, so it was a decent bug free version I played. Also managed to get it going through some gpu mods and dgvoodoo on Windows 11, so it was 60FPS for me. But, i did play it on 86Box with a similar setup to what you just mentioned, and it wasn't great. It didn't crash, but it got pretty slow at times. Music barely played too, which was why I didn't bring it up here. I think thought, there were 3 total tracks? Its why I didn't use them for this video, when I used the previous games tracks for my other MW videos. I can understand feeling underwhelmed, it wasn't as 'big' as the previous games in scope. More like a smaller adventure. Wouldn't catch me buying a full box disc though, no way.
MW3 was challenging for a number of reasons. 1 - the voice acting was good. But after MW2, where the story happened in your head, I got sick of the same voice over and over. Amazing how much more effective MechCommander was in creating an immersive story. 2 - largely forgotten now but as one poster said game was glitchy, and actually had a lot compatibility issues. It was well known that this game was temperamental and didnt jive with all systems of that time, particularly videocards. It did not like my Diamond Viper 770 TNT2 card at all. Never actually finished the game as I got to one mission involving an ANH and it would crash. Every time. Tried all sorts of tricks to stabilise it - Mission Failed. 3 - hype hangover. MW2 was such a colossal event in Battletech. MW3 could never be that again, despite wild graphics improvements and interesting gameplay concepts it always felt somehow sterile and lonely. Should have enjoyed it more. Loved the cut scenes and box art. The bugs and endless empty world/disconnect from story kind of ruined it for me back then I guess. After MW2 I expected so much. Too much maybe.
1 - I agree, MechCommander's best part was it's story and the live action cutscenes. I played it recently, and its really engaging. They should have made a live-action series! 2- I patched my version, so this might have been why I didn't have as many problems. I can only imagine, if it needed patches, there were some issues (since the nature of patches wasn't like it is today). 3 - I can see hype hangover, MW2 was a huge subset of games for a long time - going from spanning wars and freefrom gameplay, to something more streamlined is noticeable. I think I mentioned this in the video, that it just wasn't surprising at all. Have to agree too, the locations were a little bare.
@KeiNova yeah all agreed! Apologies you did mention the hype issue! As you say, back then, if it couldn't be downloaded on a 33 or 56k modem, then a patch was unavailable. Much more emphasis on pre-release hardware/driver testing. MW3 was quickly found to have real compatability issues and there was chatter about this impacting upon Zipper getting another crack at the MW franchise as a result of this, despite the amazing work they did engine/graphics wise. At least as I remember it. Apols if preaching to the choir here:)
Sounds strange, but one of my favorite things about this game was that the radio chatter would overlap. And other games, a voice (sometimes even enemies) would patiently wait for the last person to finish talking. Felt so fake
That doesn't sound weird to me, sound design and that really makes a game at times - especially in one where you want very real interactions to make the situation feel in-your-face and authentic.
The voice actor is indeed Michael Mancuso. Last I heard he was lecturing in game design but that would have been a decade or so ago. He really did do a fantastic job - I think because it's not as hammy and over-the-top compared to the usual voice acting fare present in MW games. As it's now 25 years old, I am baffled no one has put together an interview with the Zipper Interactive/Hasbro Games/FASA Interactive/MicroProse team - especially Mancuso - it would be fascinating to hear from them about what happened behind the scenes and their memories of working on it, other things they wanted to do and what they are most proud of. As the menus are so lean and there are limited rendered cutscenes the impression is one of a very, very lean production schedule, but they did a superb job. The voice acting, sounds, the visuals, the 'feel' of the mechs and weaponry are all brilliant and no other mechwarrior game has come close to getting that heft of a 100 ton mech firing ultra autocannons in the way this one did. Has anyone ever found an explanation for the blip in the Pirate's Moon expansion? During the escort the convoy along the road to madre mission, it is mentioned that Dominic is missing, but then he appears as a voice over at the end of the mission. It always felt like they got those two missions and their respective voiceovers out of order.
I have to say, you're probably right. I wish they'd have kept him aboard in some way - but maybe it wasn't his cup of tea after a while. I really wish that someone would. I'd personally love to have the ability to do something like that, but -as it stands- I don't have the numbers to get noticed. If I did, the money from adsense alone would be going to fund a project like that. It would be a very interesting part of gaming history, to say the least. I haven't heard of that blip yet. Most people hate the expansion or feel its worthless - I couldn't get it going. I hope you find the answer you're looking for!
That's legendary. Also, hadn't really thought about it, but yeah the menus in this game were not confusing and were quite simple. I overall remember liking the UI a lot even when I was younger.
I remember seeing it being demo'ed in the video game section of a Walmart once.I was thoroughly impressed with it. Tomb Raider 2 was also being demonstrated at the time. Yeah, this was the early GameCube days when Star Wars Rogue Squadron had insane graphics.
I used to play Aliens Versus Predator 2 on dial-up and I have this vivid memory at shooting like 10 feet ahead of an alien as it was leaping through the air in front of me from right to left and I nailed it. So I shot, the alien was still moving, as it crossed where I had shot like half a second before, it was hit and blew up. I laughed so hard. Got pretty good at lag leading for sure.
At the time, lag shooting was so, so brutal with most of the players all being on 28.8 or 56k modem connections. Still my favourite title in the series though
I was 11 years old and got Mech Warrior 4 Vengeance because I thought it looked cool at the store. At the time i was a massive sweaty diablo 2/starcraft/warcraft II player for the most part. However our PC couldn't run Vengeance at more than like 5 fps but I was sucked into just watching the cinematic and looking through the instant action mechlab. They had MechWarrior 3 in the budget CD section at walmart for like $10 and I got it and got absorbed into the universe. My computer could run it. The mechlab/customizations felt better than MW4. I even played a lot of multiplayer on MSN gaming zone where MW3 online matches were hosted at the time rather than dedicated servers. I have a special place in my heart for MW3. I feel it's the truest feeling in the series to the Battle Tech universe with the gritty dystopian art style and story telling.
Besides very distinct "control" / pacing feel mw 3 has vs mw4/mw5, one thing that is weird, but I kinda liked it - completely free build of mechs without slots limitations. Have supernova chassis, wana put UAC20 on it? yeah go ahead :) . Also I only got to try pirates moon much (10-15 years later), and omg the jump in difficulty, granted I played mw3 isnane number of times, I could probably recite objectives of each mission and decent plan how to go about them, but still... right from the get go pirates moon missions are harder than hardest original mw3 missions.
Pirates Moon was a nightmare. I didn't understand if my computer was bugging out, or I was playing quicker due to Moon Physics. I had so many issues with it, I've not made a video just yet! It wasn't fun though, from what I got working. The spike just threw the experience out the window.
It's true you can knee cap your way to victory pretty easily. But this is the best game engine out the bunch from 1-5. It feels very weighty to control and detaching your reticule makes killing bad guys easy peasy. There is an issue with pulse lasers not pulsing, visually like a standard laser would not, pulse lasers are for heat conservation. But what I'm about to say about MW4 is game breaking. In MW4 if you do not fire whilst your laser or ballistic shot is on the enemy and in front of your crosshair it will fail to connect. Even if the enemy immediately becomes in your crosshairs a millisecond later and your laser is a long sustained shot - no damage will be done to the enemy. The above paragraph makes MW4 into a complete joke. The whole game is just making sure you NEVER fire a shot unless you have an enemy directly in front of your crosshairs. There's no leading shots, no peppering the enemy as best you can by firing all over the place. The whole game is about pinpoint precision or a complete miss. No in-between. Made much more difficult now you can't detach your reticule. This is so monumentally crap, I can't believe it isn't moaned about constantly or been fixed. But that is why MW4 is a silly toy game.
I must say it’s one awesome game. It’s like an adventure. Your like a walking tour of Tranquil. Getting new stuff for you MFB as you fight them Claners. Love it
I remember MW3 beeing buged as h_ll. There was this one mission with this long bridge. I couldn't get past this mission because of bugs. Most of the time your own convoy got stuck or didn't move at all. Other times the AI destroyed the bridge while trying to hit me or simply repeatedly ramed into its pillars with thier mechs. I've even seen a mech walking through the air, after the bridge was destroyed under his feets. And of course more than once the game simply crashed. I put this game to the side and waited for MW4.
This is one of the few games that has gotten multiple full playthroughs out of me.... and yes using the ERPPC + med laser build is one of the most effective ways to run through the campaign. The heaviest LB-X autocannon loadout manageable on the Annihilator was definitely a great way to wipe out legs or just generally deal damage at close range.... but ammo was definitely an issue that kept me from using it that much, same with the rest of the ballistic weapons. I learned early on that the rest of the crew better be on energy weapon loadout due to ammo and accuracy issues. I don't think they even did well with LRMs...... Most of the time they mostly seemed only really useful to draw fire. I kind of wished that the LRM+ Targeting Computer had been more effective at taking out cockpits. As it was, legging opponents with energy weapons was really the best way to go. I also wondered why the ACs had the range drop as the caliber increased.... It made some sense with the LBX canons since they are a shotgun like weapon, but heavier calibers usually carry their momentum further than lighter calibers due to the cube/square effect. A lot more goes into the final range, but we are firing a larger, more effective round out of a similar design gun with caliber being the main defining character, and the useful range doesn't just decrease a little, it tanks the range hard between an AC2 and the AC20 going from 720 all the way down to 270. I would have thought that as long as the round is still being shot fast enough to still deal much larger damage it should still have at least a similar effective range, or at least not this big of a loss.
In the early games energy weapons were really a huge plus. I liked the LB-X but, you are right. Having the weapons, plus ammo, really just was better spent on Energy and Heatsinks that generally made things way more functional overall.
I love this game its just so glitchy. Needs a remaster because it has some really excellent ideas. Mobile field base is really cool and it has a sense of scale, weight and immersion beyond the others. Mw2 had the atmosphere Mw3 has the scale and immersion Mw4 has the game play
@@KeiNova As far as immersion goes it's probably the worst in the series. Buts also the funnest hands down. The campaigns for Mercenaries and Vengeance are my favorite in the series.
This is another game that I only got to experience after its heyday. But it is the most faithful and brutal MechWarrior outing to date. I love MW5, but MW3 was special. And it's the only game that made Targeting Computers actually do something. And that was great. And I loved the differences in mechanics between standard lasers and pulse lasers.
I loved this game. My only gripe was that a mech instanty died if you blow off a leg. It should have just been extremely crippled like in mw4 and limp around on its stump.
@@KeiNova It made the entire mech feel way more fragile. Instead of stomping around in a 75 ton walking tank that could shrug off attacks all day, you were walking around on glass legs. It was also unrealistic, if a mech lost a leg, the pilot didnt die, the mech just could walk anymore. I imagine it could still twist its torso and arms and fire. Its the same as a modern day tank losing a track on one side.
The ability to use mouselook to control the targeting reticle without moving torso was a great way to simulate helmet /head tracking targeting. Loved it, and lack of this was imho the worst disappointment in following mechwarrior games.
Man, I've tried to get this game running on Windows 7/10, but it's such a pain in the ass I always end giving up. I can set up and play MECH 2 Mercs easily though, and that's DOS game.
If you want, what you have to do is go into your GPU settings and set the program specific settings to turn off multi-threading, set refresh rate to half, and vsync off. Get dgvoodoo and copy over the x86 files. Then run it in compatibility for Windows XP. You'll get full 1080p resolution and 60fps gameplay.
I have a bug with my NVIDIA control panel where it just crashes whenever I try to open it, I've tried this method a while ago and couldn't get to work, might give it another go with my laptop. @@KeiNova
@@802Garage Oh, I thought of that a while ago, but I didn't really know how to put it together. Maybe I should consider it. Getting this one to work would be like a short, easily. But thank you for that idea!
@@KeiNova legging is a 50% recovery, Headshotting is 100%. Get the targeting computer to see where you need to shoot. This is one of the few games I have played to mastery…yes I have played a 100% headcapping run.
It wasn’t too difficult a game. Oh, there are four MFBs, but you only have three with you max. One of the early missions, when you hook up with your second lance mate you get the fourth.
yeah it took a while, but the voodoo tool is pretty reliable. There is a mod for mw3 and it looks really awesome, but I never could get it to run on my machine.
Con Air, Being John Malkovich, Mulholland Falls, The Man in the Iron Mask, Shadow of the Vampire, Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, Mutand Chronicles, Warm Bodies - off the top of my head and in no particular order? I saw Zoolander 2, but he was in that for like a minute.
@@KeiNova I have seen "Being John Malkovich" and that was one of the most fun, well written movies I've ever seen. He has a very unique voice which I think is enjoyable to listen to in itself. Haven't seen "Hitchhiker's" though which I know is sad
Good video but I have one small criticism both MW2 and MW3 in my experience were best played with a joystick and keyboard not keyboard and mouse. The X and Y axis were used for turning and aiming height, and if I remember correctly MW3 actually supported using a throttle and the Z Axis for torso twisting on mechs that supported it. Warning MW5 Tangent Rant: The fact that there is no actual FCS (Flight Control System) or joystick, or even gamepad support in MW5 or MechWarrior Online despite the fact that to add insult to injury its obvious in the game that you can see the pilot is using an FCS. MW5 and MechWarrior Online both state in the specs that they support several FCS's but when you dig into the manual they don't! Instead the manual literally says to search online for community created profiles for your HOTAS software (because they didn't create any and they assumed the community will do it for them) or just create profiles your self and then it points you to the manual for your joystick on how to do that, and as it turns out the only way to do that is to make your FCS emulate a keyboard and mouse. Do you know what a joysticks have always been terrible at? If you guessed emulating mice you would be correct, emulating a mouse has always been the worst possible thing you can do with a joystick and vice versa because they are fundamentally different in how they intended to operate. The messed up part is the game actually supported game pads with analog sticks for the primary controls that could be workable into a usable HOTAS profile but they don't support that either. Modern Joysticks and FCS's can have anywhere from 4 to 9 simultaneously usable analog Axis's and an insane number of buttons and 4 or 8 way switches (essentially a dpad on the top of the joystick and possibly multiple on the throttle). I've never understood why FPS games outside of the MW games never adopted using them as a control scheme option because they were so great in MW2 and 3
Being an old school BTech player, MW3 was my favorite until MW5 came out. I severely disliked MW4, even with the better graphics. I liked the true to BTech game customizability of MW3. MW4 made it cookie cutter only x can fit here. MW5 made it a hybrid., you could go with the MW4 version, or go MW3 and get all kinds of crazy. MW5 Clans, is more rigid on the MW4 side, but is still customizable.
I never managed to play through this game. By the time I had a computer powerful enough to run it, things like drivers got in the way and I could never get it to run without ground vehicles bouncing around like fleas on a trampoline (due to the fact that I was using an ATI graphics card).
Mechwarrior 3 is by far the best. Its atmosphere, campaign, visuals and mechanics were amazing.. and especially compared to the very disappointing Mechwarrior 4 which was a downgrade on so many levels.
Weird. I thought I had commented on this video last night (Its about 1:30 AM here). I guess two channels I watch reviewed the game a few hours apart or something. Anyway I love this game. I prefer the next game's story and the period it and its expansions are in. My main issue is the changes in Mech customization. Sure this game didn't include any of my favorite Mechs but it didn't matter because as long as I had a Mech in the right weight class, and the proper parts I could make a custom Mech that was exactly what I wanted to pilot. I usually ran a modded Orion, Avatar, or Timber Wolf. Your build sounds kind of like mine but I go for two ER Large Lasers (The longest range weapons in the game if memory serves), four to six Medium Pulse Lasers, and include some Jump Jets. Edit: You should like 4. The main game isn't multi planet but there's more feudal political influence in the story. It focuses on a planetary rebellion that is part of a massive civil war across the nation the planet belongs to.
You may have, I had to delete it because of some editing issues I noticed. Thanks for commenting again, though - if I didn't catch your comment before!
The best in series. Every shot has substantial impact, mech moves like heavy but agile creatures. Damage marks on mechs. Even craters after missiles hit the ground. (But dumb ai and wrong machinegun mechanics)
What is your MechWarrior 3 memory?
I was 13 or 14 and in my mom's basement on my computer. I was playing MechWarrior 3 and losing. So I was yelling at the computer screen. Mom got mad and made me stop playing.
My MW3 memory is when I watched the first upload of the review of it.
Did you see those editing errors? That was embarrassing.@@guaposneeze
My joy when I first salvaged an Avatar and confirmed that I had everything I needed to reconfigure the Mech into a near copy of a Penetrator-4D. The Penetrator-4D and Penetrator-6S variants have been vying for the my favorite official Battlemech Design crown since I was introduced to the 6S (I used a 4D in my first Battletech tabletop game not long after the Tech Readout that introduced it was published.) Though I might like the Penetrator-8D more if I ever have the chance to try one in the tabletop game
@@roguerifter9724 I feel like I'll understand this comment the more I play the tabletop game.
What's great about MW3 is how it feels much more "mil" sim vs others in the franchise in a large part of from the briefings/mission structure, HUD, free aiming controls, environmental impact on cooling, how lasers work etc. MW4 and MW5 don't fully realise what MW3 captured
It definitely does. As the others had you as the clans or a mercenary, this time you were actually part of a military organization.
Agreed. The missile physics and animations really sold it for me.
@@KeiNova Technically you are still a mercenary in this game. Your unit is the Eridani Light Horse which was absorbed into the new Star League Defense Force (long story that is explained in the manual). Mechwarrior 4 will be the first game where you are technically part of a House military. Technically since you’re part of a rebellion.
MW3 is still my favourite. MW4 had terrible aiming and MW5 is just kinda dumb
@@fonesrphunny7242 Actually with the right mods (merctech, etc) MW5 is slowly approaching MW3 sim level. I am loving the mods.
Seriously, the intel officers VO work is still one of the best performances in video gaming
Yet so underrated!
Agreed, and Epona is played by the VA for Ivy in SoulCalibur 2, and Dominic is played by the guy who came up with the name Wookie for Star Wars, voiced Launchpad McQuack, and much more!
The intel officer's voice acting was top notch, and the first thing I always remember from MW3.
He has one other game credit for some Star Trek game... and it has FMV so he actually appears on camera. Took me a long time to track that down. It's a shame he didn't do anything else. I absolutely love his delivery.
The only Mech Warrior game with good, convincing voice acting.
I have to agree. Like REALLY agree.
Nah. Mw4v has that. I mean, it's a bit cheesy but at least it feels authentic.
@TimberWulfIsHere No it doesn't. Everything is crystal clear with no radio distortion. Everyone is bright and projecting a forced character. Like, yeah, Duncan Fisher gets a pass because of the context. But the surfer dude recon pilot? The Peter Lorre lancemate? Hell, even Spectre himself is a Saturday morning cartoon. Meanwhile the characters in Mechwarrior 3 are gritty, grizzled, down to earth, and are treating the situation with the tempered seriousness it deserves.
@@revolrz22 did you not read? Why are you referencing Mercs bruh. And all mw4 games have a crap ton of distortion.
underrated comment
MW3 has the best atmosphere in entirety of franchise imho, the feeling of isolation, hostile planet and guerilla grit hasn't been matched
It was certainly a step up when it came to location and situation, I agree.
My favorite thing about MW3 is how quickly we meet up with our buddy Keith Andrew.
And we love it how all the plans come together.
*cough*
:)
"Thanks... You know how to liven up the party. Keith? KEITH ANDREW!"
@@Sp3ctre18Gaming For me it was Epona's introduction: "Hellooooo?! Dancing with an Annihilator, here!!" It's always such a rush trying to save that poor bushwacker from getting wacked 😂
@@MeanderingBeing Occasionally, I still have nightmares of that first encounter w/ the Annie. Especially w/ MW3's sound mixing.
*Receiving* an Alpha Strike was hellishly loud, and I instadied. Terrifying.
I'm an old timer that played all MW games when they came out. MW3 to me was the best of the bunch because it was the closest to a simulation it ever got. MW4 turned into a FPS with mech skins. I was so bummed when MW4 released because I was hoping to see an upgraded MW3 engine. A real shame because even MW online and MW5 although better than 4 stayed away from being a full sim.
It's all about being accessible I guess.
Long live MW3!
I haven't played MW4 yet, though I'm definitely a little leery after hearing how it turned out. It seems a bit like it killed the series. I'm not sure I hold that opinion wholly yet, but I guess I'll find out when I get there!
@@KeiNova It's a fun game but it was clearly made for the casual FPS crowd instead of the hardcore MW fanbase.
MS wanted more profit but in the end it killed the franchise off.
That's exactly how I felt about 4, though I admit I didn't play as avidly as you. It felt like a step backwards. I didn't think it looked as good and I hated the gunplay. I felt it was trying to go more for a simulation style with the really cumbersome aiming and what felt like more restrictive movement, but I hated it and felt like 3 was a better representation of what the tech should have been like for a pilot anyways. Interesting to hear people say it was more casual, as I felt like it was more hardcore in a bad way, but I also was turned off fast enough I really didn't play a lot.
@KeiNova MW4 was still good, and Mercs was great. MW5 is probably the best game when it comes to actually handling the mechs, but it feels very flat in comparison to what MW4: Mercs brought to the table with the story and world building.
Another really well done review! This game is still my favourite Mechwarrior game. It has the limitations you mentioned but I was just blown away back in the day by the graphical improvements. I played all MW2 games and loved them but coming from them and seeing the much more detailed mechs and environments was a real eye opener. Also the small details like birds and the mech footprints on the ground or the steam rising from the water around your mech when it was starting to overheat made the game world feel more alive. I also preferred the mechlab to MW2 and definitely to MW4 which uses a slightly annoying system to streamline the way one outfits his/her mech - you will see what I mean when you review MW4. 😄
The ease of legging mechs in the game is an issue but when switching to the mode where the weapons are fixed to the rotation of the torso it makes it a bit harder, especially in close combat. That's how I played it most of the time.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I loved the game, it was a little flawed but when it ran right I actually blasted through it in a day and ended up playing through it twice. I didn't mind legging everything but I had to say something because that was what I did for all the footage 😂
My first MechWarrior or let's say Mech-Kneecapper game. Playing this beauty with a joystick was so much fun. Sadly I can barely run my original copy of this gem on modern PCs nowadays...
Thankfully, there are actually some ways to and I was able to get it working at 60FPS with no hiccups at all on Windows 11.
I'm another of those people who spent days off and on trying to get MW3 to work, and on two very different modern systems, yesterday I finally succeeded on one of them, and was very quickly then able to get it to work on the other as well. Down to fill you in on what I had to do if you're still having trouble.
@@zeph0shadeplease teach us your ways.
This game desighner was doing double duty… mate thats the entire industry in 90s and early 2000s. Most if not all voice acting were staff.
All the same guys voice acting was fantastic.
It was fantastic.
Loved the "calm professional" voice for the Intelligence officer. Reminds me of the pilot voices in Homeworld. Also loved the milsim nature of it, the destructible environment and feeling all the maps were connected. Though I just packed my Thor with ER Lasers and heat sinks and sniped legs from BVR.
I did the same a lot. It was still a lot of fun.
One thing this title managed to convey really well is the lumbering nature of mechs. I felt mech's in MW4 were cartoonish, zig-zagging all over the place and jerking their huge weapons as if they were toys. Not until the latest titles - MWO & MW5 - did designers manage to recapture the heft & weight of mechs.
You are right, but when I was playing Pirates Moon today - I realized that it didn't have that conveyance this time around. I realized the obvious... it's because it's on the moon.
YESSSSS! Mechs in MW3 felt so heavy and menacing. The light mechs truly felt like a totally different class. The big guys were hulks. It was awesome.
This was my childhood. Thank you for such a great video covering it!
You are welcome, and thank you for watching it 🙏
I played MW3 when I was like five years old, and for decades it was all I knew of the setting-but I loved reading those spec sheets. I wish there was a remastered campaign mod for this in MW5
I would be nice at this point, to just get a remaster collection. But someone told me they have a contact that said they are gearing up to rerelease the games on GOG and Steam. But it might just be a hopeful rumor.
@@KeiNova Just being able to play the games again would be nice. My original disc scratched in my early teens... The game would thereafter stutter-loop during the into cinematic, funnily enough getting stuck on the "but I can't, sir" line.
this game looks so dang good. every game zipper ever touched is a classic, no wonder.
It was a great game, they certainly used the PC platform to their advantage here.
Probably my favorite for feel out of the series
It was great, I agree 💯
This was such an awesome game to play in my childhood. I never had the chance to play it enough, due to my age and accessibility. It was only at my grandfathers, that I was able to play. The only game that finally scratched the itch that not playing this game enough is Everspace. Both games allows you to customize your machine visually and the weapons as well. It was mostly the weapon customizing that I loved, but also the different parts on mechs being damaged. I always knew there was much awesomeness to this game, that I didn't even have the chance to touch.
Does anyone remember the old Star League online system built on a website to show battle results in real-time so to try and make MW into a real world campaign system? And remember Phil Kildare aka: Archon Kildare of House Steiner? I was his right hand man, his military advisor (and pre-clans Inner Sphere Battletech historian), my handle was MH Davion, as in Morgan Hasek Davion. I also knew Jordan Weisman and Sam Lewis from FASA too. Used to run the Renegade Legion boardgame demos at gemcons for Sam back in the 80s in SoCal too. And played for years at the Virtual World Battletech centers in SoCal too. Oh the fun days! Miss them a lot today!
FYI being that I had come from the original Battletech tabletop game days, I was an Inner Sphere fan/lover. And so when the Mechwarrior series of games appeared and starting right from the beginning AFTER the Clan invasion? Everybody was a clan-fan, and cared nothing for the original Inner Sphere years of wars. So in essence I was sort of a "pariah" to many, haha. That was a sad shame though, as the original Inner Sphere days had just as many huge, important battles as the later Clan Wars. There'd have been NO Mechwarrior universe, if there wasn't a Battletech first!
@@r32rockyyou are in luck unlessodded 5 exclusively.focuses on inner sphere time lines
The 1.0 bug that had lbx autocannons have a outsized chance to knock down enemy mechs. I used to cheese that soooo much
Ahhh that would have been awesome! I patched mine to 1.2 though!
@@KeiNova i loved this game my friend and i would play online and destroy everyone to the point they made rules bout what mechs we could bring. my friend and i take credit for that patch as we were the ones accused of hacking the game so we shared and it all went to hell, the patch broke the game by removing all the exploits we figured out and it never worked the same after
This is my favorite of the Mechwarrior games! I completed it on stream a few months ago and I basically won't shut up about it whenever the conversation turns to this series lol
I'll have to check it out, is it on your channel?
Stream shilling....classy 😂
this is without a doubt the best mech game, the story telling is so engulfing you feel like your the guy in the mech. the intercepted messages just make you feel so vindicated
Its definitely a great one, though I have a hard time not seeing the MechWarrior series as a whole - there is so much I like about all of them.
The plotline was somehow bleaker than Starsiege (which is an accomplishment). Being isolated, on an enemy planet (a clan one at that, with their degree of alienness), essentially stranded on a suicide mission, and then proceeding to engage in total war (i.e. commit war-crimes)... made it feel like every time you lost was a timeline where your characters did die instead of escaping. There were terrain glitches that could do you in part way through a mission - but I remember it as being very white knuckled.
Everything was, indeed, very tense. It also helped that you were always guarding your life line - MFBs.
Great review - as another commenter mentioned, extremely fair and well balanced.
For me, MW3 is a game of incredible promise. There are many things it does better than any other title in the series, but it also has it's fair share of flaws as well.
For me, it is the detail, immersion, and "sim" feeling that make MW3 what it is. The recoil you experience when firing a heavy weapon. The fear that comes from facing down a UAC20 wielding enemy mech, as each shot throws your aim off and leaves you in serious trouble.
And the maps - did you catch the way that all the missions link together? There's really only 5(or 6, depending on how you count it) different maps in the game, but they're massive areas that are then divided up in the smaller individual missions, with each mission linking in with the last and the next. You can backtrack through previous missions if you want, which all adds to the immersion. In world, each mission is taking place immediately after the next, and I love that.
And a quick thing on the voice acting, the in-game credits list Michael Mancuso as both the tactical officer, and also game design.
Now, Pirate's Moon on the other hand....I look forward to your thoughts!
Thank you so much. So, it is Michael Mancuso then? Some believe it might have actually been the man who played Optimus Prime at some point. Honestly, I might just look through the game credits themselves to make sure. Guess I'll have to complete the game again!
The maps were interlocked, and I really loved that. It did give a better sense of progression, and it was definitely like you were exploring Tranquil as you went. It just severely cut down on variety, that's all.
I'll be working on that review for Saturday soon, hope you enjoy!
@@KeiNova Did you give up on Pirate's Moon? I'm currently slowly going through it and the game already kicked my butt harder than any other MW games (including underwater and zero g missions in GBL).
@@VicV I could barely get it working, and yeah, when I did - it was insanely hard! I haven't given up; I just got a little burnt out playing all the games so far.
You work so hard doing these. You def need more than just 1.7k views!
Bought a computer that would play it in 99' been hooked every since. I currently have been playing MWO for almost 10 years now. It is very similar game play. Pirates Moon was a sweet version and MSN gamezone server was almost lag free.
I play MWO too, I know ppl still play MW3 online and I'm looking into checking that out.
To me, this is the best MechWarrior game. Playing 4 felt like a step backwards and I never really got into it. I understand 3 may not be quite as good in terms of simulation, but I just think the overall experience is much more fun. The intro cinematic was absolutely killer too and really got you in the mood to play. The voices, sound effects, graphics, and missions are all awesome. I mean come on the startup sequence in this game is too good and the weapons sound so much better and chunkier than other entries. I'll admit the variety of playstyles and environments can be a bit lacking. If you play just to enjoy though, not to minmax and destroy everything as fast as possible, it's just a great experience.
I have to agree, I really liked this one - and I feel like it's the last game with 'soul' in a lot of ways. I know it is controversial, but that is how I feel. I had way more fun playing through this one then anything in MW4, but you wouldn't believe the ire I receive for that!
@@KeiNova Bahahaha people like what they like and they should let others do the same. ;)
I loved MW3 for its military feeling. Yet MW2 felt so much more like a SciFi game with multiple very alien planets and that ambient soundtrack, so it will always be my favorite.
MW2 was also my favorite!
I'm pretty sure the voice actor for the mobile base command is done by Garry Chalk. He voiced optimus prime in the 90's beast wars and I also remember he was in star gate sg1 as a Russian general. I'm pretty sure he also did the mw2 mercs tutorial teacher.
Yeah, that's why I didn't confirm anything. Information on this game is so mixed up these days, it's wild.
SG1 is awesome
@@KeiNova isn't it amazing what some people consider OK to not document?
@@ThommyofThenn there is just so much that people don't even care to document, it makes finding info so hard. If you check MechWarrior 3 on IMDb and just about everywhere, it lists staff as voice actors.
I’d love to hear an interview with Gary Chalk about his roles in Mechwarrior
MFBs. That alone, *made* this game vs. the rest of the series.
Only seeing stationary 'gantry' style (M)FBs in MW4 and 5 (and *very* rarely), is a shame.
Also worth noting, the style of and the way the textures are rendered, leaves MW3 'aging well'.
Fact, Microprose is back as a publisher for indie sim am strat games, and their games are quite good.
Sadly, it'll never be the same company :C. Real Microprose Software was dead long before this game, after Spectrum Holobyte got them and then changed them just to Microprose. All the other employees were let go or left.
@@KeiNova I used to know some of the guys that worked on MW3 and MW4. And sadly they were also working on a new M1 Tank Platoon III that was going to combine with a new Gunship II to be played in an all new never done before massive online battle system way before the Battlefield series of games were even a thought! But sadly the buyout by Hascrap ruined that forever! 😢
It was a horrible situation, truly@@r32rocky
I have the big box with all the manuals etc. Started it some time ago on my Windows 98 retro PC, felt good. Should try to continue when I have the time.
If you can get it working, its a surprisingly functional game and probably the most accessible of the first three.
@@KeiNova Maybe I'll try to get it to run on Windows 11. The retro PC is an option, though, and playing on a CRT is always the way to go with these older games.
@@Renk1 getting a good 99-2000 setup would be an amazing feat
Been good watching your progress through the series
Thank you, its been fun. I can't wait for MW5 though.
Greg’s Planes and Automobiles sounds like the Intelligence Officer
I honestly don't know what that is lol
@@KeiNova RUclips channel focusing on WW2 aviation. Guy sounds just like the dude in MW3
9:53 The best weapon in MechWarrior 3 is the Clan ER Large Laser. A lot of the time you can shoot things before they are even close enough to have their models rendered.
I mainly used PPCs. I'll have to give that a shot one day.
As I recall it was a demanding game at the time that never emulated well over the years so it never got much attention. It's a crime against gaming that this series hasn't been preserved for sale.
That explains a lot, and yeah, I think a lot of people would agree that it should be Re-released.
Another main reason it didn't take off: Mechwarrior 2, when it first came out, needed an INSANE PC for the time to run right. Heck it took a while to even play it right on DOSbox, this is probably because optimization wasn't the best back then but still, your average family computer was NOT running that game even if they wanted to. (I personally remember my father having a water cooled/ overclocked CPU that still had issues running it, this was in the late 90's early 00's so water cooling was still REALLY NEW and NOT CHEAP.)
Not many people had computers that could even run THAT game, let alone an upgraded MW3. PC gaming really has only just become mainstream in the last 10-15 years when tech became more affordable and easier to use. most people just played doom or something of the sort even at that time.
Personally I am of the belief that the original MW5, if it wasn't wrecked by Harmony Gold, would have pushed Battletech as a whole into the limelight if it came out like it should have. At least from the trailer it seems that it would have been a perfect final vision for the franchise as a whole. Rough, gritty, lumbering war machines only capable of doing anything because the both crazy and talented pilots inside. Mechs in MWO and the actual MW5 we got feel far more like heavy soldiers running around with perfect execution, rather then the stumpy walking tanks that are easy to mess up in that they are.
This is where Battletech peaked. The best of the best.
Having played so many of these titles, I agree. It was broken at times, and not lore accurate, but always much fun.
We bought this game probably around 2000 and my was i relieved that sequels DID exist for this franchise.
Without prior knowledge regarding the importance of CPU/GPU performance, our pc ran a pentium 100 with a trident 2D/3D card running the software at 10-23 frames per second. And this game is infamous for its bugs and glitches often freezing the entire computer.
One of the biggest departures and letdowns of this sequel is Jeehun Hwang didnt return to score this installment.
You know when a product is rushed, that only TWO tracks is present in the redbook audio of the game which had me CRUSHED.
Overall, i beat the game using the same primitive system specs and felt underwhelmed by the end of it.
Good luck finding a copy on Ebay with the box...its over $300 now. This game was a total miss for me. 🤷♂😔
I was lucky and all the patches and fixes were already available to me, so it was a decent bug free version I played. Also managed to get it going through some gpu mods and dgvoodoo on Windows 11, so it was 60FPS for me. But, i did play it on 86Box with a similar setup to what you just mentioned, and it wasn't great. It didn't crash, but it got pretty slow at times. Music barely played too, which was why I didn't bring it up here. I think thought, there were 3 total tracks? Its why I didn't use them for this video, when I used the previous games tracks for my other MW videos.
I can understand feeling underwhelmed, it wasn't as 'big' as the previous games in scope. More like a smaller adventure. Wouldn't catch me buying a full box disc though, no way.
Well I didn't know that... I have the game and the box. :D
Edit: I think I have the Gold Edition.
MW3 was challenging for a number of reasons.
1 - the voice acting was good. But after MW2, where the story happened in your head, I got sick of the same voice over and over. Amazing how much more effective MechCommander was in creating an immersive story.
2 - largely forgotten now but as one poster said game was glitchy, and actually had a lot compatibility issues. It was well known that this game was temperamental and didnt jive with all systems of that time, particularly videocards. It did not like my Diamond Viper 770 TNT2 card at all. Never actually finished the game as I got to one mission involving an ANH and it would crash. Every time. Tried all sorts of tricks to stabilise it - Mission Failed.
3 - hype hangover. MW2 was such a colossal event in Battletech. MW3 could never be that again, despite wild graphics improvements and interesting gameplay concepts it always felt somehow sterile and lonely.
Should have enjoyed it more. Loved the cut scenes and box art. The bugs and endless empty world/disconnect from story kind of ruined it for me back then I guess. After MW2 I expected so much. Too much maybe.
1 - I agree, MechCommander's best part was it's story and the live action cutscenes. I played it recently, and its really engaging. They should have made a live-action series!
2- I patched my version, so this might have been why I didn't have as many problems. I can only imagine, if it needed patches, there were some issues (since the nature of patches wasn't like it is today).
3 - I can see hype hangover, MW2 was a huge subset of games for a long time - going from spanning wars and freefrom gameplay, to something more streamlined is noticeable. I think I mentioned this in the video, that it just wasn't surprising at all.
Have to agree too, the locations were a little bare.
@KeiNova yeah all agreed! Apologies you did mention the hype issue!
As you say, back then, if it couldn't be downloaded on a 33 or 56k modem, then a patch was unavailable. Much more emphasis on pre-release hardware/driver testing. MW3 was quickly found to have real compatability issues and there was chatter about this impacting upon Zipper getting another crack at the MW franchise as a result of this, despite the amazing work they did engine/graphics wise. At least as I remember it.
Apols if preaching to the choir here:)
PS really enjoyed the video. Probably should jave led off with that.
Ah the memories...!
Sounds strange, but one of my favorite things about this game was that the radio chatter would overlap. And other games, a voice (sometimes even enemies) would patiently wait for the last person to finish talking. Felt so fake
That doesn't sound weird to me, sound design and that really makes a game at times - especially in one where you want very real interactions to make the situation feel in-your-face and authentic.
The voice actor is indeed Michael Mancuso. Last I heard he was lecturing in game design but that would have been a decade or so ago. He really did do a fantastic job - I think because it's not as hammy and over-the-top compared to the usual voice acting fare present in MW games.
As it's now 25 years old, I am baffled no one has put together an interview with the Zipper Interactive/Hasbro Games/FASA Interactive/MicroProse team - especially Mancuso - it would be fascinating to hear from them about what happened behind the scenes and their memories of working on it, other things they wanted to do and what they are most proud of. As the menus are so lean and there are limited rendered cutscenes the impression is one of a very, very lean production schedule, but they did a superb job. The voice acting, sounds, the visuals, the 'feel' of the mechs and weaponry are all brilliant and no other mechwarrior game has come close to getting that heft of a 100 ton mech firing ultra autocannons in the way this one did.
Has anyone ever found an explanation for the blip in the Pirate's Moon expansion? During the escort the convoy along the road to madre mission, it is mentioned that Dominic is missing, but then he appears as a voice over at the end of the mission. It always felt like they got those two missions and their respective voiceovers out of order.
I have to say, you're probably right. I wish they'd have kept him aboard in some way - but maybe it wasn't his cup of tea after a while.
I really wish that someone would. I'd personally love to have the ability to do something like that, but -as it stands- I don't have the numbers to get noticed. If I did, the money from adsense alone would be going to fund a project like that. It would be a very interesting part of gaming history, to say the least.
I haven't heard of that blip yet. Most people hate the expansion or feel its worthless - I couldn't get it going. I hope you find the answer you're looking for!
That's legendary. Also, hadn't really thought about it, but yeah the menus in this game were not confusing and were quite simple. I overall remember liking the UI a lot even when I was younger.
I remember seeing it being demo'ed in the video game section of a Walmart once.I was thoroughly impressed with it. Tomb Raider 2 was also being demonstrated at the time. Yeah, this was the early GameCube days when Star Wars Rogue Squadron had insane graphics.
I remember those days well. I honestly miss them.
Back in the day of 56K modems where you had to learn to lag shoot
I've learned so much about lag shooting, researching these games!
I used to play Aliens Versus Predator 2 on dial-up and I have this vivid memory at shooting like 10 feet ahead of an alien as it was leaping through the air in front of me from right to left and I nailed it. So I shot, the alien was still moving, as it crossed where I had shot like half a second before, it was hit and blew up. I laughed so hard. Got pretty good at lag leading for sure.
At the time, lag shooting was so, so brutal with most of the players all being on 28.8 or 56k modem connections. Still my favourite title in the series though
I was 11 years old and got Mech Warrior 4 Vengeance because I thought it looked cool at the store. At the time i was a massive sweaty diablo 2/starcraft/warcraft II player for the most part. However our PC couldn't run Vengeance at more than like 5 fps but I was sucked into just watching the cinematic and looking through the instant action mechlab. They had MechWarrior 3 in the budget CD section at walmart for like $10 and I got it and got absorbed into the universe. My computer could run it. The mechlab/customizations felt better than MW4. I even played a lot of multiplayer on MSN gaming zone where MW3 online matches were hosted at the time rather than dedicated servers. I have a special place in my heart for MW3. I feel it's the truest feeling in the series to the Battle Tech universe with the gritty dystopian art style and story telling.
Besides very distinct "control" / pacing feel mw 3 has vs mw4/mw5, one thing that is weird, but I kinda liked it - completely free build of mechs without slots limitations. Have supernova chassis, wana put UAC20 on it? yeah go ahead :) . Also I only got to try pirates moon much (10-15 years later), and omg the jump in difficulty, granted I played mw3 isnane number of times, I could probably recite objectives of each mission and decent plan how to go about them, but still... right from the get go pirates moon missions are harder than hardest original mw3 missions.
Pirates Moon was a nightmare. I didn't understand if my computer was bugging out, or I was playing quicker due to Moon Physics. I had so many issues with it, I've not made a video just yet! It wasn't fun though, from what I got working. The spike just threw the experience out the window.
It's true you can knee cap your way to victory pretty easily. But this is the best game engine out the bunch from 1-5. It feels very weighty to control and detaching your reticule makes killing bad guys easy peasy. There is an issue with pulse lasers not pulsing, visually like a standard laser would not, pulse lasers are for heat conservation.
But what I'm about to say about MW4 is game breaking. In MW4 if you do not fire whilst your laser or ballistic shot is on the enemy and in front of your crosshair it will fail to connect. Even if the enemy immediately becomes in your crosshairs a millisecond later and your laser is a long sustained shot - no damage will be done to the enemy.
The above paragraph makes MW4 into a complete joke. The whole game is just making sure you NEVER fire a shot unless you have an enemy directly in front of your crosshairs. There's no leading shots, no peppering the enemy as best you can by firing all over the place. The whole game is about pinpoint precision or a complete miss. No in-between. Made much more difficult now you can't detach your reticule.
This is so monumentally crap, I can't believe it isn't moaned about constantly or been fixed. But that is why MW4 is a silly toy game.
Flaws? This game had none.
Well, I'm glad you like the game! I'm not going to comment on it that statement is true or not ;)
Another day another great video.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it.
7:17 "i see you're back 621"
ayo OwO!
Glad you caught that :)
Your madcat build is just like mine lol. The ER leg assassin
It was so cheap but so satisfying!
Played this one on a Pentium II 450, with a 32 megabyte Diamond V770. Scrounged every penny I had to buy that card.
Oh, that Diamon V770 probably made a huge difference.
I remember there were little soldiers you could tread on, and maim horribly haha it was diabolical
Oh yeah! I wish there was more, but they are only in about 2-3 areas in the game.
I used to play this online , shooting legs was considered taboo and ghey
Maybe in online play, and I get that. People still play this online, believe it or not.
I must say it’s one awesome game. It’s like an adventure. Your like a walking tour of Tranquil. Getting new stuff for you MFB as you fight them Claners. Love it
Thats what I really liked. Its contained storyline meant you didn't need to know a load of lore.
@@KeiNova yep
I remember MW3 beeing buged as h_ll. There was this one mission with this long bridge. I couldn't get past this mission because of bugs. Most of the time your own convoy got stuck or didn't move at all. Other times the AI destroyed the bridge while trying to hit me or simply repeatedly ramed into its pillars with thier mechs. I've even seen a mech walking through the air, after the bridge was destroyed under his feets. And of course more than once the game simply crashed. I put this game to the side and waited for MW4.
The first battletech game i've played :)
Way to start on the top!
Love this game. The bushwacker is a cool mech.
It was cool, but my ultimate goal was to get the MadCat.
Speaking of exploits, don't forget about the one of sitting in water so that heat management is no longer an issue.
That was actually lore-accurate! I just wish that it was actually in other MW games.
This is one of the few games that has gotten multiple full playthroughs out of me.... and yes using the ERPPC + med laser build is one of the most effective ways to run through the campaign.
The heaviest LB-X autocannon loadout manageable on the Annihilator was definitely a great way to wipe out legs or just generally deal damage at close range.... but ammo was definitely an issue that kept me from using it that much, same with the rest of the ballistic weapons. I learned early on that the rest of the crew better be on energy weapon loadout due to ammo and accuracy issues. I don't think they even did well with LRMs...... Most of the time they mostly seemed only really useful to draw fire.
I kind of wished that the LRM+ Targeting Computer had been more effective at taking out cockpits. As it was, legging opponents with energy weapons was really the best way to go.
I also wondered why the ACs had the range drop as the caliber increased.... It made some sense with the LBX canons since they are a shotgun like weapon, but heavier calibers usually carry their momentum further than lighter calibers due to the cube/square effect. A lot more goes into the final range, but we are firing a larger, more effective round out of a similar design gun with caliber being the main defining character, and the useful range doesn't just decrease a little, it tanks the range hard between an AC2 and the AC20 going from 720 all the way down to 270. I would have thought that as long as the round is still being shot fast enough to still deal much larger damage it should still have at least a similar effective range, or at least not this big of a loss.
In the early games energy weapons were really a huge plus. I liked the LB-X but, you are right. Having the weapons, plus ammo, really just was better spent on Energy and Heatsinks that generally made things way more functional overall.
Ii really enjoyed MechWarrior 3. The campaign was pretty fun.
I loved the campaign as well!
@KeiNova I figured out some crazy weapon setups, too. I played online a little too, and that was also fun.
I love this game its just so glitchy. Needs a remaster because it has some really excellent ideas. Mobile field base is really cool and it has a sense of scale, weight and immersion beyond the others.
Mw2 had the atmosphere
Mw3 has the scale and immersion
Mw4 has the game play
I can't wait to play MW4 to see if that's true, I really can't.
@@KeiNova As far as immersion goes it's probably the worst in the series. Buts also the funnest hands down. The campaigns for Mercenaries and Vengeance are my favorite in the series.
This is another game that I only got to experience after its heyday. But it is the most faithful and brutal MechWarrior outing to date. I love MW5, but MW3 was special. And it's the only game that made Targeting Computers actually do something. And that was great. And I loved the differences in mechanics between standard lasers and pulse lasers.
Great job on the video!
Thank you! It means a lot to hear that.
Oh how excruciating it is to see all this leg hunting
Twas the way for some time, my friend
MW3 still a better game then PGI’s MW5.
I haven't had a chance to play MW5, but in several weeks I'll have to see if that is true. It very well could be.
this gmae used to be nearly impossible to run on modern systems.
It took a little work, but I got it. I had to change the threading settings, half refreshing rates, etc for my GPU.
This game came free when I bought the sidewinder joystick for combat flight Sim. This game blew my socks off and all the others still feel inferior.
With the Joystick, I can only imagine it amped up the sim feeling and made it way better.
I loved this game. My only gripe was that a mech instanty died if you blow off a leg. It should have just been extremely crippled like in mw4 and limp around on its stump.
That is interesting, a lot of people hated that that was removed. It's nice to see the opposite opinion.
@@KeiNova It made the entire mech feel way more fragile. Instead of stomping around in a 75 ton walking tank that could shrug off attacks all day, you were walking around on glass legs. It was also unrealistic, if a mech lost a leg, the pilot didnt die, the mech just could walk anymore. I imagine it could still twist its torso and arms and fire. Its the same as a modern day tank losing a track on one side.
Buenos días el Mech 4 fue el que me engancho y en español ya no volvió a repetirse 😂
los otros titulos no estaban en español? Es una vergüenza.
the VO of the intelligence officer, has a part in the intro of Falcon 4.0 as an F-16 pilot too
I saw that. He really has a memorable voice, he should have stuck to it.
I heard him show up in Extreme Ghostbusters as well a few months ago. Playing a professor I think.
The ability to use mouselook to control the targeting reticle without moving torso was a great way to simulate helmet /head tracking targeting. Loved it, and lack of this was imho the worst disappointment in following mechwarrior games.
I have to agree, it's a very much underrated feature that would have made all the games so much better.
Man, I've tried to get this game running on Windows 7/10, but it's such a pain in the ass I always end giving up.
I can set up and play MECH 2 Mercs easily though, and that's DOS game.
If you want, what you have to do is go into your GPU settings and set the program specific settings to turn off multi-threading, set refresh rate to half, and vsync off. Get dgvoodoo and copy over the x86 files. Then run it in compatibility for Windows XP. You'll get full 1080p resolution and 60fps gameplay.
I have a bug with my NVIDIA control panel where it just crashes whenever I try to open it, I've tried this method a while ago and couldn't get to work, might give it another go with my laptop. @@KeiNova
I always thought it was Philip Banks (Uncle Phil) that was giving you orders!
That would have been cool! (RIP)
Great review, I skipped this game and I don’t know why. Probably busy with life. This review was as good as it gets without me playing it.
Well, that is a huge compliment for me! Thank you!
I've played this game for years and I'm just now learning that you can fucking ARC YOUR MISSILES?!?!?!?!?!?! 2:14 What the fuck man.
Yeah! It's a great tactic honestly! You can do it in most of the games. You should give it a shot!
MW3 has the best interface in the series.
It was basic, but certainly understandable.
yeah i remember being a bit dissapointed by this one when it came out,. Use to call it cripplewarrior.
It does lack that atmosphere a bit, doesn't it? I found it right for the time it was released, but the story is way under played
It's mad how modding can make a game run that smooth! Man, I'm not sure i could stick a game that's just escort missions!
Yeah, it took a bit of tweaking to get it running, but when it did - it ran so well!
@@KeiNova Did you share your modding online somewhere?
@@802Garage nah, I don't usually mod anything. I think they just meant how I tweaked the system and GPU to run it.
@@KeiNova Oh yeah, but I mean you should release a guide or settings file or whatever is necessary. :D
@@802Garage Oh, I thought of that a while ago, but I didn't really know how to put it together. Maybe I should consider it. Getting this one to work would be like a short, easily. But thank you for that idea!
Legging highest chance of salvage?!?!?! No head capping is highest chance of salvage. Once you know the head of every unit, there ya go.
Interesting!
@@KeiNova legging is a 50% recovery, Headshotting is 100%. Get the targeting computer to see where you need to shoot. This is one of the few games I have played to mastery…yes I have played a 100% headcapping run.
@@chriseash6497 that is quite the personal accomplishment! Very impressive.
It wasn’t too difficult a game. Oh, there are four MFBs, but you only have three with you max. One of the early missions, when you hook up with your second lance mate you get the fourth.
yeah it took a while, but the voodoo tool is pretty reliable. There is a mod for mw3 and it looks really awesome, but I never could get it to run on my machine.
It's not too bad now, and I keep finding these mods like way after the fact sadly!
@KeiNova yeah it was too bad, it added a lot of equipment like atms and heavy gauss along with some graphical tweaks
This game needs a proper remake. It's super difficult to get running stable.
That is true, but if you do some tweaking - it's possible! Just don't use PCEm or 86Box because they don't run it too well at all.
MW3 looked and played better than MW4....fight me
I won't be fighting you. I happen to agree.
I agree.
Mw4 looks like a cartoon compared to mw3.
Why would I fight someone who's objectively correct
Just as a film nerd, what Malkovich movies have you seen? Interested in the voice actor thing
Con Air, Being John Malkovich, Mulholland Falls, The Man in the Iron Mask, Shadow of the Vampire, Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, Mutand Chronicles, Warm Bodies - off the top of my head and in no particular order? I saw Zoolander 2, but he was in that for like a minute.
@@KeiNova I have seen "Being John Malkovich" and that was one of the most fun, well written movies I've ever seen. He has a very unique voice which I think is enjoyable to listen to in itself. Haven't seen "Hitchhiker's" though which I know is sad
@@ThommyofThenn he only has a bit role in that one, but it was pretty memorable honestly. It's not the best movie, but it's okay.
ah yes mech warrior 3 when the laser colors didnt get switched up yet,that ruined the 4 for me instantly
Good video but I have one small criticism both MW2 and MW3 in my experience were best played with a joystick and keyboard not keyboard and mouse. The X and Y axis were used for turning and aiming height, and if I remember correctly MW3 actually supported using a throttle and the Z Axis for torso twisting on mechs that supported it.
Warning MW5 Tangent Rant:
The fact that there is no actual FCS (Flight Control System) or joystick, or even gamepad support in MW5 or MechWarrior Online despite the fact that to add insult to injury its obvious in the game that you can see the pilot is using an FCS.
MW5 and MechWarrior Online both state in the specs that they support several FCS's but when you dig into the manual they don't! Instead the manual literally says to search online for community created profiles for your HOTAS software (because they didn't create any and they assumed the community will do it for them) or just create profiles your self and then it points you to the manual for your joystick on how to do that, and as it turns out the only way to do that is to make your FCS emulate a keyboard and mouse.
Do you know what a joysticks have always been terrible at?
If you guessed emulating mice you would be correct, emulating a mouse has always been the worst possible thing you can do with a joystick and vice versa because they are fundamentally different in how they intended to operate. The messed up part is the game actually supported game pads with analog sticks for the primary controls that could be workable into a usable HOTAS profile but they don't support that either.
Modern Joysticks and FCS's can have anywhere from 4 to 9 simultaneously usable analog Axis's and an insane number of buttons and 4 or 8 way switches (essentially a dpad on the top of the joystick and possibly multiple on the throttle). I've never understood why FPS games outside of the MW games never adopted using them as a control scheme option because they were so great in MW2 and 3
Being an old school BTech player, MW3 was my favorite until MW5 came out. I severely disliked MW4, even with the better graphics. I liked the true to BTech game customizability of MW3. MW4 made it cookie cutter only x can fit here. MW5 made it a hybrid., you could go with the MW4 version, or go MW3 and get all kinds of crazy. MW5 Clans, is more rigid on the MW4 side, but is still customizable.
I never managed to play through this game. By the time I had a computer powerful enough to run it, things like drivers got in the way and I could never get it to run without ground vehicles bouncing around like fleas on a trampoline (due to the fact that I was using an ATI graphics card).
Needs a remake or at least a steam release including the expansion.
All of the games do, honestly!
It was a good game..
Yes, I said that throughout the whole video.
He also played the Narrator is Star Trek
Which Star Trek?
Mechwarrior 3 is by far the best. Its atmosphere, campaign, visuals and mechanics were amazing.. and especially compared to the very disappointing Mechwarrior 4 which was a downgrade on so many levels.
Whats great about MW3 it featured elementals something pgi is incapable of acomplishing....
So did MW2 Ghost Bear's Legacy and I have to agree!
Hahaha they're so fun and silly.
Weird. I thought I had commented on this video last night (Its about 1:30 AM here). I guess two channels I watch reviewed the game a few hours apart or something. Anyway I love this game. I prefer the next game's story and the period it and its expansions are in. My main issue is the changes in Mech customization. Sure this game didn't include any of my favorite Mechs but it didn't matter because as long as I had a Mech in the right weight class, and the proper parts I could make a custom Mech that was exactly what I wanted to pilot. I usually ran a modded Orion, Avatar, or Timber Wolf. Your build sounds kind of like mine but I go for two ER Large Lasers (The longest range weapons in the game if memory serves), four to six Medium Pulse Lasers, and include some Jump Jets.
Edit: You should like 4. The main game isn't multi planet but there's more feudal political influence in the story. It focuses on a planetary rebellion that is part of a massive civil war across the nation the planet belongs to.
You may have, I had to delete it because of some editing issues I noticed. Thanks for commenting again, though - if I didn't catch your comment before!
I loved mechwarrior 2. I really did not like mechwarrior 3. I love all the mechwarrior 4 games, and mechwarrior online in the first 2 years.
That's pretty interesting. Most loved it more than the vanilla MW4.
I'd be willing to try this game out if it wasn't such a bitch to get working. I guess i'll have to stick to Starsiege for now.
Is Starsiege easy to get going?
@@KeiNova Yep. There's a website you can download it from and it works fine (for the most part).
@@KeiNova Yep, there's a website you can download it from and it runs (mostly) fine out of the box.
May I Request Video about all MW3 weapons?
You mean, like, all Battletech weapons?
@@KeiNovaYes. I just wanna see visual and the audio of this weapons. Since I'am missing a lot and MW IV and V is the only game that I was Played.
The best in series. Every shot has substantial impact, mech moves like heavy but agile creatures. Damage marks on mechs. Even craters after missiles hit the ground.
(But dumb ai and wrong machinegun mechanics)
Yeah, there were a few tradeoffs for its good points. I still think it was a lot more fun than MW4 though.
How do you even get this thing running? MW4 was enough of a struggle.
It was a combination of using PCEm, and a very secretive RAR containing a modded version of the game for modern systems.
Ran it on Windows ME.