MechWarrior 5: Clans PS5 Review. The famous MechWarrior series is back with Piranha Games latest addition: MechWarrior 5: Clans. Not to be confused with the now five-year-old MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, this entry focuses on a more approachable story driven sim-action experience, to pretty great results.
MechWarrior 5: Clans Review (PS5) – A Fresh Story Driven Take on the Revered Franchise
Piranha Games has made a point of preaching to players that no previous MechWarrior experience is necessary to enjoy this new entry so you needn’t worry about catching up before jumping into this great addition to the franchise.
Their new Battle Grid system and much more console friendly controls make this much more accessible for more players. The controls still do take a little time to work out and get used to but it’s a fair trade off for the combat options and flexibility offered to you.
Uncanny Valley 
This entry has a pleasantly surprising narrative-driven story, featuring engaging performances backed up by absolutely gorgeous UE5 cutscenes that had me hooked from the get go. The facial animations are fantastic and added a level of humanness to the characters that had me playing on for the development and political lore.
This is a fresh and welcome addition to the series. MechWarrior titles in the past aren’t known for their story in particular. All the Motion Capture and cut scenes are a far cry away from the small voice acting roles from the past. In comparison to the cut scenes, the in-game visuals are solid enough but at times a little choppy. Some visual bugs and occasional draw distance issues did impact the aesthetic of larger battles from time to time. It did nothing to detract from my overall fun with the game, however.
The physics more than make up for its visual shortcomings however. You really get sense that you’re a four-story high Mech. Trampling vehicles under your feet or smashing pylons and trees looks great. Large buildings are leveled by powerful weaponry which does looks particularly epic at times.
The varying size and weights of the Mechs affect the environment too. Where a smaller one would use a building for cover, a larger Mech can just smash through it as if it isn’t even there. It’s a satisfying addition to the combat depth, and experimenting with the physics to tactically change the battle can be extremely fun.
Experience the Combat in First Person
I’m personally a big fan of the hulking Mech combat on display here. Various builds offer various movement speeds and thrust options but there is no dash or quick control movements. This is more a Mech sim than it is fast paced action game.
The controls initially are rather confusing. I highly recommend taking time to understand the weapon grouping system. Once you’re acclimated you can experiment with your Mech’s weapons in different ways to different effect. Altering weapons to fire in a sequence or to your preferred buttons can really help you master the efficiency of your weapon set.
This is one of the games I think would have most benefited from PS5’s Adaptive Triggers above any other. It’s a shame then that they are absent from Clans. The huge array of weapons and their different feels would have translated well. It would have helped in getting a feel for what weapons you are using at the time in the heat of battle when you’ve set up a complex weapon grouping.
Plan Your Next Move
The battle grid is an interesting mechanic. You are able to direct and take over control of the other Mechs which is neat. The commands are a little limited in range. I occasionally found myself sending comrades to their doom rather than executing the perfect pincer pictured in my mind. It allows for interesting engagements with the enemy once you experiment and get the hang of it though.
Plotting a route in your tac map and instructing your team strategically around the map opens up a lot of ideas for interesting approaches and play. This is something I found myself obsessing over as I toyed with making my ideas a reality on the battlefield.
It was welcome to have so many options to approach a situation freely, without being forced into doing anything a specific way. It caters to your play style nicely and you can approach most encounters as you see fit. There are obviously builds suited to specific play styles though so it’s all about playing with specific parts to create a build you like suited to that approach. I particularly enjoyed the mission variety at times. It really mixes things up a bit. You can go in guns blazing but the option to approach stealthily and avoid conflict was a refreshing change of pace.
Stick to the Shadows
I enjoyed customizing all my builds to be drastically different for each team member so I could approach any situation with a variety of options; be it sending a team mate in equipped for the job, or taking control of the Mech myself as I deemed necessary to tackle what lay ahead. I often switched to a Mech that was closer to death than I was. Keeping them alive and maintaining that extra clan member turned the tides of many a battle I was engaged in.
When you take on enemy Mechs it’s handy to target limbs and weapons to blow off and render them unusable. But be warned, the same thing happens to your own. It adds another layer of tension in fights as losing a major limb can severely affect your combat performance and leaves a far bigger dent in your resources to repair after battle.
Between missions there is what Piranha call the MetaGame. Here is where you customize and buy your Mechs and equipment and where you assign scientists and technicians to research new upgrades and equipment. You can even upgrade the pilots themselves to improve their stats. Each pilot has specific traits that make them more suited to specific play styles.
The Daunting Research Tab
It’s a nice in-between battle break plotting what to research next or just spending all of your hard earned Kerenskys on new equipment. It just takes a little time to adapt to as the volume of options and choice is pretty daunting at first.
If you were coming looking for the Next Armored Core 6 it’s important to note you shouldn’t come into this game prepared to compare. They are totally different in design and execution. MC5:Clans is much slower and more methodical in approaching and engaging situations and it’s executed it in a great way.
I did encounter various performance issues on my time with the game. There were quite a few significant frame drops quite frequently at times. There’s also no graphical options in the settings to perhaps take the edge off performance wise. People who don’t mind playing at 30 FPS may feel it’s a missed opportunity. I also encountered bugs with weapon sounds and, pretty rarely, not seeing projectiles even though they still caused damage. Piranha Games acknowledge and commit to smoothing these issues out in their future patches however.
I am happy to say though that I never encountered any game breaking bugs or complete crashes at all. The bugs I did encounter weren’t enough to detract from the fun I did indeed have while playing.
MechWarrior 5:Clans is a great addition to a well known franchise. Making it more accessible to newcomers with plenty there for hardcore fans alike. Combining fine tuned hulking Mech combat, in depth tactical combat and a surprisingly enthralling story. This entry in the franchise is a must play for old fans of the mech-sim franchise, and I strongly encourage new players intrigued in the genre to give it a go.
MechWarrior 5: Clans review code kindly provided by publisher.