# Have a hankering to play some MechWarrior type games - what should I play? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 27, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-hankering-to-play-some-mechwarrior-type-games-what-should-i-play/548151 "2010-07-27T03:53:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-hankering-to-play-some-mechwarrior-type-games-what-should-i-play/548151/1 "2010-07-27T03:53:42Z")
So, recently I’ve gotten on a big MechWarrior kick, which is funny cause I’ve never played a MechWarrior game except for the MW4 demo back in 2002. Big fan of the BattleTech cartoon though. Anyhow, I’ve got a Windows XP machine on a quad-core machine, bought it a few years ago. Wondering what some good games are to get a hold of to get my mech fix? ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-hankering-to-play-some-mechwarrior-type-games-what-should-i-play/548151/2 "2010-07-27T04:10:27Z")
There is a good mech mod for Crysis called MechWarrior: Living Legends. If you don’t have Crysis, it’s on sale on Steam all the time and not really that expensive the other times. Also, the actual MW4 was released as freeware a few months back. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-hankering-to-play-some-mechwarrior-type-games-what-should-i-play/548151/3 "2010-07-27T05:13:10Z")
Yup, you’re in luck, Mechwarrior 4 was just re-released, free gratis. It’s one of the best of the series, too, as it streamlines quite a bit of the most obscure elements of the previous games without falling into pure FPSery. In fact, I’d recommend playing it with a joystick rather than a mouse. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-hankering-to-play-some-mechwarrior-type-games-what-should-i-play/548151/4 "2010-07-28T02:01:25Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Yup, you’re in luck, Mechwarrior 4 was just re-released, free gratis. > It’s one of the best of the series, too, as it streamlines quite a bit of the most obscure elements of the previous games without falling into pure FPSery. In fact, I’d recommend playing it with a joystick rather than a mouse. Oooh, cool, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-hankering-to-play-some-mechwarrior-type-games-what-should-i-play/548151/5 "2010-07-28T17:37:02Z")
Did MW4 get the buggs worked out? I downloaded it but kept getting asked for the CD key. Never could find out how to get around that. ---
**Author:** ![bleach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bleach/32/3106_2.png) [@bleach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleach)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-hankering-to-play-some-mechwarrior-type-games-what-should-i-play/548151/6 "2010-07-28T22:51:17Z")
**zoid** I believe they did. There was a problem when one of their releases but I think it’s fixed now. I had no trouble getting it up and running. The software for downloading and patching isn’t great but if one is patient enough, you’ll eventually download it. It’s a 100% volunteer / fan effort. [Free Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries](http://www.mektek.net/index.php?pid=13). They’ve deployed it by (free, 100% legal) torrent and so that’s a great alternative to using MekTek. Internet play is free and works. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-hankering-to-play-some-mechwarrior-type-games-what-should-i-play/548151/7 "2010-07-30T00:46:16Z")
> [@bleach](#): > > **zoid** I believe they did. There was a problem when one of their releases but I think it’s fixed now. I had no trouble getting it up and running. The software for downloading and patching isn’t great but if one is patient enough, you’ll eventually download it. It’s a 100% volunteer / fan effort. > > [Free Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries](http://www.mektek.net/index.php?pid=13). They’ve deployed it by (free, 100% legal) torrent and so that’s a great alternative to using MekTek. > > Internet play is free and works. Is it only Mercenaries that’s available online? Like, if I wanted to play Vengence, am I still gonna be making my way over to eBay? ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-hankering-to-play-some-mechwarrior-type-games-what-should-i-play/548151/8 "2010-07-30T08:37:02Z")
If you want squad level Mechs, [MechCommander 1-3](http://www.mechcommander.org/) (although some say 1, Expansion and 2) are all available on the public domain.