BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception

The Good
Took the entire spectrum of Mechwarrior (the Battletech role-playing game; Battletech is the tactical game of the Battletech universe) and put it into one great, playable rpg. Good storyline, exciting mech battles, mech customizing fun, various ways to earn your living, personel combat, different character classes and some extra secrets (laser rifles remember?) and you've got the makings of one of the first futuristic rpgs for the PC. The Mechwarrior series now focuses only on the 'mech battles, instead of personel combat, vehicular combat, or any role playing whatsoever. Future installments should combine all these genres.

The Bad
Animation was bad, and the final key hunting quest outstayed its welcome by two hours. Starting off with primitive weapons made it hard for the players, and a more balanced opposition (they had guns while you had swords and bows) would ahve made the game more enjoyable.

The Bottom Line
Everything the Mechwarrior series should have been. True Mechwarrior roleplaying.

The Good
There was something about this game. Firstly, it had a good storyline, with characters you cared about. It was set in the Battletech universe, meaning lots of giant-robot-fights, so definitely a plus in my book. :-) Even though there was an ongoing story, you could spend lots of time just exploring & fighting, scavenging other mechs you defeated, then selling the loot to get money and upgrade your own machines. You could then choose to go on with the story whenever you felt ready for it. Nice touches were the humorous bits of text boxes when talking to NPCs in the game. All in all, it was just a lot of fun to play. It was one of my favourite games on the Amiga.

The Bad
The graphics & sound were kind of primitive - for the Amiga, anyway. They were still miles beyond those of the PC version at the time.

The Bottom Line
It was kind of an RPG/adventure hybrid. Gathering experience, building up your skills, earning money in order to upgrade your mech, etc. At the same time there was a fixed story, as you would have in a typical adventure game.