Successful outings yield cash for the player's squad, and he can use this to acquire new pilots and mechs on the free market. It's also rewarding for the player to learn from experience, reconfiguring his team's mechs to win a mission he previously failed. It's like managing a fight between two boxers - it's exciting to go toe-to-toe with heavy mechs, trading blows, using maneuverability and terrain to make the opponent miss, and surviving tough odds with your team intact. It's the same formula that worked for previous MechWarrior games - and it still works. Sprinkling in a few gladiator missions adds some variety, but except for a few recon and escort missions, Mercenaries is still about beating up the other guy's mechs in circle-strafing slugfests. Players can ignore the story too, just picking whatever mission suits them. There's a bit of a background story if players are inclined to read the news text between missions, and it leads to a choice players will have to make to ultimately choose sides for some of their assignments.
It can also involve being a professional athlete in the mech gladiator circuit. Work in the Mercenaries galaxy means being the hired gun for one of the warring factions in a civil war (Steiner or Davion) or a smattering of neutral parties. They receive some semblance of open-ended, or at least branching, gameplay by getting to choose their destinations.
Players open the game with a small squad of teammates and mechs and travel to worlds where there are available contracts to work. Like MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries, it uses money as the motivation to fight. MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries' mission-based play veers little from the path of its ancestors.
Microsoft's MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries does exactly what it wanted to do, does it competently, and in satisfying (albeit unspectacular) fashion. And, most MechWarrior fans probably love it this way. The graphics keep getting better, but the battles between giant robots are the same, challenging players to build huge walking tanks with the right balance of maneuverability, firepower, and heat tolerance necessary to defeat their opponents. The MechWarrior games haven't changed much in their several forays through computer game history. Players can also track the success of different Clans, even to join forces with their favorites through the Zone. New multiplayer game options include the ability to restrict teams according to the amount of money they've earned. The multiplayer component allows up to sixteen players to compete on nineteen different maps, in solo or team play. Over time, players can recruit and outfit a secondary lance and venture into battle with eight Mech units under their control. Contests are organized by weight class (such as light, heavy and assault) and each battle takes place in one of three arenas: The Factory, Jungle, or Coliseum. Away from the battlefield players are free to journey to Solaris VII, a world in which Mech combat is a gladiatorial sport, where skilled warriors can make a lot of money very quickly. Prestige is also important, as partially determines what future missions will be available. Between missions, players need to perform basic management duties, not the least of which is weighing the costs and benefits of embarking on particular missions. Participating in and successfully completing missions brings rewards of money, salvage, and prestige, all of which become very useful during your campaign. Spanning ten planets and more than 50 missions, players will have to carefully manage all available resources while still trying to turn a profit. Each sponsor brings specific benefits, such as higher levels of technology, better pay rates, and earlier access to certain weapons. After gaining a sponsor from the likes of Wolf's Dragoons, Gray Death Legion, Kell Hounds, or Northwind Highlanders you're free to manage your own destiny, deciding what missions you accept, the supplies and resources you purchase, the pilots you hire, and more. As the leader of newly authorized mercenary company your role is quite simply to satisfy the sudden demand for your "expertise," as well as to satiate your thirst for the almighty C-Bill. MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries picks up with the Inner Sphere embroiled in a civil war between the Federated Commonwealth and the Lyran Alliance. Money makes the world go around, and such is still the case in the year 3063.