MechWarrior 2: Expansion Pack -- Ghost Bear's Legacy

• Platform: IBM PC Compatible
• Release Date: 1996
• Genre: Simulation
• Style: Giant Robot Sim
• Similar Games: MechWarrior 2 (Macintosh), MechWarrior 2 (IBM PC Compatible), MechWarrior 2 (PlayStation), MechWarrior 2 (Sega Saturn)

Game Description

After the Clan Refusal War decimated the forces of both Clan Jade Falcon and Clan Wolf, Clan Ghost Bear remains as the most powerful of Clans. But a terrible crime has been committed. Someone has stolen the stored genetic material of the Clan's founders, the very legacy of Clan Ghost Bear. You must conduct a series of raids to find out who was responsible for this crime and then punish them severely while recovering the genetic materials.

MechWarrior 2: Expansion Pack - Ghost Bear's Legacy is an expansion for the original MechWarrior 2. You begin as a Clan Ghost Bear cadet, partaking in a series of missions leading to the recovery of Clan Ghost Bear's genetic legacy, and must complete the mission objectives in each level successfully to advance. If you cannot complete the mission objectives or are destroyed, the mission is considered a failure.

The game remains faithful to the original MechWarrior 2, giving players the opportunity to pilot a range of mechs while viewing the game's 3D world from a first person perspective. Several new mechs and equipment types have been added to MechWarrior 2's roster for this game. In addition to the standard locales found in the original MechWarrior 2, the game adds in several missions with unique arctic, underwater and outer space environments.

MechWarrior 2: Expansion Pack - Ghost Bear's Legacy uses a unique difficulty determining system. In the first mission, you fight against an endless stream of opposing mechs. The game then tailors its difficulty depending on the number of mechs you destroy before your own destruction.

Review: Overall

After the enormous success that MechWarrior 2 generated, Activision wanted to reap more rewards while it still had the license. MechWarrior 2: Expansion Pack -- Ghost Bear's Legacy is the first product to come out of this motivation and is an add-on for the original MechWarrior 2. The game gives you a chance to see things through the eyes of Clan Ghost Bear, one of the Clans not touched on in the original release.

The graphics are basically the same as what you've come to expect from MechWarrior 2. In other words, you get beautiful software-rendered 3D terrain in which you can see for quite a distance, populated by complex 3D models with texture mapping for mechs. The mech animations look fluid and quite realistic and the game moves along while maintaining a very smooth frame rate. But the expansion adds in some new terrain such as underwater maps and the exterior hull of a spaceship. These stages are done with at least as much quality as the more traditional stages, if not more. MechWarrior 2: Expansion Pack -- Ghost Bear's Legacy's sound and music are also what you would expect after MechWarrior 2, with some nicely done atmospheric tracks accompanying gameplay.

Gameplay is faithful to what you're used to in MechWarrior 2 and you get more equipment. To go along with the space and underwater battles, you have access to several new mechs and a range of new gear. These elements do add to the MechWarrior 2 world but don't differ significantly from what's already there. The missions are quite interesting, though, giving you a chance to try infiltration and reconnaissance or static ship defense. Overall, the expansion is very enjoyable to play and is a fairly good addition to MechWarrior 2 -- but it could have added a lot more.

The game only has twelve new missions; to make up for that, the difficulty has been ramped up considerably. Even veteran MechWarrior 2 players who can blast through all the original game missions with ease will have some difficulty with this dozen. You can get around that, however, by simply doing poorly in the first mission. Why? Because MechWarrior 2: Expansion Pack -- Ghost Bear's Legacy uses one of the most innovative systems for determining difficulty that you'll ever come across.

Your first mission is to actually face off against a seemingly endless stream of mechs, one after the other. The game states the purpose is to determine your rank but, in reality, it's adjusting the ferocity of its AI and the difficulty of the subsequent missions based on how you perform in this mission. Determining a player's attributes in the game itself instead of asking blunt questions is a great way of doing things. Unfortunately, many developers don't want to put time and effort into something like that.

MechWarrior 2: Expansion Pack -- Ghost Bear's Legacy is a fine supplement and gives you more of MechWarrior 2's great gameplay while adding some interesting new equipment and locales. For that reason alone, if you enjoyed MechWarrior 2 then this expansion is a must have. After playing it, though, you're left with the impression that Activision missed out on their chance to make a truly great add-on.

Review: Enjoyment

The game benefits from having several new mechs and weapons added to MechWarrior 2's great gameplay.

Review: Graphics

The same great graphics in MechWarrior 2 make a return appearance, this time complementing new outer space and underwater stages.

Review: Sound

The music is basically the same as that offered by MechWarrior 2 with great atmospheric tracks and some nice sound effects.

Review: Replay Value

Although you'll be playing for quite a while to finish the missions due to the difficulty level, 12 missions isn't a lot.

Review: Documentation

Unfortunately, this expansion continues {*MechWarrior 2}'s legacy of providing skimpy manuals.

Production Credits