Review by: Nate

Wooo-hooo!!! That's what I was saying after playing this game! If you doubt the power of the Saturn please pop-in this highly underrated gem of a game. The graphics/sound effects/control/gameplay are superb. This is what all next-generation games should strive to be.

Graphics: 9.5 out of 10 -

Everything from the opening FMV (which, even if you hate FMV you gotta love this!) to the detail put forth on the AWGS (basically Mechs), tanks, helicopters, buildings etc. What really tripped me out is the levels where because of conditions you have to put on your night-vision and how the screen reflects this to make you feel like you're really looking through night-vision and you can see enemies that have been standing right in your face that you might not have seen before. The graphics are so detailed, you can see LARGE enemy AWGS guns rotating and blazing as they attempt to annihilate you. These are high-quality graphics, not pixely Doom-type stuff. There's nothing like seeing an enemy AWG running for his life and you zooming in on him like a lineman rushing in on a quarterback, only to take him out. These graphics are sure to leave you in a state of euphoria and raise the standards of what you look forward to on a next-generation console, they're that tight.

Sound: 9.5 out of 10 -

The sound is dead-on! The way at the beginning of some missions, you here your allies being taken out and screaming over their radios is haunting. The explosions sound great on a stereo, the humming of your HIGH-MAC as you cruise or hover on the landscape, the sound of metal to metal if you haven't gotten the controls down yet, and embarassingly run into an enemy AWG, and everything else I haven't mentioned should make a believer out of those who doubt the Saturn's raw sound-processing power. The music also fits excellently. The music on the screens which show you your mission goals, makes you feel intense and readies you for the game. And the real grabber is the music during the missions. Especially the mission in the Ukraine where you have to use your night-vision. It is really creepy and seems to change and climax right as an enemy AWG or helicopter turns the corner. To sum it up, with a few exceptions, rarely has sound/music ever been so apply applied to a next-generation game.

Gameplay/Control 8.0 for begginers, 9.5 for advanced players

Why the different scores? Well for begginers the control can be a little frustrating to get used too. I can't count how many times I meant to go backwards and instead accidentally changed weapons, or hovered. It's not that the control is bad, it's just that their are so many things to do. But once you get the hang of it, and actually remember which button is for what, you learn the value of using every button on the controller for a different function, it works very well. And once you get the control down, the gameplay follows right along, which means now that you have learned how to use the awesome abilities of your HIGH-MAC you can do amazing, not to mention just plain fun things while blowing away the enemies. (Which by the way is the basic purpose of the game.) To add to the already fun gameplay, you actually have buddies that, even though, are kinda lame, can help you accomplish some of your mission objectives before they get smoked.

Overall: 9.5 out of 10

This game is one of the best games available for any next-generation console, N64 included. It might sound like an exaggeration, but it's not. (I must admit that I might be affected for my pre-disposition to Mech-type games though) Well why not a 10 out of 10? Well, in my book, if it doesn't support two players, a game can rarely get a 10 from me. Dang, if only it was Net-Linkable, I would have to set up a shrine to Sega, but it's not. Well you can't have everything, although this game comes awfully close! Sega/Game Ars keep up the good work, and if Mechwarrior or even Virtual On are anything like this, they will have to be some of the best games ever.