After seeing the game-play and trailers for Hawken, I can't help but feel that it's closer to the look and feel of the live-action movies shown in Mech-warrior. The mechs seem more fluid, the combat more rich, and the art style amazing. I also feel the game-play looks stronger.

Anyone signed up for this? looking forward to it?

Nope. When I want fast fluid futuristic gameplay, I'll play Tribes. I want Mechs, not Gears.

The MWO Game-Play right now looks closer to UT than to MW to be honest . .

To me, what's fascinating about mech-warrior online is the customization, but honestly the game-play didn't look at all inspired, and it sounds like hawken had that same customization. I didn't see battle damage on the screen, I didn't see much effect, the weapons didn't seem to have much impact.

I felt like it could have gone farther and honestly even then the mech's seemed sluggish. I saw the movie for hawken, the torso swivel, the look of the mechs, dirty and grimey, looked a lot closer to what I loved in Mech Commander. Also the game-play seemed more inspired that, Death Match.

BattleMech movement, in the BT Fiction, is, actually, pretty close to what Anime Style Mecha can do . .
But gameplay wise, and in the BT TV Series, they have always been closer to Tanks in Terms of Movement, than anything else.
Big, lumbering, sluggish, getting even more so with raising Heat Levels. The MWO Mechs look a lot more nimbe in both Movement-Speed and passable Terrain and changes in Movement Direction and Torso-Swivel. Technically, this is a bit closer to the Fiction and especially the canon REASON for ther being Mechs. Being able to pass over/through difficult Terrain much easier than anything on Wheels, Tracks and Hover-Craft.
But, on the other Hand, it seems to play NOTHING like ANY of the older MW Titles . .

Technically, WOT like Movement is more what the older MW Players will be expecting.

Yeah... I always viewed mechs as only as powerful when you take advantage of their capabilities, tanks are still ground based, have to deal with terrain, can't have jump-jets and generally can't do things like quickly pop over a hill, fire off a full barrage and duck back behind.

In watching Mech warrior online there was some of that, but I felt that the mechs didn't move enough, or seem live enough. The Atlas was always a primary offender in this, the only moving part was always the legs so it seemed like a giant slab attached to legs firing weapons. Weapon hits didn't seem to cause any movement to the body and that annoyed me. I feel like mech combat should be jarring, I feel like a raven should dash about, swivel to get shots off and be able to dash and scoot out of sight or into blind-spots to survive.

Bigger mechs should have modifiers to jarring effects while lighter ones getting hit will lose accuracy when concussive blasts hit.

May just be me but I saw all of this in hawken, which was why I liked it a lot.

We will have to wait and see how it actually plays out(heh).
Also: There is, at least, one Canon Tank that has Jumpjets in CBT. Kanga Hover-Tank with Jump-Jets.

Furthermore, TANKS are in CBT only a weak Unit, because of the crazy random Hit Stuff they suffer from.
Else, they carry, Ton for Ton, both more Weapons and Armor than any Mech of similar Weight and have much less vulnerable Parts.
For starters, there is no Cockpit on the Tank, so a Cockpit-Hit will not kill the Pilot and basically make it free Salvage.

As for the Atlas: That one is SUPPOSED to look and Handle like a Wall of Steel with Legs under it.
The great General Aleksandr Kerenksy himself ordered the Mech to be built as big, tall, strong, tough and ugly as possible, so that Fear itself would be it's ally. And they succeeded in that. A good Atlas Pilot in a good Atlas can, technically, take on an entire Company (12 Mechs) of Light Mechs. And a Lance(4 Mechs) of Medium Mechs.

The Kanga *had* jumpjets. Even the original TRO entry mentions it being an idiotic idea and the jets being removed for parts.

(Personally, I loved the idea.)

See and that's what bothers me, to me I always felt that when an atlas hits the field like that, what should happen is the light mechs set the pilot up on unstable ground, then literally throw their armored hulls at him and knock the beast over while everyone pumps their fire-power into the vulnerable parts it needs to stand back up. It's still only a humanoid form and can be toppled.

Now do I think that could happen with a supported atlas? Probably not.

But again, I always viewed mechs as being more lively, else they defeat their own purpose.

As for tanks with jump jets, remember, super heavy tanks do not have jump jets and can be a serious threat to a mech. Most of the hover tanks tended to be lighter varients if I recall, and hover tanks also remove the vulnerabilities heavy tanks have with movement, positioning, and track weakness.

Hover-Tanks are up to 50t maximum Weight, if i remember correctly.
Hover-Tanks can not go into Woods either, while tracked and wheeled can do that just fine i think.

Light Mechs ain't supposed to do much fighting AT ALL in CBT usually. There are some exceptions, but usually, what little Weaponry they do possess is only there to give them a meager Means of defending them while trying to run away as fast as possible after having found a Target for the heavier Mechs.

An Atlas hits the Field, in the old Time, entire Companies Movement changed solely based on that. Some might draw back for fear of being ripped to Pieces, some might advance to take it out fast before it could rip too much to Pieces.

The Time shortly before the Clan Invasion though, the Atlas was not the much of a Danger anymore usually.
The Stalker, while 18 tons lighter, has more Fire-Power and a better Bracketing of the Weapon-Systems for example.
The 80t Awesome could punch an Atlas to Slag at Reaches the Atlas could not hit back at.

Suppose it all depends on the pilots also. I always felt in some of the canon stories the amazing pilots were always mercs or ace elites, and they pulled off stuff most pilots were like "You can't do that in a mech".

I completely agree on the light mechs comments.

I think when I saw the initial trailer for Mech Commander was the exact depiction of what I view mechs as. A varied cast of lighter mechs (including a hunch back) vs a madcat (high fire power heavy clan mech).

The Raven picked up the madcat on its sensors, couldn't identify it for what it was in the industrial complex. The overzealous hunchback pilot approached with the lighter mechs on the outskirts, the raven pilot identified it in time for the hunchback to catch a full barrage from downfield in the face and nearly turned into slag before ejecting. The mech sagged after being hit, nearly falling backwards then slumped forward onto the ground and exploded after the pilot ejected.

The raven snuck up behind it and hit it with a pair of lazers and a set of missiles (listening to his commander but telling himself "WHY AM I DOING THIS!"). Then turned tail (literally spinning on one foot sparks and all) and ran full speed taking sharp turns and taking fire but leading the beast to turn it's back on the other lighter mechs preparing to fire full barrages down a lane (lrms, srms, lazers, and an autocannon if I recall). The Madcat turns the corner, prepares to annihilate the raven pilot who is shitting bricks, the barrage lands squarely in the rear armor and the behemoth turns around in time to catch a second set of SRM's in the rear from the damaged raven putting his engine core into the red and causing it to slump and explode.

The key iconic things that caught me though was that even lumbering mechs had a certain gate to their walk, they were quick and responsive, not sluggish, and were prone to imbalance, falling. The pilots were in their cockpits felt the movement of the mechs, and the hits of weapons, and to me that was rarely captured.

To me this was the epitome of mech warrior

a bit sad that no game really impemented the skidding problem <.<
in MW4 you fell over if you had taken enough damage while running or jumping, but not from trying high speed turns on roads or snow . .

And yes, the MechCommander 2 Intro was one of the best.
MW3 Intro was pretty close to how i imagine Mechs . .

The best mech game was, of course, Phantom Crash, so I'm hoping Hawken is basically that. SLAI was okay, but somehow not as viscerally satisfying as the original.

i'll be dead honest:
sometimes i which mechwarrior had tanked and the earth siege series had risen like the MechWarrior Series . .

Don't make me find my Cyberstorm discs.

Yeah, I played phantom crash. I've been goofing off in blacklight retribution and I feel that the way the mechs jump on their wheels is similar. I was always a big fan of front mission also.

I remember seeing that and thinking they made a Battletech Board Game on the PC.

They did.
It's called MegaMek.
And an offical one, called MW-Tactics too.

Cyberstorm came out in 96. I was 12. Megamek didn't even start coding until six years later in 2002.

The best mech action title, sure. The best simulator title goes to Steel Battalion. Hands down. (Also, I give props to Gundam Side Story 0079 on the Dreamcast. A good, first person Gundam game).

That's what I meant, of course. 'Simulator'? Ugh.

Both Hawken AND MWO will actually get their own Steel Bataillon Style Controller it seems.

I have not bought a joystick since the days of wing-commander and janes sims. I will buy this controller.

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.max...X2WNrRr1BDxxvRg

The one with the screen is the MWO Controller.
I'll probably use the Hawken-Controller too.

Absolutely, that Hawken controller gives me naughty thoughts.

That's not just a controller baby, that's my joystick!

Do tell XD