The original MechAssault® has a deserved reputation as a killer multiplayer game, but it also has a fine single-player campaign which should not be overlooked. MechAssault® 2: Lone Wolf builds on the original game's rich story, while drawing you even deeper into the layers of intrigue and treachery.
The BattleTech franchise has been around for two decades now, and the timeline spans about 1,000 years of "future history" … fertile ground indeed for new tales of fusion-powered bravado.
The MechAssault Story to Date In the first MechAssault, you played the role of a 'Mech pilot in the famous Wolf's Dragoons mercenary company. What seemed like a typical anti-pirate operation on the planet Helios instead turned out to be a tussle with the "Word of Blake," a radical offshoot of the respected technology conservancy ComStar.
Join up with the mercs of Wolf's Dragoons.
The Word of Blake felt that the best way to carry out ComStar's task of preventing a new Dark Age would be to conquer human civilization and rule the Inner Sphere as a benevolent dictatorship. Naturally, ComStar leadership knew they needed to crush this dangerous rogue faction, and they engineered the conflict between the Word and Wolf's Dragoons, which comprised the first MechAssault single-player campaign.
Though these battles were small in the scope of Inner Sphere military history, the outcome was nonetheless of galactic importance. When the dust finally settled, the Word of Blake was defeated, and the Dragoons gained possession of some of the most advanced military technology: the wreck of the prototype Ragnarok BattleMech and a precious data core created by ComStar's founder, the engineering genius Jerome Blake.
Back in the Saddle In MechAssault 2, the player will reprise the role of the nameless MechWarrior and take up arms once again as a member of Wolf's Dragoons. The story starts on the Outworld Alliance planet, Dante, where the player works with Major Natalia and Lieutenant Foster to tease secrets from the salvaged data core. The rest of the Dragoons are on assignment elsewhere, guarding ComStar installations.
The data core—one of five said to be scattered across the galaxy by Blake himself—is not yielding its secrets easily. Still, the clever Lt. Foster has learned enough from it to create prototype Battle Armor, a revolutionary infantry force amplifier. Featuring a pulse laser, mortar, jump jets, and a vicious multipurpose claw, Battle Armor is a MechWarrior's best friend outside the cockpit of a 'Mech. When an unknown enemy begins to invade Dante, the prototype leaves Foster's workshop for a real field test!
Anonymous raiders enter orbit around Dante.
It soon becomes clear that the mysterious foe that invaded Dante has launched other attacks throughout the Inner Sphere, attempting to simultaneously topple the five Great Houses. After making it off of the world, the Dragoons will come to the aid of House Kurita, and soon thereafter, they'll learn the identity of the nameless invaders and their connection to the events of the firstMechAssault.
The new single-player campaign will force you to master everything in the MechWarrior's arsenal, from the Rommel tank to Battle Armor, the 'Mechs, the Valkyrie VTOL, and even a variety of turrets—including one that fires missiles which you steer through a video screen! Missions include a mix of objectives including classics like escort, defense, and good-old assault.
Along the way, you'll receive constant updates from Major Natalia and Company techie Lt. Foster. Their radio communications and the in-engine cutscenes between missions will advance the story and keep your goals clear at all times. Nav markers in your HUD will also help you get around the battlefield.
Time to try out the prototype BattleArmor.
Final Words In MechAssault 2, Day 1 Studios has created not only a multiplayer classic, but an extremely compelling single-player experience. Don't miss your chance to save the galaxy—your friends on Xbox Live™ will understand if you are AWOL once in a while!
