Mech Commander 1 & 2 are part of the Battletech universe set in the future, in which ground combat is dominated by Mech's - massive 100 ton mechanized machines piloted by Mech Warriors. In the Mech Warrior Series you get to pilot these mech's, in Mech Commander you get to commander a small selection of Mech's to complete the objective or objectives given to you. (i.e. its a strategy game!)

The difference with Mech Commander to any other strategy game is (apart from the fact that most strategy games involve base building which MC doesn't), is the level of strategy involved. You choose the mech's you want to send into battle for that particular mission, you then select the weapons that you want on that Mech and also the pilot that you want. Once in the battlefield you do not have simple health meters, you have a mini "diagram" of the Mech and which parts are damaged. If a part is damaged too much it will be destroyed and depending upon the part destroyed the Mech will be severely impaired, i.e. if the part is a leg then it will limp, or if it is a arm any weapons on the arm will be destroyed. Of course if a vital component is destroyed (like the head or both legs) the whole Mech is inoperable and the pilot will (if he can) eject). 

Once the mission is over you have the option of salvaging repairable mech's that you destroyed in the mission to add to your collection of mech's that you can choose from at the start of the next missions, additionally any weapons or pilots lost in the mission are then un-usable. This means that there is a greater emphasis on not only doing the mission, but doing it with none of your important bits missing and as may new parts as possible! 

The two games vary slightly in interface, Mech Commander 1 is 2D and Mech Commander 2 is 3D, however the strategy behind it is fairly similar. In both you have sensors, which are able to detect enemy mech's and vehicles beyond line of sight, and you also have line of sight, however in Mech commander 1, you start off with none of the map revealed , but as soon as you go into sight of and area you can see what is there for the duration of the game, whereas in Mech commander 2 the entire map is "revealed" (you can see the terrain) but no enemy units are displayed until you are in line of sight or in sensor range, this does of course mean that even if you have been in line of sight of one place previously in the game, but have since moved away, you will no longer have any information on enemy units that are in that location. 

If you want to find out more about how the game works either buy it get the demo or look on some reviews! One thing that I will say is that as Mech Commander 2 is 3D as opposed to 2D it is very different to Mech Commander 1 (not necessarily better in some cases). I like to treat them as two very different games, Mech Commander 2 is definitely not just a new version of the original (like descent 2 is a re-vamped descent 1) If you have tried Mech Commander 2 but don't like it them have a look at Mech Commander 1, its very different (and visa versa). 

About the site

Just a quick note... I am trying to get as much stuff on here as possible and still make it make sense and all work. If you see anything that doesn't work (i.e. broken links / pictures) they SHOULDN'T be like that! Tell me so I can fix 'em! It annoys me so much when I go on a site that has a little cross instead of a picture!

At the moment I only have a MC1 and MC2 and not MCG, consequently I dont know much about MechCommander Gold. I do know however that MechCommander Gold is only a slightly Re-Vamped version of the original with some slight additions.

• MechCommander Gold includes a Map Editor - this allow you to create (I think) Multiplayer and Singleplayer Maps.
• MechCommander Gold includes some new Mechs
• MechCommander Gold also includes some new additions to the interface - including an incredibly handy conserve ammo attack where your mechs only fire with energy weapons. 
• MechCommander Gold I think also includes some new missions (although i'm not sure on this)

As soon as I get a copy of MechCommander Gold you will probably see a couple of new MechCommander 1 Mini-Sections pop up, MechCommander Original only, and MechCommander Gold only. 

Related Links

Mech Commander (1+2) Reviews

Mech Commander 1 Official Downloads (the demo) - Apparently no longer available.

Mech Commander 2 Official Downloads (the demo) (and click on the MC2 logo and go to Downloads, there are also some movies here)