From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action


Sure, call me a hypocrit if you want. "Stop depending on nostalgia and
dragging up old IPs from yesteryear for your new games," I cry.
"Create something new instead!" Sure, sure, but c'mon. We're talking
"Heavy Gear" here. I'm a sucker for games with giant robots, and I'm
as vulnerable to nostalgia as the next person!

Originally a tabletop game, "Heavy Gear" made its way to PC (and,
briefly, television) after Activision lost the license to the
Mechwarrior IP. Rather than surrender the market on rompy-stompy
robots, Activision partnered up with DreamPod9 (the tabletop
developers), reworked their "Mechwarrior 2" engine, and shat out
"Heavy Gear" in 1997, only a year after "Mercenaries" released. It was
an okay game, but very much a re-skinned version of "Mechwarrior".
1999's "Heavy Gear II" was a much better game; it boasted a brand new
engine and the 'gears' (the in-game name for the robots) played
differently from the hundred-ton bipedal tanks of Mechwarrior. The
series had finally found its own voice, and was ready to take on the
world

Except... it didn't. "Heavy Gear II" was -other than a short-lived
multiplayer game in 2017- the last we heard from the series on PC (or
console, or mobile for that matter). But no longer, since there's been
recent announcement* that the much-awaited third game is actually in development.

Promisingly, the game is reportedly focused on its single-player
experience, with specific denials of MTX, esports and live service
features. Whether this will actually happen (the allure of all that
money can be hard for a publisher to resist), we'll just have to wait
and see.

Then again, I've been burned by rompy-stompy robot sims before.
"Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries" was disappointing, and "Clans" was a poor
second offering (I did like Paradox's 2018 "Battletech" game). So
maybe I should temper my excitement.

Oh, screw that. Bring on the giant robots!!!!1!!1!






* announcing the announcement here https://www.dp9community.com/gear-up-blog/heavy-gear-iii-pre-emptively-answered-questions
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 7/31/2025 8:17 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Sure, call me a hypocrit if you want. "Stop depending on nostalgia and dragging up old IPs from yesteryear for your new games," I cry.
"Create something new instead!"

How about "Just create good games!!!"
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

* announcing the announcement here >https://www.dp9community.com/gear-up-blog/heavy-gear-iii-pre-emptively-answered-questions

I never played the Heavy Gear games, I wasn't enough of a fan giant
robots to go beyond the MechWarrior games, so wasn't too interested
in this new game, but I have to give them points for not calling the announcement you linked an FAQ.
--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
db //
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

1999's "Heavy Gear II" was a much better game; it boasted a brand new
engine and the 'gears' (the in-game name for the robots) played
differently from the hundred-ton bipedal tanks of Mechwarrior. The
series had finally found its own voice, and was ready to take on the
world

I remember I quite liked Heavy Gear II. Although I remember they at the
time expected you to buy a strategy guide too since the user guide was
kinda lacking on details, like how far does an anti-gear missile fly or
how much damage different weapons do. OTOH, there was some interesting attention to detail, your missiles could target things that were out
range. Similar thing with lasers, range was apparently unlimited in
space.

It was a little buggy too, I remember there was this really long mission
where some boss enemy liked to mouth off over the radio, how he was
going to kill you and blah blah. Then when I finally reached the guy,
instead of an epic boss battle, he was just a loser who'd got his gear
stuck in a wall. I don't remember if I melee'd him to death or what but
a challenge it was not.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Thu, 07 Aug 2025 12:54:28 +0300, Anssi Saari <anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

1999's "Heavy Gear II" was a much better game; it boasted a brand new
engine and the 'gears' (the in-game name for the robots) played
differently from the hundred-ton bipedal tanks of Mechwarrior. The
series had finally found its own voice, and was ready to take on the
world

I remember I quite liked Heavy Gear II. Although I remember they at the
time expected you to buy a strategy guide too since the user guide was
kinda lacking on details, like how far does an anti-gear missile fly or
how much damage different weapons do. OTOH, there was some interesting >attention to detail, your missiles could target things that were out
range. Similar thing with lasers, range was apparently unlimited in
space.

It was a little buggy too, I remember there was this really long mission >where some boss enemy liked to mouth off over the radio, how he was
going to kill you and blah blah. Then when I finally reached the guy,
instead of an epic boss battle, he was just a loser who'd got his gear
stuck in a wall. I don't remember if I melee'd him to death or what but
a challenge it was not.

You remember more details than I do!

I remember I liked the game, and there were some moments that stick
out --the aforementioned fighting-in-space battle, mucking through the
snow, etc.-- but mostly I remember that I enjoyed it, and liked the
depth of its setting. On the other hand, I also recall that it
demanded more familiarity with the setting (either via the tabletop
game or having played the original) because the story didn't fill in a
lot of details.

I also remember trying to play it years and years later, struggling to
get it run on more modern hardware and software. I remember I finally
got the game to start, and then being disappointed by really glitchy
graphics. I've never tried to play it since.

(hence my poor memory ;-)

But I'm still excited about the sequel.


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