It's not really possible to fail, since if you don't complete a mission you just restart, so you don't have to worry about destroyed mechs or mounting cycle costs. While the campaign might appear to be dynamically generated, it's really a scripted (albeit branching) campaign in which your choices early on affect the ones that become available later. The new coliseum maps are part of a nice gladiator-like system. The uneven cutscenes in Vengeance have been replaced by decent, if campy, voice-overs, although the voice work gets tiresome if you have to repeat the missions too often.
#Mechwarrior 4 mercenaries full
You'll eventually get the chance to lead two full lances of mechs (but only when the game specifically lets you, not simply when you can afford it) and keep track of your standing with House Steiner and House Davion. There are maintenance costs to be paid in each cycle, so initially you'll have to stay on a single world to avoid paying fees due to time spent in hyperspace. You jump around the galaxy, visiting various worlds and completing missions, which eventually opens up new worlds with new missions. In the single-player campaign, you play as a mercenary leader. Some of the weapons have been rebalanced, but for the most part, it's the familiar MechWarrior 4 gameplay. It's fully compatible with the Inner Sphere and Clan Mech Pak expansions, so you don't lose any functionality by upgrading.
#Mechwarrior 4 mercenaries update
Mercenaries is essentially a stand-alone update to 2000's MechWarrior 4: Vengeance. The branching campaign lets you choose your missions on a planet. It's as polished as the rest of the Microsoft-published games in this franchise, and while it doesn't have the same impact that the original MechWarrior 4 had two years ago, it's still a very good game.
Both covered essentially the same ground, but unlike the 1996 game, MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries version works beautifully right out of the box. Aside from the numerical designation, MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries shares its name with a product released as part of the MechWarrior 2 line. The MechWarrior franchise has now been around so long that it's running out of names.