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Infocom's BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge
WARNING! This article contains spoilers. Avert your eyes!
Pacifica, October 3028: Jason Youngblood, son of famed Phoenix Hawk pilot Jeremiah Youngblood, has just received word that Morgan Kell (legendary leader of the famed Kellhounds) has vital information concerning the whereabouts of his father, a prisoner of war in the Draconis Combine (House Kurita). Jason, a MechWarrior trained in the Lyran Commonwealth (House Steiner), intends to land at the Kellhound base and initiate his plans for a rescue mission.
Infocom's BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge sounds like a role-playing game, but is actually more like a tactical-level wargame with six scenarios strung together via a storyline set in the BattleTech universe (designed by FASA for its boardgame and novels). Those who are accustomed to playing the boardgame or slugging it out in miniatures battles using the BattleTech rules should feel right at home with this game. Those who are looking forward to landing on planets, encountering fascinating aliens, discovering unique artifacts and solving puzzles had best stay away. The story does not progress via conversational encounters, exploration or skill enhancement.
Rather, it consists of commanding one's squad of 'mechs (those multi-ton humanoid engines of destruction — inspired by Japanimation like Super Dimension Fortress Macross and Fang of the Sun Dougram — that look like giant robots, but are piloted by a gifted warrior elite) in firefights with differing mixes of opposing 'mechs and combat objectives. These battles alternate with colorful static screens which feature full-screen portraits of men, 'mechs and locations, along with short paragraphs of text that advance the story. Hardcore 'mech pilots can jump over these static screens if they desire, so the primary focus of the game is duplicating the multi-unit actions of the boardgame on the computer monitor.
Take Command
The game begins with a "story so far" overview. Next, the player gets a choice of four 'mechs from a pool of six different machines (a Wasp, Commando, Hermes II, Phoenix Hawk, and a Griffin). To insure flexibility, the player must choose four different types from the six 'mechs available in this pool at the start of the game.
Controls are joystick, keyboard, or mouse-driven using a cursor on the battlefield and menu on the side of the screen. The player uses these controls to direct movement, weapon fire, unit speed and the entire squad's formation. The controls are pretty similar to those utilized in BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception (Inception), but things can get fairly complicated when the player is trying to control up to three 'mechs at a time. In the early versions CGW received, one had to click onto a specific unit (moving the cursor by joystick, keyboard or mouse), and then move to the menu to command the unit. This meant that the command sequence would often be interrupted (slowed down) when the battle got hot and the messages from other 'mechs started to come in fast and furious.
There are some significant differences between BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge (Revenge) and its predecessor (Inception), however. Movement must consist of moving the cursor and clicking on four different "legs" of movement during the turn. In Inception, the player had considerably more control during each phased movement. If one is not careful, particularly in the first scenario, one can move past the target 'mech and miss the shot without realizing it. Second, combat takes place in a real-time setting, unlike the phased movement (preferable to role-players and wargamers) utilized in the first game. Third, since the game does not emphasize the "role-playing" experience of the game, it does not offer the option of allowing the computer to fight for the player which Inception provided. Fourth, Revenge is a linear entertainment in which the protagonist's goals are clearly outlined for him. There is none of the "wasted time" dedicated to discovery and exploration that was required in Inception. The best news is that Revenge has superior VGA graphics and characters that do not look like cheap imitations of Japanime'; is much faster-paced than Inception; and is the kind of game that offers replayability where Inception did not. Revenge also offers some on-screen hints whenever the player fails.
Verify Situation
Just before the action begins in Revenge, Jason Youngblood's ship is strafed by Kurita fighters and, as a result, forced to crash land into a lake, rather than reaching the Kellhound base he was bound for. As Jason, the player finds that two of his available 'mechs have already filled with water and sunk to the bottom of the lake. So, he only has two 'mechs potentially available for his use. While he is still trying to get out of the water, he observes another 'mech who has already been damaged by enemy fire. Jason must help out the damaged Jenner in his battle with a Kurita Locust, because the Kurita 'mech will immediately start firing at Jason's ship, should the Jenner be defeated. Should this occur, the game is quickly and unsuccessfully completed. Thus, the basic challenge of the first scenario is to destroy the Kurita 'mech or cause it to retreat.
Next, one offloads the two 'mechs from the ship and attempts to secure the road to the Kellhound base where are hero originally intended to land. Now, the player controls three 'mechs. Because of the real-time constraints, however, he controls these 'mechs loosely. It is difficult to get all three 'mechs to triangulate on one target because, at least in the unfinished version CGW was experimenting with, the computer tends to "take over" command of those units one is not actively commanding at a given time. Obviously, this has both advantages and disadvantages. With the computer commanding the units, one can be relatively sure that all units stay in the action, but coordination becomes a nightmare. Basically, both the second and third scenarios are essentially "run and gun" road battles to protect the base. The "good guys" chase off a larger force which includes a Whitworth and an APC, among others.
In the third scenario, the small 'mech force faces a much larger force of three Rommel tanks (extremely tough opponents) and a couple of 'mechs. By this time, the player has learned one of the most important lessons of the game, the "good guys" are always outmanned and outgunned. The primary objective of the third scenario is to keep the tanks from crossing the bridge and reaching the base.
The fourth scenario offers a slightly different challenge, an escort mission. There are two essential phases to this scenario. The hero begins in the city and loads two different types of weapons into his cargo carrier in order to deliver them back to the base. One essentially controls two urban 'mechs in a running battle against Kurita infantry, while attempting to protect the delivery at any cost. There is also a random encounter in which the party can be strafed by Kurita fighters. Finally, one has to drive past a 'mech guarding the city gate in order to exit the city.
Unfortunately, the early draft of the documentation does not delineate the functions and characteristics of an urban 'mech, even though the player is required to command two of them in the fourth scenario. This is somewhat analogous to the fact that four of the six 'mechs in the player's starting pool have "jump jet" capacity. Jump jets that would enable the 'mechs to fly behind enemy lines would have been extremely valuable in some scenarios. Nevertheless, the program (at least, in our version) makes no allowances for using them.
The fifth scenario is introduced via a static-screen exposition of a huge party where the hero and his fellow warriors are the guests of the Kellhounds. Here, the hero gets to meet the famous Morgan Kell. He also gets to thank "Grease Anderson," the pilot of the damaged 'mech in the first scenario, for saving his bolts in that scenario. All the 'mechwarriors have a good laugh at the hero's expense, however, because "Grease" turns out to have been a 'tech, not a 'mech pilot. He simply jumped into a 'mech at a crucial time in order to help out. Right after the party, and a good night's rest, Jason comes up with a heroic plan. The Kellhounds help him salvage his two waterlogged 'mechs from the bottom of the lake, so Jason volunteers to breach the Kurita lines and march directly on the bad guys' mobile headquarters. The commander has a better idea (and this means most players will want to save the game here and replay the scenario). The commander orders Youngblood to choose two light 'mechs (Javelins) to flank the Kurita lines. Then, the other 'mechs are to attempt a frontal assault. In this way, one group should be able to get through to the mobile headquarters in fairly decent shape. Players have the choice of commanding either group, so this is not only an interesting scenario, but a double scenario. "Road Run" gives the player a chance to flank the enemy with the light 'mechs and "Gauntlet" gives the heavier units a chance to breach the line and go for the enemy's throat.
As a sideline, however, here is another game universe anomaly. Prior to the fifth scenario, the commander allows Jason to have the missiles which he brought back to the base during the second scenario. However, the program does not allow the player to use these missiles during either the fifth or sixth scenario, simply having the player's on-screen characters radio their commanding officer that they are "saving" the missiles. We originally thought that the game was forcing us to save the missiles until the final scenario, but we couldn't use them there, either. That may be a result of having an incomplete version, however.
Finally, the sixth scenario is the coup de grace. The player can maneuver over a battlefield that scrolls to almost four times the size of the "killing fields" in the other scenarios. In this battle, the player will command whichever damaged and fatigued squad he has led successfully through the fifth scenario.
Should the player be successful in destroying the Kurita mobile headquarters, he returns to Morgan Kell and receives the information he needs to rescue his father. From that point, he can summon the DropShip (with the new F10 function) and get ready for the sequel.
Command Disposition
Although BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge takes a decidedly different direction in terms of game mechanics and appearance than BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception, it would appear that Infocom has made the right decision in creating a game that will offer more appeal to those who play the BattleTech boardgame. Those of us who are more intrigued by the BattleTech novels will probably still enjoy the MechWarrior series more because the simulation aspect treats the 'mech pilots as heroic individuals. In Revenge, the system deals with the 'mechs more as military units.
Frankly, BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge should have a decidedly larger following than Inception because it is truer to the genre. Now, if Infocom was to add a construction set and scenario editor to the mix, they would have a megahit on their hands.
This article appeared in
Computer Gaming World
Nov 1990
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