Mechwarrior 5: Clans - Ghost Bear Flash Storm Review (l33tn3ss_17)
For context, I have 100%ed the DLC and completed a run of the campaign on Trueborn difficulty. It took me about 12 hours to beat the campaign and 16 hours to get all the achievements from this DLC.
I also want to ask PGI where DLC 7 is for Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries, that game has much better replay value than Clans does.
Mechwarrior 5 Clans: Ghost Bear Flash Storm has many good things going for it, but also sadly has serious deficiencies that leave it as a middling DLC in terms of both value for money and replayablity.
To start out with the good, it is 100% lore accurate and has had no major changes to canon in making this DLC. Like the base game, I praise the authenticity of the setting and the quality of the cinematics and story. The new mechs are very well done, and I loved using the Kodiak with 8 Medium Pulse Lasers and an Ultra AC20. Laser boats are still king, even after balancing, so keep that in mind if you were expecting more use out of the other weapon types. It is canon-friendly. This should be so, as in lore, the Ghost Bears changed to energy weapons where possible to help their supply lines. The story is very well done, and I praise PGI for their work in this area.
The new achievements give you something to work towards as well. The 5 Firemoth one was especially tough to pull off, but was a worthwhile challenge. I hope any future DLCs also get achievements, as the MW5: Mercenaries DLCs did not get any.
The game runs much better than it did on launch. I finished the DLC post Hotfix 1, with the devs saying more patches are en route next week. That being said, it is still stutter city in some parts, with city maps and maps with lots of foliage being the worst. I know UE5 is pretty terrible performance-wise in AAA games, but there has been some improvement in that area. The performance on the Steam Deck is still below 30 fps, though, so if you are buying this game to play on there, it won't run well. More work is needed in this area.
For the not-so-good, the DLC costs 25.99 CAD and has very limited replay value once you have beaten it. You only have 12 missions, which last 12 hours or so. Another friend of mine also bought this DLC and got about 12 hours out of it as well. For my money, I expect more than this, and think that we should have gotten around 20 missions or so for the price we pay for this DLC. Once you have beaten it once, there is little reason to go back again.
The balancing of the weapons needs to be improved as well. Currently, laser boats are the only viable option for harder difficulties, and only if they are on high-tonnage mechs. Now I do not mean nerf lasers into the ground, I mean buff other weapons to the level lasers are now. That way we get some variety on our builds and other mechs can see use. It is boring taking out only Dire Wolves and Kodiaks all the time.
The game is tuned much better than the base campaign was in terms of how many lances you have to fight. That said, higher difficulties are still a slog. I would like to see a checkpoint system before bosses so you do not have to slog through an hour long mission from the start.
I had one crash on the first mission during my first play-through, but other than the stuttering and frame dips present in the game, I did not have any other issues. The Elementals get stuck on terrain frequently, and their AI is not very good, but that will supposedly be patched next week.
I welcome more Clan DLCs, at a more reasonable price or with more content for the same price. I give this DLC a 6.5/10 at its current price point. It is too short for the asking price, with limited replay value. That said, it is very good quality for what you get, and shows PGI can do better. My advice is to get it on sale if you are a casual fan. If you are a hardcore fan like I am, and if you are okay with it being so short, then you can pick it up as is.
The main game is not worth full price until full mod support comes in. I would take it as a wait and see, and these are still early days, so I can't give higher scores based on promises in the future.
Overall, a very lukewarm thumbs up review, I wish I could put a neutral one.