Enlist the help of team-mates if you can't be bothered to take out the enemy on your own

What do you give the man who has everything? Why, a 30-storey-high robot suit, of course! Bring it on, big boy.
Steve Owen

If your head's spinning over who's responsible for the MechWarrior series, no-one could blame you. Activision started it all with, strangely, MechWarrior 2, and followed it up with Mercenaries. MicroProse then took the FASA licence under their arm for this little jaunt. Now they are probably as big a fan of Microsoft as the rest of us, as Mr Gates bought FASA and all subsequent MechWarrior licences. Hasbro (new owners of MicroProse, remember?) aren't giving up without a fight however. If you thought they'd roll over and just bury the licence, take a look at this game.

If you're familiar with the Activision MechWarriors (or Heavy Gear and Earthsiege for that matter), then you should feel right at home with this one. Nothing's really changed - but then the FASA licence is a strict one. Think of Mech 3 as being Mech 2 with modern bells and whistles and you won't be far off.

Simply speaking, it's a two-sided affair, a war where your allegiance has been pre-ordained. But then, the storyline is strong enough to generate sympathy for your cause from the beginning, where you're thrown straight in at the deep end. To simplify your first game (and after the somewhat brief tutorial), your basic mech simply has a few vehicles to take out, on the way to a rendezvous with other team mates. From then on in, new ideas and features are gradually introduced until you find yourself knee-deep in some serious situations.

At first glance, a stomp in a giant robot might seem like fairly lacklustre action, and compared to Half-Life and Quake, it is. After all, the mechs may be tough but don't expect to be sidestepping that incoming rocket. On the contrary, even crouching (one of the inexplicable new features) takes time.