BATTLETECH

I appreciate that this is the kind of game where you can ignore the Campaign missions entirely and grind mercenary contracts until you have mechs and weapons strong enough to just seal club your way through the story.

The official expansions and DLCs are a must, and perhaps play without for a game or two to fully appreciate Flashpoints, which layer in tremendous story, politics and immersion, heavy metal for all the good stuff therein, and Urban Warfare for great additional maps, mechs and toys.

The Opfor deliberately avoids ambushes, always takes full advantage of player tactical mistakes, and utilizes the most perfect battlefield Command Control Communications Combat Infrastructure possible with long range stand off weapons and sensor jammers blinding and penalizing your every move before you even get to engage.

The main story is surprisingly legit and has shades of the older battletech games beyond what the modern Mechwarrior games have, the voice acting is actually mostly great and the graphics are as good as they need to be for this kind of game...

A Dope Soundtrack: As an audio guy, the soundscape and score hit all the right atmospheric notes to keep you locked completely in the zone.