BattleTech: The Cresent Hawk's Inception is an old BattleTech CRPG created in 1988 by WestwoodStudios for MS-DOS, Amiga, C64, Apple II and Atari ST. It is the very first ''BattleTech video game, predating MechWarrior by roughly a year.You play as Jason Youngblood, son of famed MechWarrior, Jeremiah Youngblood, and a new cadet training under the Lyran Commonwealth on Pacifica (or "Chara III" depending on who you ask.) During one training exercise, the Draconis Combine suddenly attack, and kill the Palace Guard, including Jeremiah, Jason, only surviving thanks to Rex Pearce, a friend of your father's, you must find and recruit members of the Cresent Hawks, a Special Forces company established by Jeremiah, to take revenge on the Combine.
Gameplay wise, it's a mostly accurate take on the BattleTech board game during that time, now translated into an RPG format. Featuring all the classic mechanics, now done through RNG versus rolling dice.
The game has a Sequel in the form of BattleTech: The Cresent Hawk's Revenge, which plays like a Real Time Action RPG instead.
Tropes include:
- Ace Custom: It's possible to modify your Mechs in this game. It takes time however, because they need to adjust and connect parts in a manner akin to modifying a car. No OmniMechs exist in the Inner Sphere yet.
- Ace Pilot: Jeremiah Youngblood was one.
- Awesome McCoolname: Jason Youngblood isn't exactly a common name.
- Covers Always Lie: The Cresent Hawks are already a thing by the time you're playing; they're just not active. You're not responsible for their "inception" at all.
- Digital Tabletop Game Adaptation: The game is essentially one for the BattleTech War game, albeit with more RPG mechanics like talking, quests, and stock markets.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: As the literal first video game, this game features the Unseen designs prominently. The box art consisting of the Locust (or the Ostall) and the title screen featuring the Phoenix Hawk (or the VF1- Valkyrie)
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Casual use of the Unseen aside, there's a rather small 'Mech pool. As it was created before things like the Atlas or the Awesome existed.
- Elites Are More Glamorous: The Cresent Hawks are a Special Forces Company; because it wouldn't be quite as badass if they were anything else apparently.
- Humongous Mecha: BattleMechs are this, and their sprites are notably larger than the infantry sprites to better sell the effect. They also have a small variety of different sprite sheets to represent different styles of Mechs during gameplay.
- Justified Tutorial: The game starts right when Jason is learning how to be a MechWarrior, which makes up the tutorial.
- Kid Hero: Sorta. Jason is 18 when the average Spheroid pilot is around their 30s, including most of the characters you can recruit.
- Stock Market Game: It isn't one, but there exists a stock market the player can use to build up C-Bills. It goes up for every footstep you take rather than a timer, and it's generally the fastest way to make money in the game.
- Subsystem Damage: About the same as the Tabletop Game. You have health for each limb, three chest areas, and three back areas. If you lose all heath in a limb or area, you lose parts on each further hit and can lose your mech entirely if the chest or head is destroyed.
- Western RPG: The game is one, and it's pretty typical of the era in terms of non-combat-based design. Top-down perspective, tiny characters (For on foot gameplay; the Mechs' sprites are fairly sizable for the era.) Narration that goes on and on and on, it's fairly standard of the times.