Heavy Gear uses an enhanced version of Acivision's popular MechWarrior 2 engine, but the game's universe is richer and more realistic. Instead of the sparse Battletech universe where combat usually involves a small number of mechs, Heavy Gear 's universe includes a much wider variety of military units and combat tactics. He who has the biggest armored assault unit doesn't always win. The background of the story takes place in the year AD 6132 and Earth has experienced a second Ice Age. The survivors made space colonization a high priority. The survivors tried to find habitable planets using generation ships, with no success. Eventually they discovered that worm holes could lead to other star systems. After the establishment of several colonies, a war broke out on Earth and the colonies lost contact with the mother planet. On Terra Nova, the planet where all the computer game action will take place, the colony split into approximately 10 city-states. Eventually these small city-states banded together. The Confederated Northern City-States (CNCS), complete with their Gears, named after carnivores like Jaguars and Grizzlies, began to fight the Allied Southern Territories (AST). The AST units fought in Gears named after reptiles, like Mambas and Iguanas. The set-up for the first computer game seems very compelling. Your unit was captured and you eventually escaped, but you couldn't help before the rest of your unit was executed. Your character is labeled as a coward and traitor. To make matters worse, your commander's son was a member of the unit that was executed. The game features an Instant Action option for those who don't want to bother with the storyline. However, those who like to have story interwoven with their battle scenarios will enjoy the elaborately produced scenes in Heavy Gear.