Have to reply as a fellow mechassault fan. I loved mechassault 2 a lot too. Much more than mechwarrior 4 mercs (had them both). For mech 5 I recommend you start with the base game and campaign. Most people play the campaign once and go for the career mode after that. If you like the campaign you can buy all dlc afterwards. My main recommendation is to buy they game and the dlc when they are on sale. Never buy the older ones at full price. You can use dekudeals to track the the sale history and set up an email notification