I usually play rules-medium to rules-light story games, but I get the urge to play crunchy tactical games as well. Lancer fulfills that urge wonderfully, with much more focused and clear rules than when I played D&D regularly. In fact, when I said, "I wish I could try D&D 4e sometime, I heard it had the best combat", friends told me I shouldn't bother because I've played Lancer, which is the best elements of that but better.

That's not to say Lancer is only dry combat, we've also had lots of fun in scenes between characters, exploring or sneaking around outside mech combat, but in those cases the rules are very light and fast. I really appreciate that the game knows where to focus in on moment-to-moment intricacies, and when to wave its hand and say, "just pick an appropriate skill and roll, it's fine."

The leveling up is also well-thought-out, straightforward, and exciting. It's not like you have to pick a path and stick to it - rather, the mech licenses feel more like a menu to pick from. And being able to reconfigure your mech completely between missions and even swap out some aspects of your character between levels means you're free to experiment from the menu. Want Level 2 of license A, but Level 1 of license B is a more accessible way to fill that need? Pick up Level 1 of B, then the next time you level up, move that to A and pick up Level 2. I imagine keeping track of bonuses and available weapons and systems get tricky, but I haven't had any problems with that thanks to the incredibly useful Comp/Con tool (I've also used it on a tablet when playing at the table, not sure how smoothly the game would play without it).

One caveat I might have is that if you don't level up quickly, levels 0 and 1 can feel like a slog. In the game's defense, I was in two campaigns simultaneously, one every week but leveling up slowly, the other every 2 weeks, so I played half a dozen sessions before I actually got to the custom mechs at Level 2. Using those levels to get acquainted with the game without being overwhelmed by options is a really good idea, but I recommend making sure you level up at the end of each session, and if everyone's familiar with the game already, starting at 1 or 2.

The other caveat is that sometimes battles feel like a steamroll, though others have felt tense and by-the-seat-of-our-pants. I haven't tried to run it, but GMs have expressed that it's difficult to tell how balanced or fair an encounter is (there are tools in Comp/Con and advice on the discord, but I haven't used either). It also helps up the tension and makes resources like repair points and core power more meaningful if you have more than one encounter per mission/full repair, so I'd recommend (after the "learning the game" levels as mentioned above) playing with mission length and seeing if you can break it up into multiple scenes rather than always a single engagement.