If you use your lasers extensively, heat will rise, causing your mech to shut down to cool off. That's where the environment is tied into the gameplay. Battles will take place in hot deserts as well as over cold desolate locations. Water also plays an important role. First, it provides almost instant cooling for your reactor, secondly, it's a great place to hide for an ambush.
Great graphics supplement the great gameplay.
First thing that you notice is the horizon and the landscape, which stretches on for miles. On the horizon you'll see structures, hills and mountains. Another neat aspect is ability to deform terrain. Artillery and missiles leave craters and mechs leave footprints on the ground. Structures are destructible as well, so blowing up a side of the building will cause damage to an enemy as it falls on him.