Shortly before I got married a couple of years ago, I cracked open the shrink wrap of a game called System Shock, from Looking Glass Technologies. Having played every game they've ever produced, I expected to enjoy the game as much as Underworld I and II, and to continue it after I got back from my Hawaii honeymoon.
Little did I realize just how immersive System Shock would become; how much I would play it into the wee hours of the morning, and how on the night before the ceremony I stayed up until 4:30 in the morning playing it, hoping I'd get just a little more time in on the game before I had to go away for a week-long absence.
So when Looking Glass Technologies' new title, Terra Nova, hit the local shelves, I rushed down mid-lunch to snatch the first copy. Was it everything System Shock was? Enthralling to the point of acute escapism? Well, it's pretty darn close, and it definitely earned its pay as far as I am concerned!
Terra Nova is, first and foremost, an action game in the style of Mechwarrior II, and, to a lesser extent, other well-known 3D games. Terra Nova offers an outstanding blend of tactical maneuvering with fast-paced, sometimes frenzied action. Unlike other 3D games, Terra Nova takes place completely outside, under the stars, sky, and missile trails. No tunnels, no dungeons, no citadels; but rather, 100% outside terrain, complete with trees, valleys, rising peaks, and mountain ranges. The terrain types your assignments take place on are widely varied, and such effects as snow, rain, and lightning add ambiance to the world around you.
The premise behind Terra Nova is that you're a Strike Force leader for several planets congregated somewhere in the Alpha Centauri sector of outer space. The history of your race stems from a conflict between your people, who at that time were inhabiting the planets of Jupiter, and the Earth's government, called the Hegemony {he' JE' mu' nee.} Ultimately, the conflict led to an uneasy armistice, wherein your journey to the Alpha Centauri sector was funded by the Hegemony as a way to keep the two races well apart. Years of peace have helped advance your people in their military and technological prowess.
As the game begins, you are brought on to the new Strike Team to squelch pirate attacks in the system. An enveloping story line sends you on different missions, usually with up to four other metal-heads to control and send orders. Each member can be given unique movement orders, combat stances, tactics modifications, or use a special ability, as each mission requires. All the members possess different battle suits, ranging from small, lightly armored scout suits, to slow, rugged Heavy suits. The suits have three multi-function displays to show weapons, damage, side views, rear views, and a satellite map view with a waypoint to the next Denny's. Well, maybe not to the next Denny's, but you can set waypoints on the satellite map that will be displayed as a wire-frame triangle on the 3D battlefield to help you and your squad maintain direction. The views can be toggled from full screen mode, to goggle mode, depending on your preference.
Setting up the game is a breeze, with Windows 95's auto-install feature assisting novice users, while DOS installation is the standard "Put disk in drive. Select drive. Type install." I ran the game from a modified DOS session under Windows 95, and it worked great.
From the first cinematic cut scene to the final ending sequence, you'll find the acting to be sub-par at best. Having been newly weaned on the acceptable acting performances in Wing Commander IV, Gabriel Knight, and Norton Utilities (ah, you are reading this), this is a pretty big step backwards in acting talent. The acting is very hammy, and almost awkward in spots, as if the director had forgotten to tell people that the little red light on the camera means 'ON,' not "Special on Argyles, Aisle 4."
But I was incensed at a certain betrayal (won't ruin the surprise for you) that occurred during the continuation of the plot. I actually felt revenge as I decimated a base in the next mission, leaving no survivors, and wondering how much dust would be created as a side effect of using a pulse gun on high on a certain Russian Blue cat. My wife explained that it wouldn't probably be worth the extra pain involved in removing said gun from my navel if I tested the theory in practice......
From the mission briefing, you are sent to the arming screen. Choose your weapons, and the weapons for your squad members. A lot of weapons are given to you throughout the 39 missions of the game. At first, you'll have to get by on lowly lasers and a lot of scooting around to avoid direct hits from the enemy clones and soldiers. After that, you'll move up to grenade launchers, SIR Mark IV's, Missile Launchers, Railguns, and more. Also throughout the game, you'll find ASF's (Auxiliary Suit Functions.) Among these are the Jump Jet Boosters, Dynamo pack (doubles the recharge power of your guns and shields,) and the Auto-Turrets, which are dropped like mines and target fire at the enemy forces; however, they are weakly armored, thus easily destroyed.
Finally, a short animation later, you get dropped from high altitude to the surface of a planet, usually just a short jaunt from the mission objectives so as to not require tedious travel time before combat begins.
I didn't actually like the combat portion of the game at first. It seemed drab, compared to previous games from Looking Glass, and after System Shock, I was none too pleased that I didn't feel the pull of that incredible immersion System Shock gave me. The missions seemed similar, the graphics nice in spots, shoddy in others. Trees are fun for the first mission, nothing but stumbling blocks in the missions thereafter. They are too low to provide actual cover, but big enough to get you trapped in nasty cross-fire, simply for lack of being able to run around them fast enough to avoid being riveted to their sap-flowing trunks by well-placed grenade blasts.
However, as you play through several terrain types, you'll feel a practicality of sorts in the way Looking Glass has designed the world you fight in. Rather than be faced with simple walls, and closed doors, the world is alive with meadows, hills, valleys, sloped terrain that blends realistically into other hills, so that you really feel a need to duck your head as you peek over the hilltop to view the valley below. In some of the missions, snowy mountain ravines can be dizzying from the upper cliff ledges, as you look down to ambush an unsuspecting convoy. In others, you're dashing through fjords and channels of water, hoping not to get caught by enemy forces as you cross the bodies of water between islands.
One major difference that sets Terra Nova apart from being a run-of-the-mill, shoot-em-up, action-clone, "It's Just Like Doom!" sort of game is the strategic elements of leading a crew of four Strike Team members. You are constantly within reach of your crew, and they will chatter about their status, or inform you that they are "going EVAC," which means they wimped out from too much enemy fire, and have shot out to space for retrieval and another autographed Mr. Yuk Sticker slapped on their flight suit. You aren't given that option as the player, however. If you take too much heat, well..., you FRY! And in a rousing death sequence too!
As an example of the strategic element, once you've defined your objectives, you can send your forces of up to three other TTA's (Tonka Toys with Attitude) to different nav points, assign targets, back you up. Or simply wait for your command. This allows a lot more leeway in the strategic planning of your mission than just simple arcade action would provide.
Then, say that your mission briefing asks you to take out an enemy outpost. The road in to the outpost meanders through a steep valley, and is fortified by guards all along. Solution? Jumpjet to the top of the ridge, send half your troops to the other side of the valley on the top of the opposing ridge. Once you see the base, order your side to freefall to the base of the valley and open fire. As you take on the pirates, they'll come out of the base to meet you. Simply order your troops on the opposite ridge to attack the base. While you're playing flea flicker with your Grenade launcher on unsuspecting digi-troops, the base gets annihilated, and you get the Kermit Heart for bravery above and beyond the call of mortal amphibians.
So as you see, strategy plays a big part in the game, and is the reason I looked past the above average, but not mind-boggling, graphics.
Besides, as I played mission after mission, a strange phenomenon began occurring. I didn't stop playing.
And playing....
And playing....
And playing....
And praying for more time to keep playing.....
Missions one through ten for the most part set the stage for the rest of the game. They're fairly easy, and allow you a chance to get used to the 10 different weapons and additional systems your suit can possess. After that, you're thrown into a literal maelstrom of heated battles and conflicts that, if played on the tougher difficulty settings, can test your mettle, and your ability to stay alive, eliminate troops, and still keep your squad in some semblance of order.
Now, on this game, my Pentium 133 went crunch crunch fizzzzz..... providing me with some choppiness on full screen mode and during battle with more than 5 or 6 enemy soldiers. Others who have played it on a Pentium 166 feel that the game is much more manageable. The higher resolution 320 X 400 can be changed to standard VGA if necessary, though at the cost of a lot of clarity in the outside detail. Still, many adjustments can be made on the Options screen to control the balance between "Hey, my guy does move! And look, he even bobs up and down like a drowning chipmunk!" and "Whoa. There is life after polygonal algorithm." Water reflections, sky details, and distant terrain visibility are just a few of the factors that can be toggled on or off.
When I'm done with the provided missions, you can bet I'll be churning out scenarios with the Scenario Editor provided (a sub-set of the full Scenario Editor to be released with the Multi-Player pack.) Good stuff, Maynard! The Multi-Player Pack will also allow four players to take on each other, or a common enemy (like poverty, or People Against the Abuse of Brillo Pad Containers).
I still won't say it beats System Shock. It doesn't. But this game would be a perfect addition for Wing Commander V. Think about it. You fly your missions, then send in troops to planets for planetside missions. It's the same concept, similar story design, and almost identical "Kill Log" that Wing IV has.
Terra Nova offers a wonderful variety of terrain, mission types, and scenarios. As a building block for a future multi-player addition, it has outstanding potential to be a network gamer's dream. Though the potential of the game still hasn't been fully tapped, I seriously hope Looking Glass will consider a Terra Nova 2, implementing even more terrain, battle equipment, and additional mission types. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to work on my tank-busting skills provided only with a croissant, a simple blowtorch, and those new killer drone packs they gave me a couple missions ago.
