Gunship 2000: Islands & Ice
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| Gunship 2000: Islands & Ice | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Microprose |
| Publisher(s) | Microprose |
| Designer(s) | James M. Day |
| Release date(s) | 1992 |
| Genre(s) | Simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Not Applicable (NA) |
| Platform(s) | DOS |
| Media | Floppy disk, CD |
Gunship 2000: Islands & Ice is an expansion pack for the Gunship 2000 helicopter simulation by MicroProse. It was released in 1992 for DOS.
The Islands & Ice pack greatly expanded the gameplay features of the original Gunship 2000 game by adding two completely new theaters of operation as well as an innovative Mission Builder.
Contents |
[edit] Visuals and Environment
The terrain modeling continued on the quality found in Gunship 2000; this time around adding Antarctica and The Philippines. In addition, two new flight areas were added for the Middle East and Europe; a very rugged area for the Middle East and dense urban area for Europe.
Visuals in other areas were about on par for the private flight simulator technology at the time. The helicopter models were identifiable but were not highly detailed. Land vehicles and structures were of mixed quality, with some being a few rectangles and a window, and others sprouting roof mounted machine guns and antennae. Importantly, vehicles could be told apart by shape and features. Other game objects included civilian buildings, billboards and even animals (which, amusingly, could be targeted and destroyed with the helicopter's weapon system).
2D menus and screens in the game were of high quality, especially the arming screen for the Helicopters, which allowed the user to see exactly what weapons were being loaded on the Gunship of choice.
[edit] Gameplay
Play followed closely on the heels of Gunship 2000, but added unique aspects for the two new theaters as well as a number of additional functions and new player aids.
- In flight mission changes
- Air and artillery support
- Wind and weather (including white-outs and magnetic disturbances in Antarctica
- Maintenance and weapon system downtimes
- Improved autopilot, targeting, navigation, and the addition of a HUD mission clock
[edit] Realism
Given the computing technology of the time and the survey simulation nature of the game (covering multiple helicopters), Gunship 2000 was never going to be a totally realistic simulation. However, the cockpits were reasonable copies of the real helicopter cockpits, and certain features such as Mast Mounted Sights were present on the smaller scout helicopters. However, avionics and flight modeling was rather generic. Realistic tactics such as Nap-of-the-earth flight and 'pop-up' attacks could be employed on account of the reasonably detailed terrain.
[edit] Mission Builder
One of the most exciting and innovative features was the mission builder. This tool enabled players to create and edit missions of their own design. Every aspect of a typical Gunship 2000 mission was available for use in the mission builder. It also provided a number of shortcut steps to enable players to quickly create new missions without having to, for example, place every defender on the map one-by-one.
Players could even export a standard Gunship 2000 mission into the mission builder as a template for editing. Once completed, mission could be saved for play, editing or free exchange with other players.
Very advanced for its day, the mission builder set the tone for many follow on products by enabling players to determine fun by their own standards.
