Terminal Velocity (computer game)
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| Terminal Velocity | |
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| Developer(s) | Terminal Reality |
| Publisher(s) | 3D Realms |
| Distributor(s) | FormGen |
| Release date(s) | May 1, 1995 |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | RSAC: V1: Damage to realistic objects ESRB: T OFLC: G8+ USK: 12+ |
| Platform(s) | MS-DOS, Mac OS |
| Media | Floppy disk, CD-ROM, |
Terminal Velocity is a video game developed by Terminal Reality and published by 3D Realms in 1995.
It is known for its relatively fast, high-energy action sequences, especially when compared to other pseudo flight simulators around at the time. Terminal Velocity is an arcade-style combat-dedicated flight simulator, with easier game controls and less general realism.
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[edit] Design
The game was made by the former lead programmer of Microsoft Flight Simulator. At its launch, the game's all-digital soundtrack, great frame rates, external environments, and ability to fly through tunnels and into underground caverns set it apart from the rest of its genre.
Terminal Velocity was released as both a floppy disk and a CD-ROM version. The CD-ROM version improved upon the floppy version with 70 MB of extended pre-rendered 3D cut scenes, higher image resolution (including more detailed textures) and support for 8-player network multiplay. As of 2006, 3D Realms sells the game on CD-ROM only.
Terminal Reality also developed another extremely similar game, Fury3, published that same year by Microsoft. It used the same game engine and basic game mechanics, but was designed to run natively on the new Windows 95 operating system. It was considered a weaker game than Terminal Velocity, but Fury3 spawned an add-on pack F-Zone as well as a sequel, Microsoft Hellbender.
[edit] Plot
In 28th century, Earth colonies suddenly rebel and their fleets ravage the planet, starting a war. The player flies a powerful tactical fighter, the TV-202, in a series of missions to defeat the enemy. In Episode 3, the player learns that a huge supercomputer known as X.I. (Xenocidic Initiative) located on Proxima Seven is responsible for the war. His final mission is to eliminate it.
The game itself has three episodes:
- Episode 1 - Tactical Strike (shareware version)
- World 1: Ymir: An ice planet, named for the Creator in Norse Mythology. The target on this planet is the GUNNAR Super Laser.
- World 2: Crythania: A planet of huge canyons. Expect a lot of dogfighting here. The Hellhawk must be destroyed before this planet is cleared.
- World 3: Moon Dagger: An enormous alien spacecraft, meant to be launched into the planet it orbits. Destroy the Gravitational Re-Orientation Base first.
- Episode 2 - Heavy fire
- World 4: Tei Tenga: A desert planet, littered with the fossils of long extinct giant animals. The target here is the deadly Thundercraft.
- World 5: Ositsho: A lava planet, resembling Mustafar from the Star Wars galaxy. Little ground defense, but major amounts of air offense. A prototype weapon, the Magma Dragon, is the target.
- World 6: Erigone: A mining colony; expect to spend a lot of time underground. You'll have to defeat the Thorium Core before it goes out of control.
- Episode 3 - The Mad God
- World 7: Centauri III: An ocean planet, with very few islands and a poisonous atmosphere. The planetscape is littered with defense vehicles resembling hovercrafts and C-Nome droids. Take out the C-Nome Factory so that no more C-Nomes can be created.
- World 8: Ceres: A huge asteroid that has been set up on a crash course with Earth. Shut down its Ion Pulse Motivator and scramble off to the final world.
- World 9: Proxima Seven: The final stage. A planet-shaped supercomputer, faintly resembling the Death Star from Star Wars. Prepare yourself well, for you'll finally face the X.I. here.
Each episode features three different worlds and nine levels overall. World 9 is the exception, with only two stages before you fight the final boss, making for a grand total of 20 main stages. There's also one final hidden planet on the CD-ROM version, which is meant to show the home world of the X.I. and the aliens responsible for it. Entering the name "Terminal" and the callsign "Reality" will access it.
- Secret Episode
[edit] Gameplay
The TV-202 is not a plane and can therefore fly at arbitrarily low speeds without falling, which can be useful for bombing ground targets; it also has no inertia, meaning its course can be changed instantly. Additionally, it possess powerful afterburners that allow it to move at blinding speeds, though it is unable to shoot during that time. Afterburners are useful to evade massive enemy attacks.
In addition to that, the fighter sports seven types of weapons:
- PAC (Plasma Assault Cannon) - A weapon that shoot slow green beams that are mainly useful against ground targets. This is your starting weapon.
- ION (Ion Burst Gun) - Shoots ion "missiles" that have a high damage but have a high scattering and cannot be aimed.
- RTL (Rapid Tactical Laser) - a fast violet laser that quickly becomes the main weapon for its power and availability. Works mostly like the PAC.
- MAM (Manually Aimed Missile) - missiles that must be manually aimed on their target, dealing considerable damage.
- SAD (Seek-and-Destroy Missile) - fire-and-forget missiles that automatically lock on the nearest target.
- SWT (Shock Wave Torpedo) - an improved version of the SAD; these do terrific damage to many targets.
- DAM (Discrete Annihilation Missile) - Destroys or inflicts great damage to every enemy on the screen (but you can carry only one at a time). These are quite rare!
[edit] Enemies
Although various, enemies in Terminal Velocity fall into several broad categories:
- Fighters of various types, more or less dangerous
- Ground vehicles and batteries
- Structures
- Supply depots that can be raided for ammo and power-ups.
Close attention must be paid to the balance between air and ground power in order to assess immediate threats. On some worlds (e.g. Ositsho, the lava planet), ground firepower is almost non-existent, yet air units are numerous and very dangerous. On the other hand, some worlds sport very dangerous ground units and weak air power, such as reactive sleds seen on the seventh planet (Centauri III). This has a strong influence on the gameplay.
Each of the planets has a boss on their third stages. Destroying a boss will allow the player to depart from the planet and move on to the next.
[edit] Power-ups
- All weapons except the PAC are power-ups and therefore must be found and collected to be used. Moreover, PAC and RTL gain power if two or more powerups are collected. If two (resp. three) of them are collected, the TV-202 shoots double (resp. quad) beams, but with limited ammo. When ammo runs out, the weapon goes back to single-shot mode.
- Power core - recharges a small amount of the shield.
- Shield restore - completely restores the energy shield
- Afterburner - gives additional fuel for afterburners
- Invisibility - turns the fighter invisible for 30 seconds.
