Arcticfox

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For the animal, see arctic fox.

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Arcticfox

Developer(s)	Dynamix
Publisher(s)	Dynamix
Designer(s)	Damon Slye
Platform(s)	Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, PC, Apple IIe
Release date	1986
Genre(s)	Action Game, Vehicle simulation game, FPS
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	N/A

Arcticfox is a 1986 computer game developed by Dynamix and published by Electronic Arts. It is a futuristic 3D tank simulation game. It was first developed for the Amiga, but was quickly ported to other popular platforms of the era such as the Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, PC and Apple IIe. It was one of the first games rendered from a 3-D first-person perspective, and is often mentioned as a pioneer of the first person shooter genre. It is also one of the very first titles available for the Amiga home computer. The game was a first person "tank simulator" and a sequel to Dynamix's earlier Stellar 7. A third game was released in the series in 1991 titled Nova 9: Return of Gir Draxon. The design team at Dynamix behind this game would eventually go on to produce The Incredible Machine, and Red Baron.

It is fair to say that the entire Stellar 7 series was greatly influenced by Atari's Battlezone which was released in arcades in 1983, and pioneered the graphical perspective seen in other first-person shooters. Much like Battlezone, the Apple IIe version of Arcticfox used line polygons in order to appear 3-dimensional.

[edit] Description

The game is set in 2005 where aliens have taken over the continent of Antarctica, with the aliens attempting to steal Earth's oxygen. The player is sent to eradicate the intruders. The player's weapon is a new super tank, the Slye-Hicks MX-100, codenamed Arcticfox. The player is thrust into battle, and has to pilot their tank over a series of levels in an attempt to destroy the aliens' ships and equipment. The player's goal is to knock out the main alien communication array, aided by the tank's abilities to jump, burrow into the snow, and fire oxygen-based mortars at their weather equipment.

The Arcticfox is equipped with a cannon, guided missiles and mines. It is also outfitted with fore and aft viewscreens, radar and a GPS device. The player goes up against a variety of enemy units, including planes, tanks, bunkers and communication towers. The game allowed the player to target specific parts of enemy targets, such as the hull, wing, etc.

The vantage point for the game is the cockpit of the Arcticfox. The player can see out the main viewscreen as well as his sundry features (such as the radar screen) and can see his character's hand on the joystick which steers the tank. When the player directs the tank to steer left, the hand of the character onscreen moves left as well. The same is true for all directions. Enemy targets are visible via the viewscreens and on radar.

One unusual feature of Arcticfox was the perspective of the player. As well as being able to see the character's hand on the controls, the landscape perspective changes relative to the player's tank. That is, if the Arcticfox is driving along tilted on the side of a slope, the landscape tilts relative to the player's own tilted position. This type of vantage point was very unusual and groundbreaking for a game of the home computer era.

While the graphics may look a bit primitive today, this was truly a revolutionary game at the time, at the forefront of polygon-based 3-D graphics, and a showcase for the Amiga's emerging power.