Terracide
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Phil Marley
Michael McHale
Laurence Scotford
| Terracide | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | Simis |
| Publisher | Eidos Interactive |
| Writers | Simon Carless Phil Marley Michael McHale Laurence Scotford |
| Platform | Microsoft Windows |
| Release | 27 August 1997[1] |
| Genre | Action |
| Modes | Single player, multiplayer |
Terracide is a 1997 first-person shooter developed by Simis and published by Eidos Interactive for Microsoft Windows. Players control a spaceship to defend Earth from a force of mutant human and robot colonists, who have returned to invade the planet. The game was developed to take advantage of the rise in video cards using 3D accelerators and 3DFX, and it was distributed with many video cards. Upon release, Terracide received average reviews, with critics praising its 3D capabilities and performance, although many compared it to a similar title, Descent, and critiqued its controls and level design.
Gameplay in Terracide is set over a series of missions in which players infiltrate a ship and must complete various objectives, such as to locate and destroy the ship's computers, ventilation or defences.[2] Navigation is assisted by the HUD, which includes an animated compass and sensors for nearby weapons and power-ups.[3] Players engage in combat with several weapon options: phasers, a chain gun, rockets, guided missiles, and a flare gun to light darkened areas.[4][2] Bombs can also be used with different effects, such as bouncing towards the target, drawing enemies towards players, or teleporting the enemy away from their location.[4] Up to three weapons can be used at a time, with offensive weapons increasing in levels of firepower when the same weapon is collected, and available in single, scatter, or rapid-fire shots.[3][4] Weapons are left behind by defeated enemies.[3] Terracide supports multiplayer play for up to 16 players over a LAN or online using the MPlayer client.[4] Multiplayer modes include Deathmatch, Co-op, and Capture the Flag.[5]
Plot
In the New Age, the Terran Colonies set out across the galaxy to find new planets to live. Over time, their existence on harsh alien worlds has led the colonists to adapt to planetary conditions through biological and technological mutations.[5] Now returning home, the colonists bring a floatilla of ships, each hosting a crew of mutated humans, robots and alients, to conquer Earth. Players assusme the role of a pilot who is tasked to infiltrate the ships of the invading fleet of marauders.[2]
Development
Terracide was developed by Simis Limited initially under publisher Domark in 1995,[6][7] under the working title Berzerker.[8] In 1996, Domark merged with Eidos PLC to create Eidos Interactive.[9] Eidos showcased Terracide at E3 in May 1996.[9] It was one of the earliest titles in development to widely support cards with 3D acceleration using Direct3D and 3DFX, featuring techniques such as hardware smoothing, bilinear filtering, transluency, reflections and real-time light sourcing.[5][10][11][12] Following the release of a game demo in June 1997,[13] publications anticipated the 3D capabilities of Terracide and praised its visual fidelity.[10][6] [14][15] To demonstrate its capabilities, demos of Terracide were bundled with video cards,[10][16][17] and Eidos distributed a computer benchmarking tool based on the game named Terramark.[18] The game was the last completed by Simis for Eidos before buying themselves out of the company.[19]