Firestorm: Thunderhawk 2

Firestorm: Thunderhawk 2

European PlayStation box art
Developer(s) Core Design
Publisher(s) Core Design
Programmer(s) Mark "Mac" Avory
Composer(s) Martin Iveson
Platform(s) MS-DOS, PlayStation, Sega Saturn
Release date(s)
  • EU 4 December 1995
  • NA 1995 (PS)
  • NA 1996 (SAT)
Genre(s) Combat flight simulator
Mode(s) Single-player

Firestorm: Thunderhawk 2, known as Thunderstrike 2 in North America, is a 1995 combat flight simulator video game developed by Core Design and released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation and Sega Saturn. It is the sequel to Thunderhawk.

Gameplay

Firestorm: Thunderhawk 2 is a combat flight simulator in which the player controls an AH-73M attack helicopter through a variety of missions around the world.[1] Generally the main objective in each mission revolves around destroying a particular target, but often other factors are involved, such as time limits, stealth and allies that need protecting.[2]

Just before the beginning of each mission, it is possible for the player to heavily customise the weaponry on their AH-73M, ranging from missiles and machine guns to rockets and cluster bombs. Depending on the selection of weapons and the mission at hand, this may either help or hinder progress through the mission.[3]

The game ends if the player completes the final level, if the helicopter is destroyed during a mission, or if three demerits are awarded to the player during the game. Demerits are awarded when the player aborts a mission by flying out of the mission zone.[4]

Development

Firestorm: Thunderhawk 2 was created by the British studio Core Design, as a sequel to the original Thunderhawk.[5] Mark "Mac" Avory served as a lead programmer, while Martin Iveson handled the game's music and sound effects.[6] The game was developed simultaneously for the PC, Saturn, and PlayStation, with the PC as the lead platform. According to Avory, the game took very little time to develop since it reused the game engine from Thunderhawk; it took only one month to create a playable version for the PC, and just a few days to port this early version over to both the PlayStation and Saturn. With this accomplished, the team set about adding additional missions, troops, and bug fixes, working towards a release date of 4 December 1995 for all three versions.[5]

Reception

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
EGM8/10 (SAT)[7]
Maximum (SAT, PS1)[8][9]
Sega Saturn Magazine90% (SAT)[10]

The Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation versions received mostly positive reviews. Common subjects of praise included the fun of destroying enemies and scenery,[7][10][11][12] the large number of missions,[7][8][9][10] and the use of contemporary real world scenarios and weaponry.[7][11][12] Critics generally complimented the heavily detailed and realistic graphics,[7][8][9][10][11][12] but reprimanded the draw distance problems, particularly the considerable pop-up.[7][8][9][11] However, even the game's sternest critics concluded it to be far better than contemporary flight simulators, such as Wing Arms and Black Fire.[8][11]

Sequel

Firestorm: Thunderhawk 2 was followed by its sequel Thunderhawk: Operation Phoenix.

References

  1. ↑ Core Design (1995), p. 1
  2. ↑ Core Design (1995), pp. 9–11
  3. ↑ Core Design (1995), p. 12
  4. ↑ Core Design (1995), p. 15
  5. 1 2 "In the Air Tonight". Maximum: The Video Game Magazine (Emap International Limited) (2): 120–1. November 1995. After a period of only one month, the team at Core had a playable demo on PC, and a port-over to the Saturn and PlayStation took only a matter of days. After this, all that needed to be added was a wider variety of missions and troops to meet a triple-format release date of 4 December.
  6. ↑ Core Design (1995), p. 17
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Review Crew: Thunderstrike 2". Electronic Gaming Monthly (Ziff Davis) (81): 33. April 1996.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Maximum Reviews: Firestorm". Maximum: The Video Game Magazine (Emap International Limited) (3): 145. January 1996.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Maximum Reviews: Firestorm: Thunderhawk 2". Maximum: The Video Game Magazine (Emap International Limited) (3): 147. January 1996.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Automatic, Rad (December 1995). "Review: Firestorm: Thunderhawk 2". Sega Saturn Magazine (Emap International Limited) (2): 74–75.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Hendrix, Air (March 1996). "ProReview: Thunderstrike 2". GamePro (IDG) (90): 56.
  12. 1 2 3 Larry, Scary (March 1996). "ProReview: Thunderstrike 2". GamePro (IDG) (90): 52.

Notes

Firestorm: Thunderhawk 2 (PlayStation) (instruction manual). Core Design. 1995. SLES-00145. 

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, March 28, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.