Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri
Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri is a 1996 tactical first-person shooter video game developed and published by LookingGlass Technologies. Set in a science-fictional depiction of the 24th century, the game follows a faction of humans who colonize the Alpha Centauri star system to escape from the Hegemony, a totalitarian Earth government. The player assumes the role of Nikola ap Io, the leader of an Alpha Centauri military unit, and undertakes missions against pirates and the Hegemony.
Terra Nova has been cited as one of the first squad-oriented games with three-dimensional graphics; the player is often assisted by artificially intelligent teammates who may be given tactical commands. Conceived by Looking Glass after the completion of their first game, Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, Terra Nova was subject to a long and difficult development process, caused in part by the production of its full-motion video cutscenes. The game's TED engine can render 3D outdoor environments and simulate physics; the latter enables such effects as procedural animation.
Terra Novas critical reception was highly positive. Reviewers praised its tactical elements, and several compared it to the 1995 video game MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat. However, reception of its graphics was mixed, and many noted the game's steep system requirements. Despite critical acclaim and sales in excess of 100,000 units, the game was a commercial failure: it did not recoup its development costs. While it was intended to be the first in a series, its low sales led the company to cancel plans for a sequel.
Gameplay
As a tactical first-person shooter, Terra Nova focuses on combat and takes place from a character's eye view in a three-dimensional graphical environment. The protagonist wears powered battle armor that features lock-on targeting, jumpjets for limited flight, infrared and zoomed vision, and a rechargeable energy shield that protects against attacks. The player uses a freely movable mouse cursor to aim weapons and manipulate the heads-up display interface. As with Looking Glass Technologies' earlier game System Shock, the HUD contains three "Multi-Function Displays". These screens may be configured to display tactical information, such as squad command menus, maps and weapon statistics.The player is usually accompanied by up to three artificially intelligent squadmates, who may be given tactical orders such as holding a position, taking cover or rushing enemies. Squadmates may be commanded as a group or individually; for example, one half of a squad may be used to distract enemies while the other half attacks an objective. Each squad member specializes in weapons, reconnaissance, repairs, demolitions or electronics. Those in the latter four categories may be given special commands, such as repairing a teammate's armor or setting explosive charges. During missions, squad members radio in enemy sightings and status assessments.
The game takes place in 37 missions. Each begins with a briefing that describes such details as objectives, squad size and enemies. Objectives range from rescues and assaults to reconnaissance photography. Additional missions—whose contents may be selected by the player—are available through the game's "Random Scenario Builder". Before undertaking missions, the player outfits the squad and protagonist with PBA suits and equipment. The three types of PBA—Scout, Standard and Heavy—vary in ability; for example, the Scout armor is fast and light, while the Heavy armor is slow and powerful. Each may be fitted with weapons and an "Auxiliary Suit Function" ; the latter ranges from increased jumpjet power to deployable automatic turrets. Only a small amount of equipment is available at the outset, but more becomes accessible as the game progresses. Between missions, the player may read e-mails, news and military files, and a "library" that details the game's setting.
Plot
Setting and characters
Terra Nova is set in a science fictional depiction of the year 2327 and takes place in the Alpha Centauri star system. The setting's early inspirations were the novels Starship Troopers and The Forever War, and PC Gamer UK compared it to that of the 1986 action film Aliens. Over two hundred years before the beginning of the game, Earth is subsumed by a world government called the Hegemony, whose "Publicanism" philosophy PC Zone summarized as "communism without the economic restrictions". The Hegemony annexes colonies throughout the Solar System, but the inhabitants of Jupiter's moons reach an agreement that allows them to relocate to Alpha Centauri, where they settle on the Earth-like NewHope and the frozen Thatcher planets. The settlers divide into twelve "Clans"—each with a military "Strike Force" to defend against bandits—and create the Centauri Council to govern the system. Trade is established with the Hegemony. As the game begins, an elite Strike Force called Strike Force Centauri is formed in response to increasing pirate activity.The protagonist of Terra Nova is Nikola ap Io, the squad leader of Strike Force Centauri. His older brother, Brandt ap Io, is one of his subordinates, and the two share a mutual animosity. Other members of the squad include Sarah Walker, the daughter of a Centauri Council member; Ernest Schuyler, who is known for his sense of humor; and the frank and abrasive Simon Ashford. Each member was given a personality so that the player would form connections with the squad. Commander Arlen MacPherson assumes overall charge of the squad, and he has regular dealings with Hegemony ambassador Creon Pentheus. Live-action full-motion video cutscenes depicting character interaction occasionally play between missions.
Story
As the game begins, pirates steal a shipment of highly destructive "Petrovsk grenades". A reconnaissance mission by Nikola identifies the grenades at a heavily defended pirate base, and they are recovered en route to a transport ship. Without the grenades, the base is assaulted by Strike Force Centauri, and Hegemony equipment is found there. When MacPherson confronts Pentheus about the incident, he denies involvement. Proof of the Hegemony's intentions is later found at a Thatcher smuggling base, and Pentheus declares war on the Centauri colonies. Now knowing the pirates are funded by the Hegemony, MacPherson suspects that a previous information leak was in fact the work of a Hegemony spy; Nikola questions Brandt, who responds with indignance. After a series of missions against the Hegemony, Nikola's aircraft is ambushed and shot down, and he is captured by Pentheus. During this time, Pentheus tells him that a traitor within Strike Force Centauri is responsible for the ambush. The squad rescues Nikola, but Schuyler is killed in the assault. At his funeral, Ashford accuses Nikola as the traitor.It soon becomes clear that MacPherson is being poisoned. Nikola believes that Brandt is responsible, because of his recent disappearances, but is proven wrong. After MacPherson dies, Sarah Walker takes his place as commander of Strike Force Centauri. Walker sends Nikola, disguised as a pirate, on an espionage mission to discover the traitor's identity. Nikola finds information that incriminates Ashford, who, when confronted, boasts of his actions and leaps to his death from a docking bay. The squad continues the war, and the Hegemony is eventually forced to gather its remaining forces at a base on Thatcher. The squad destroys the facility by detonating a highly explosive fuel tank inside it. Following its defeat, the Hegemony denies involvement in the war, declares Pentheus a rogue agent and appoints a new ambassador to the system. While angered by the announcement, Strike Force Centauri celebrates its victory as the game ends.
Development
Terra Nova was conceived in 1992, around the time that Looking Glass Technologies' first game, Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, was completed. Company co-founder Paul Neurath wrote a design document for a tactical, squad-based game with a science fiction setting, and he helped the team initiate its development. Artist Robb Waters created concept art. It was originally titled Freefall, because of the way the soldiers enter combat by dropping from aircraft. Development was initially led by a newly hired programmer who envisioned the game as an exact simulation, in which every element was as realistic as possible. Programmer Dan Schmidt created the game's artificial intelligence, and he attempted to make squadmates intelligently follow orders and provide assistance, instead of merely "staying out of your way". Schmidt hired Eric Brosius and Terri Brosius, then-members of the band Tribe, to compose the game's music, which was called "orchestrally flavored" by the Boston Herald. As with their 1995 video game Flight Unlimited, Looking Glass Technologies self-published Terra Nova.The game began production alongside the company's second project, Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds, and remained in development after that game's 1993 release. It then continued through the creation of their titles System Shock and Flight Unlimited. The game was subject to numerous delays, which Schmidt later attributed to its lack of a set deadline. He stated that the team was "trying to go with the same philosophy" as the company's earlier games, in that they would "develop the systems and the game would come out of it". However, the team's development priorities regularly changed, and the programmer who led the project left several years into production. According to Schmidt, his departure meant that "there was no-one left who was psyched about making this really simulation". Despite this fact, the team continued using the idea, even though serious difficulties were involved in achieving it. Schmidt said that the game's development status was uncertain after the programmer left, and that he inherited the role of lead programmer around that time merely because the position had to be filled. He later assumed the role of project leader. In January 1995, Looking Glass showed Terra Nova alongside Flight Unlimited at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show, under their "Immersive Reality" marketing label.
In the team's original plan, Terra Nova consisted of missions that were bookended by simplistic cutscenes, akin to those of the 1990 Origin Systems video game Wing Commander. However, in 1994, Origin released Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger, which features live-action full-motion video cutscenes. This pressured Looking Glass into incorporating FMV into Terra Nova. Schmidt later said, "Lots of A-list games were including more and more FMV, and it was felt by management that if Terra Nova didn't have any, it would look second-rate." The decision to include it came when the game was already overdue, and a large portion of the game's funding was redirected toward cutscene production. A scriptwriter from outside the company was hired to write the cutscenes; because of the interplay between the cutscenes and missions, the script underwent numerous rewrites. The game's delays and large budget resulted in the removal of a planned online multiplayer component, and the FMV cutscenes, which were expensive to produce, increased the number of sales needed to recoup development costs. A patch was planned to release post-launch in September 1996 and add the online multiplayer functionality, but it did not materialize. Schmidt called the cutscenes a "giant distraction" for the team and himself as project leader: he later described them as "cheesier than most" of those from the period and noted that "I wince a lot looking back on ". Schmidt believed that they were likely an error from a business standpoint, as they further increased the game's budget and production length, but ultimately did not increase sales.
Roughly a year before its release, the team concluded that Terra Novas realistic, simulation-style gameplay was not enjoyable. However, Schmidt said that the game's already lengthy development meant that it had to be released; otherwise, he believed that it would be canceled, or that its high cost would bankrupt the company. As a result, the game was completely redesigned to be "much more arcadey" only a few months before release. Schmidt said that, in the new game, "you were going around blowing people up" and "your enemies have brackets on them showing their health and it's very bright and glowy and green". He believed that these elements drastically increased the game's enjoyability. He summarized, "Six months before it shipped the game wasn't fun at all and we actually ended up shipping something that was at least somewhat enjoyable to play". After previously being slated to launch in the second quarter of 1995, the game was released on March 5, 1996; by this time, its graphical technology had been surpassed by other video games, according to Schmidt. Lead programmer Art Min later expressed dissatisfaction with the game: he believed that, while the team coalesced at the end of development, they shipped the game too soon because of "an overexcited VP of Product Development".