Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri

Whether a game is just good or.. a masterpiece? 'Cuz this one really hit that checkbox, but let's analyze it : 1. Does have a nice gameplay or mechanics? YES, it does. This is one of those game right out development hell that have managed to create a stellar action gameplay while having a more ''strategic '' approach to the missions( Gonna level with you, it reminded me a LOT of wing commander, only, you know, mech instead of space ships). 2. Speaking of Wing commander, does it have action- live cutscene? YES ( although, I must admit, there are a little fetish of mine, especially when there are bad acting in it... not that in this game are, only a few ones, while the rest actually are pretty immersive). 3. Does the game have a nice story? Mmmmm YES, I mean it's not super complicated, but it does have some nice twist to it, actually way more than I expected, only predictable part was the ending (which was still good). 4. What about graphics and soundtrack? the immersion factor? Mmmmm another difficult one. So, immersion : YES / Graphics and sundtrack : YES.. but it's really subjective ( which are all opinion, I suppose). Remember the Development hell? I made a little research of my own ( I was curious since I never head about to this game until 2021) and discovered that gameplay was heavily modified before shipment, and came out outdated both in sound and graphics.. but since now It'll be mostly played only by retrò gamers and nostalgia fans, it's ironically not that much of a deal. 5. Final point. all in all, Is it fun to play now? Well, if you didn't catch that from this entire review, the answer is.. YES! it got a ton of missions, companions, weapons, enemies but it doesn't overstay its welcome. And, to top it all off, it's still fresh and enjoyable, more so now more than ever.

Just finished the game and it was great, the graphics are to be expected, like shit from a game from 1996 , the most of cutscenes are akward if not down right bad and the world building it hidden in mountaints of text, but the gameplay and the mechanics make it so fun and never gets dull, i never had a moment where i got bored while playing it, my only problem it's that i want more from it but the game itself it just 37 levels that you can beat in 5 minutes per level and the arena that is great but is also short, but after that there is nothing more, loved the game but it just to short, also the soundtrack it the best one i ever heard

The Good: Terra Nova is a FPS/Jetpack and squad command game. You select the load outs of weapons and squad members including the battle suit types etc, you can pick and instruct your squad mates to perform mission objectives and know they will get on with it, so you can concentrate on your own objectives. You should always use drones to highlight enemies a head of time and use various tactics, in fact nothing has before or since come close to the seemingly effortless mix of complex options and instructions, yet presented in a simple manner. The Bad: User interface is somewhat dated and can feel clunky at first also it has some really "Cheesy" FMV. If your in doubt about this game watch or read one of the many reviews that are still made about this game now, it was ground breaking in 96 and even now one of the best games I have ever played!

I haven't played any Mech game whatsoever but i am big fan of Looking Glass Studios. Terra Nova to me felt like a mix of Delta Force (with its outdoors) and Battlezone 1-2 in terms of its shooting mechanics. I got into it pretty fast. To get a comfortable experience i used GlovePIE and found a script to map the turn keys and look up/down to the mouse. Once done it played pretty damn well. Easy as pie to set up. I rebound S as W (forward key) ingame with Dosbox's remapper so i could use SZXC instead of WASD because A-D were mapped to the mouse. Z, C are strafe keys and X is move back hence SZXC was a viable option. The game's FMV's took alot of the games budget as i read so i played it well aware that it might have it's shortcomings. Pros: Impressively large outdoor environments. Decent story, acting. Gameplay is basic but fun. Sound effects & music are decent. High quality cutscenes for its time. Cons: Clunky controls. I wish it had proper mouselook instead of "mouselook on-screen" hence i used Glovepie. Escort missions can be really hard until you learn more game mechanics. Max res of 320x400 is poor for being 1996 (Alot of games by 1996 had atleast 640x480 res) But there are budget reasons for that. All in all, a solid game, not perfect but certainly not terrible.

Nostalgie ist schon ein starker Faktor, wenn es bei mir um Gaming geht. Ich spiele viele neue Spiele, aber "ältere" üben auf mich eine besondere Faszination aus. Das gilt einerseits für diejenigen, die ich auch schon in meiner Jugend gespielt habe. Andererseits aber auch für solche, die ich nicht gekannt habe und heute zum ersten Mal erlebe - wie "Strike Force Centauri". Ich kannte das Spiel nur von seinem Cover und habe es 2023 zum ersten Mal gespielt, insofern schließt meine Bewertung nicht ein, dass ich es "von früher" kannte und somit eine Vorbegeisterung habe. Meine Begeisterung ist neu - und kam eigentlich schon während des Intros. "Terra Nova" hat großartige Videosequenzen in einer Mischung aus gerenderten Modellen und echten SchauspielerInnen. Das Design der Raumschiffe und Anzüge sowie der Landschaften finde ich sehr gelungen, die SchauspielerInnen - nun, vielleicht nicht ganz so bekannt wie in Wing Commander 3 und 4, aber sie versprühen diesen B-Movie-Charme der 90er-Sci-Fi-Filme, den ich zugegebenermaßen sehr mag. Das eigentliche Spiel aber ist ein großer Spaß! In Ich-Perspektive und einer für ein DOS-Spiel sehr detaillierten Landschaft erkunden wir übersichtliche Karten und bekämpfen Gegner und feindliche Basen, bevor wir uns zum Extraktionspunkt begeben und ausfliegen lassen. Das alles wirkt sehr stimmig, die Kampfszenen sind teilweise schwer, aber fair und die Kommunikation mit den selbst ausgewählten und ausgerüsteten Teammitgliedern funktioniert einfach und ohne komplizierte Tastenkombinationen. Ja, die einzelnen Missionen sind kurz (rund 5 Minuten), aber meiner Meinung nach ist das genau die richtige Dosis für das Spiel und wird außerdem mit einem super Soundtrack kombiniert, der sowohl im Kampf als auch bei Erkundungen genau die richtige Stimmung schafft. Belohnt wird man am Ende der Mission mit neuen Waffen, Anzügen und nicht zuletzt Videosequenzen. Das motiviert zum Weiterspielen. Insgesamt: ein großartiges Spiel auch in 2023!