| |
 |
|
Damn!
What the hell is going on here? A good game on the 3DO?
You better believe it. As a matter of fact, for a number
of years Return Fire was the only real reason to be
even vaguely in the vicinity of that whore-beast of
a format that was the 3DO (that was, until the PlayStation
version of the game appeared in 1996).
It's also ironic, in a way, that one of the finest hours
of a machine that was consistently touted as a technological
messiah is nothing but a simple, action / shooting overhead
strategy game.
The
single aim of Return Fire is to locate and seize the
opponent army's 'flag', and return it to your base.
There are 4 different kinds of machines at your disposal:
a tank, an armoured 'A.S.V' vehicle, a helicopter, and
a small jeep. Each of the first three present a different
set of offensive attributes, while the quick but non-offensive
jeep is solely for transporting a flag.
And there you have it. It's an absolutely hilarious
2-player versus game, and herein lies the game's only
deficit: the one-player missions are a complete waste
of time.
The control system might take a second or two to get
to grips with, but the game rapidly becomes a cutthroat
orgy of tact, skill, decoys, tricks and traps. Blowing
up supply routes, moving your own flag to a near-unaccessible
area, mining the entrance to the opponent's base...
Anything goes.
A true one-off from small-timers 'Silent Software';
a massive surprise that almost immediately became a
cult classic. The soundtrack playlist (below) is also
a great pull. It is entirely composed of iconic classical
themes that suit the action to a T. |
|
