Terminal Velocity

                  Review by Michael Raven

Terminal Velocity is one entertaining game. Fight the enemy
vessels over different planets. The storyline is this: Earth has
reigned over the ASFAR, a collection of planets, for hundreds of
years, with Earth supplying defence to the other worlds. Now the
other worlds have attacked Earth with armadas, destroying
installations and killing millions, without provocation.

You, with your single space ship, will take the battle to them,
blowing up vital radar stations, power generators, supply bunkers
and the like in this not-quite-a-flight-sim game.

I find flight sims too difficult. This, when I loaded it up, looks
like a flight sim, but is simpler. If you've played Descent, it's
like Descent but outside as well as inside. A radar panel shows
which way to go - find the objective, and blow it up. At points
you have to fly down into tunnels, which can be pretty scary at
high speeds.  Enemy upon enemy fighters and tanks will fire at you
whenever you get into range, but your ship seems to be unaffected
by it - must have a lot of shield power. You can get confused if
you fly up into the sky, and the ship is difficult to control,
like a fighter - when turning in a circle, you have to push up or
down to make sure you don't crash into a mountain. The objects in
the game are interactive i.e. you can shoot the trees and get
points for it, and there are hidden places to find, not on the
main map but there to pick up.

It is a little jerky and occasionally freezes on my Pentium 75
with 16MB RAM, but it might run okay on faster machines. It seems
a little difficult to hit enemy targets, but they soon get blown
up. I'm sure half of the enemy shoot each other or crash into
mountains - there's no way I shot as many as the end-level report
says I do.

Without the jerkiness, this would be one brilliant game. As it is,
it's good, but there seems to be something missing. While playing,
you're constantly thinking "Is this all there is?" which is
strange, as it is similar to Tie Fighter, which I am a strong
supporter of.  Perhaps the graphics are a little blocky. Have a go
of this game on someone else's PC, and if you like it, buy a copy.
It's good, but not great.

Terminal Velocity Ratings:

PRESENTATION 94% Excellent menus, intro movie, just like the big
shareware companies make.
PLAYABILITY 87% Easy to control - up, down, left, right and shoot.
GRAPHICS 81% A little blocky, but adequate.
SOUNDS 88% Excellent soundtrack, and has a fair go at in-game
sounds too.
LASTABILITY 90% Loads of levels to play at.

OVERALL 85% A good game, which I am pleased to have bought, but I
think if it was re-made now, it would be better.


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