Shattered Steel
$18.95		(DOS) (Retail) (SHATTERSPR)

Interplay

Game

Ratings:

87% from PC Gamer

7 out of 10 from Computer Player

Strike First. Strike Fast. Strike Hard.

Seconds after your planet runner punches through the dense atmosphere, your radar sounds. You see them. Your heart pumps raw fear into your brain. Welcome to the firestorm.

The year, 2132.

The Conflict. The Core Wars, waged by rival factions for natural resources - and ultimate survival - left society in ruins.

The Consequence. Massive industrial conglomerates deploy mechanized mercenary armies to maintain a tenuous order.

The Warrior. You're a hotshot runner pilot. You've neutralized hundreds of pirates and rival ops on over 22 words.

The Hardware. Your lethal Planet Runner navigates any terrain and strikes with devastating firepower.

The Mission. Alien forces have taken over. Cleanse the planet and restore order.

50 adrenaline-pounding missions plus 15 multi-player missions in a fully navigable, ultra-realistic voxel-rendered terrain that simulates any natural geography.

Real time terrain damage: tactical nukes blast huge holes in the landscape, leaving pits of burned out wreckage in their wake!

Up to 16 player network battles, anarchy deathmatches and team missions plus head-to-head modem warfare.

Over 20 aggressive 3D alien predators animated in real time.

Arm your Planet Runner with blazing firepower - over 25 armaments: including gatling guns, guided missiles, fuel-air mortars and plasma cannons.

Requirements:

IBM PC compatible running DOS 5.0 or later, 486/66 or faster, 8MB RAM minimum, 16MB RAM required for 16bit audio, 25MB hard disk space, 2x CD-ROM drive, VGA required with SVGA support.

Supports: Sound Blaster compatible sound cards, Microsoft compatible mouse, joystick, Virtual I/O I-glasses. Windows 95 compatible in DOS window. Strongly recommended: Pentium processor with 16MB RAM.

Reviews:

PC Gamer, January 1997

"Finally, we get a mech combat game where we don't have to worry about overly complex controls and astronomical system requirements, and cut right to the heart of the matter - because, after all, there's nothing any red-blooded American loves more than cracking open a can of suds, hopping in a giant robot armed to the teeth with death-dealing nuclear weapons, and blasting the living snot out of some phlegm-sucking alien invaders who think they can take over our planet. Shattered Steel is a superb title that delivers the righteous 'bot-blasting goods of elaborate mech sims like MechWarrior 2 and Earth Siege II with arcade simplicity."

"While the premise is standard shoot-'em-up fodder, Shattered Steel sets itself apart from the complex story-driven missions of MechWarrior 2 or Earth Siege II by cutting straight to the chase. Pure action dominates every twist and turn in the game."

Computer Player, December 1996

"How, you may ask, can mech games get much different? I'm glad you asked. The first thing that will smack you in the face is how much better Shattered Steel looks that any of its brethren. Using a 3D Voxel engine, BioWare (the game's developer) created a breathtakingly beautiful world through which you'll travel. Unlike previous games that pixelate or break up when you get too close to a surface, Shattered Steel keeps everything looking relatively good, no matter how close you get. Further, the game utilizes some very interesting lighting routines that accurately reflect explosions and other lighting shifts. Add to this your ability to affect the terrain with your guns, and you're left with a very immerssive gaming environment."

"So you're asking yourself right now, 'If you like it so much, why did it get a 7?' Let me take this opportunity to say that (a) 7 isn't a bad score; in fact, it's above average, and (b) beneath all the graphical improvements and weaponry additions, this is still a MechWarrior 2 clone (albeit a very good clone). Your missions never depart too far from previous mission types and the variety of weapons, while cool, are still reminiscent of the variety available in other mech games. So even though I really dug the game, it didn't have the 'Wow, I've never seen that before!' effect on me."

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