Muzzle Velocity
Muzzle Velocity was a PC game released
in 1997. The game was a unique hybrid of standard map-based tactical
gaming, and first person 3-D action.
The game was
developed by Code Fusion and Digi4Fun. At the time or release, it
could lay claim to being "the ONLY true war strategy game that puts
you in the middle of the action". (Microprose's M1 Tank Platoon
was similar, but was considered a simulation rather than a true
strategy game.) The game graphics were garishly bright in colour,
though armoured vehicles sported historically accurate camouflage
paint jobs, and many touches were added to the 3-D world that would
remain absent in later, more serious, wargames (such as Combat
Mission) such as civilians, telephone poles, and moving railroad
trains.
The player would
select forces and move them on the two-dimensional battle map, while
a tactical
AI would resolve battles;
however, the player could jump from unit to unit, taking over in a
first person capacity. Game play was very arcade-like, and damage
modelling was unrealistic in the extreme. Heavy machine guns could
be used to knock stone buildings into piles of rubble, for example,
and individual penetration statistics of the various weapons and
armoured vehicles seem to have been fictional. As well, limitations
of the game engine restricted engagement ranges to a few hundred
metres.
Up to 100 units could
be controlled in the overhead two-dimensional mode. The
three-dimensional mode featured a simple and generic graphics
interface for vehicle controls.
Players could control
British, American, or German forces. Weather effects were included,
such as snow and rain falling in the 3D world, and terrain was
realistic and textured, with bullrushes in swampy areas and
decorative lamp posts in urban areas. Sound effects included
realistic voices (though all nationalities spoke with an English
accent, including inadvertently comic "Get out! Get out!" shouts
when unloading passengers from vehicles, or apologetic "oops" when
crushing civilians underneath tank treads.)
Terrain was
deformable, with trees and
lamp-posts snapping underneath vehicles and buildings collapsing
under high explosive fire (though .50 calibre machine gun fire was
also enough to bring down multi-story stone buildings also.)
The game was solo
play only, with no two-player capabilities.
The game is also
remembered for a stunning three-dimensional intro video with
animated tanks doing battle in a simulated hillside village; the
graphics in the game did not unfortunately live up to the title
movie.
Code Fusion was a US
subsidiary of Digi4Fun, which was created for holding the exclusive
US distribution rights. The game was based on the Pharlap DOS
Extender, which enabled it to run beyond the DOS memory limit of
640K. The minimum specs called for 12MB, but 16MB was required to
run the game smoothly.


 |

Muzzle Velocity |
Developer: |
Code Fusion/Digi4Fun |
Platform: |
Windows |
Date
of Release: |
1997 |
Scale: |
Man-to-Man |
Genre: |
Hybrid 2-D strategy and
3-D FPS/veh sim |
Players: |
1 only |
Campaign Type: |
Linked scenario |
|

Sequence from the
opening video |