Heavy Gear (video game)

Heavy Gear
Developer(s) Activision
Publisher(s) Activision
Designer(s) Dustin Browder, Jeff Jorczak, John Harris, Michael Ward
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release 1997
Genre(s) First-person shooter
Vehicle simulation game
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Heavy Gear is a 1997 computer game based on the Heavy Gear role-playing game. A sequel, Heavy Gear II, was released in 1999.

Development

Faced with the loss of the BattleTech-MechWarrior property, Activision's Production Executive, Frank Evers, spearheaded the acquisition of the Heavy Gear video game license in 1995. The game was made for the Windows 95 operating system and was partly based on a game engine derived from existing MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries code. It was released in 1997.[1] Before the release of the PC game an arcade version based on the Virtuality Hardware Platforms was developed but never released. It is unknown if the dwindling interest in Virtual Reality arcade games or the high cost of manufacturing were the reasons, but from the existing footage one can assume that the game was already in a quite late stage of development since even animated instructions on how to use the Arcade hardware and an intro video were implemented as seen in the footage. The working title was "Heavy Gear Extreme".[2]

Plot

The story follows the crew of the CNCS landship Vigilance (an enormous hovercraft carrier) as they played a cat-and-mouse game across the Badlands with a rival landship from the AST, the Draco.

Reception

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
CGW[3]
CVG30/100[4]
Computer Games Strategy Plus[5]

In Computer Gaming World, Greg Fortune wrote, "The most disappointing thing about this game is that you see lots of parts of the game that really do show care and creativity." He considered Heavy Gear a missed opportunity that failed to live up to its competitor, the MechWarrior franchise. Fortune concluded, "As it stands, the game feels more like a beta than a finished product and is woefully incomplete in many areas."[3] Alex C of Computer & Video Games dismissed the game as "yet another tweak to the aging MechWarrior 2 engine."[4]

Writing for Computer Games Strategy Plus, Tom Chick summarized, "It's not a total loss, but what's good about Heavy Gear is the stuff that was good about the MechWarrior games all along. But what's bad about Heavy Gear is inexcusable coming from a veteran team of game designers."[5]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.mobygames.com/game-group/heavy-gear-series
  2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyl3gp_7ylY
  3. 1 2 Fortune, Greg (January 16, 1998). "Heavy Gear". Computer Gaming World. Archived from the original on August 16, 2000.
  4. 1 2 Alex C. "Giant Robo on a snooker table!". Computer & Video Games. Archived from the original on January 20, 2007.
  5. 1 2 Chick, Tom. "Heavy Gear". Computer Games Strategy Plus. Archived from the original on April 6, 2005.
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