Iron Soldier

Iron Soldier
Cover art in all regions featuring the titular mech designed by Mark J.L. Simmons
Developer(s) Eclipse Software Design
Publisher(s)
  • JP: Mumin Corporation
Producer(s) Sean Patten
Designer(s) Marc Rosocha
Programmer(s) Michael Bittner
Artist(s) Bleick Bleicken
Christian Reissmüller
Olivier Lindau
Writer(s) Sean Patten
Composer(s) Joachim Gierveld
Mario Knezović
Nate Brenholdt
Series Iron Soldier
Platform(s) Atari Jaguar
Release
Genre(s) First-person shooter, mech simulator, open world
Mode(s) Single-player

Iron Soldier is a open-world first-person mecha simulation video game developed by Eclipse Software Design and published by Atari Corporation for the Atari Jaguar in North America and Europe on December 22, 1994 and later in Japan on March 24, 1995.[1][2][3] It is the first entry in the Iron Soldier franchise, which spawned Iron Soldier 2 and Iron Soldier 3.

Gameplay

The player controls a robot spanning 42 feet or 13 metres in a series of 16 missions consisting of destroying certain enemies and buildings. Some missions require the player to obtain new weapons from an enemy base or destroy other robots.

The player has a wide variety of weapons like rocket launchers, a chainsaw, Gatling gun, shield, and self-controlled rockets, which can be equipped on any part of the robot.

Development

Iron Soldier was in development since November 1993 and many of the personnel at Eclipse Software Design, including his founder Marc Rosocha, previously worked at Thalion Software and developed titles such as Wings of Death and its sequel. Originally the team pitched a on-rails 3D shooter game similar in vein to Namco's Starblade to the executives at Atari Corporation, but it was rejected for not being a free-roaming title.[4][5] The team kept developing tools and prototypes for the Jaguar but had nothing in regards to a full-fledged game until Marc and his team meet with Sean Patten, the game's producer, who is "a big mecha and Godzilla fan".[5] He suggested to develop a mech game and the team agreed as long as they could destroy everything up, with Marc explaining that the three pillars that formed the final product were "heavy property damage, a mech theme and a game that was open world and not on rails".[4]

The game made its appearance at SCES 1994 in an early playable state.[6] Iron Soldier runs at 30 frames per second and the three-dimensional models consist of 200 polygons, with some of them having texture mapping applied.[5]

GamePro magazine reported that Iron Soldier would support two-player gaming via the Jaguar Voice Modem by Phylon, Inc.[7][8] However, the Jaguar Voice Modem was never completed or released, so Iron Soldier was released as a single-player game only.

Release

Iron Soldier Beta

In 2006, a prototype of the title in the ownership of video game collector Gary DuVall, was released under the title Iron Soldier Beta.[9] Only 50 copies of the prototype were distributed and created by community member Gusbucket13 of defunct Jaguar Sector II website with the blessing of both the original developer and the owner of the prototype.[10] Demand was high, given that the prototype contained significant differences from the released version including several new weapons and defense mechanisms.[11]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
GameRankings72%[12]
Review scores
PublicationScore
AllGame[13]
Atari Inside90%[14]
Atari World[15]
CD Consoles[16]
CVG78 / 100[17]
Consoles +88%[18]
Edge8 / 10[19]
EGM37 / 50[20]
Excalibur72%[21]
GameFan278 / 300[22]
Game Players85%[23]
GamePro18.5 / 20[24]
Hobby Consolas80 / 100[25]
LeveL85[26]
MAN!AC79%[27]
Mega Fun77%[28]
Next Generation[29]
Player One92%[30]
Play Time77%[31]
Score78%[32]
Super Game Power4.5 / 5.0[33]
ST-Computer80%[34]
ST Magazine64 / 100[35]
Ultimate Future Games88%[36]
Video Games83%[37]
VideoGames7 / 10[38]
Award
PublicationAward
GameFan (1994)Best Simulation,[39] Simulation Game of the Year (Jaguar)[39]

Iron Soldier received a mixture of opinions from reviewers, though a slight majority gave it a positive recommendation. Mike Weigand of Electronic Gaming Monthly commented that the controls are difficult to get used to, but praised the polygon graphics and the ability to choose which stage to play.[20] GamePro's Manny LaMancha, while acknowledging that the game's controls are complicated, maintained that they don't take long to master. He also praised the polygon graphics and most especially the simple yet intense gameplay.[24] The three reviewers of GameFan, while criticizing the lack of texture mapping, said the polygonal graphics have considerable impact. They applauded the gameplay for its variety, challenge, and addictiveness.[22] Next Generation's brief review assessed it as "just plain, good old-fashioned destruction."[29] Gary Lord of Computer and Video Games found it to be passable but unimpressive, remarking that "The control method is far from intuitive, the movement is slow and at times unresponsive, the missions often unclear as to how the objective is to be obtained." He and "second opinion" reviewer Mark Patterson compared the game unfavorably to its contemporary Metal Head in terms of both gameplay and visuals.[17]

Legacy

In 1996, the game's trademark was abandoned.[40][41]

References

  1. ↑ "Atari releases Iron Solider". TheFreeLibrary.com. Business Wire. December 22, 1994. Retrieved 2018-06-18.
  2. ↑ Castle, Justin (July 21, 2018). "Historical Atari Jaguar UK Magazine Advert/Reviews Collection" (PDF). Issuu. p. 340. Retrieved 2018-09-04.
  3. ↑ "JAGUAR Soft > 1994-1995". GAME Data Room (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 25 August 2018. Retrieved 2018-09-04.
  4. 1 2 Charnock, Tom (March 2017). "The History Of: Iron Soldier". Retro Gamer. No. 165. Future Publishing. p. 76-81.
  5. 1 2 3 "Pre Screen - Iron Soldier". Edge. No. 12. Future plc. September 1994. pp. 32–33.
  6. ↑ BiffsGamingVideos (November 8, 2011). 1994 SCES: Parts 01-12 (Atari, Llamasoft, 4-Play) (28min 10sec). YouTube.
  7. ↑ "ProNews - Jaguar, Phone Home". GamePro. No. 63. IDG. October 1994. p. 178.
  8. ↑ "Short ProShots - Iron Soldier". GamePro. No. 65. IDG. December 1994. p. 273.
  9. ↑ "Prototype Media - Atari Jaguar - Iron Soldier". Operation 9 :: Experiments in Video Game Technology. June 25, 2007. Archived from the original on 21 June 2014. Retrieved 2018-03-01.
  10. ↑ "Jaguar Sector II Atari Jaguar Software Price and Rarity Guide". jaguarsector.com. Archived from the original on 11 January 2013. Retrieved 2018-03-01.
  11. ↑ viMasterJag (July 5, 2008). Iron Soldier Beta – Atari Jaguar. YouTube.
  12. ↑ "Iron Soldier for Jaguar". GameRankings. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
  13. ↑ Knight, Kyle. "Iron Soldier - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on 14 November 2014. Retrieved 2018-06-05.
  14. ↑ Kimmlingen, Stefan (February 1995). "Spiele - Jaguar: Iron Soldier". Atari Inside (in German). No. 2. falkemedia.
  15. ↑ Laskey, Iain (June 1995). "Product Review - Iron Soldier". Atari World. No. 2. Neal O'Nions. p. 32.
  16. ↑ Msika, David (December 1994). "Les Critiques - Iron Soldier". CD Consoles (in French). No. 2. Pressimage. pp. 104–107.
  17. 1 2 Lord, Gary (March 1995). "CVG Review - Iron Soldier". Computer and Video Games. No. 160. Future Publishing. pp. 84–85.
  18. ↑ "Jaguar Review - Iron Soldier". Consoles + (in French). No. 39. M.E.R.7. January 1995. pp. 94–95.
  19. ↑ "Testscreen - Iron Soldier". Edge. No. 18. Future plc. March 1995. p. 84.
  20. 1 2 "Review Crew - Major Mike's Game Roundup - Iron Soldier". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 68. EGM Media, LLC. March 1995. p. 38.
  21. ↑ Valenta, Jan (March 16, 1995). "Recenze - Atari Jaguar - Iron Soldier - Vždyt' je tak snadné rozšlapnout tank!". Excalibur (in Czech). No. 42. L.L.G. pp. 22–23.
  22. 1 2 "Viewpoint - Iron Soldier". GameFan. No. Volume 3, Issue 1. Shinno Media. January 1995. pp. 24–25.
  23. ↑ "News - 3DO/Jaguar - Iron Soldier". Game Players. No. 68. Signal Research. February 1995. p. 22.
  24. 1 2 LaMancha, Manny (March 1995). "ProReview: Iron Soldier". GamePro. No. 68. IDG. p. 100.
  25. ↑ Caravaca, Antonio (August 1995). "Atari Jaguar - Un Gigante Muy Bien Armado - Iron Soldier". Hobby Consolas (in Spanish). No. 47. Axel Springer SE. pp. 84–85.
  26. ↑ Hovora, Jan (April 1995). "Recenze - Atari Jaguar - Iron Soldier". LeveL (in Czech). No. 3. Naked Dog, s.r.o. pp. 32–33.
  27. ↑ "Spiele-Tests - Iron Soldier". MAN!AC (in German). No. 16. Cybermedia Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. February 1995. pp. 48–49.
  28. ↑ Hellert, Stefan (February 1995). "Test Jaguar - Iron Soldier". Mega Fun (in German). No. 29. CT Computec Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. p. 110.
  29. 1 2 "Finals - Jaguar - Iron Soldier". Next Generation. No. 2. Imagine Media. February 1995. p. 92.
  30. ↑ Wolfen (January 1995). "Tests - Jaguar - Iron Soldier". Player One (in French). No. 49. Média Système Édition. pp. 94–95.
  31. ↑ Girlich, Stephan (March 1995). "Jaguar Reviews - Iron Soldier". Play Time (in German). No. 45. CT Computec Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. p. 118.
  32. ↑ Anastasov, Andrej (March 1995). "Recenze - Iron Soldier". Score (in Czech). No. 15. Omega Publishing Group. p. 34.
  33. ↑ "Atari Jaguar - Iron Soldier". Super Game Power (in Portuguese). No. 15A. Nova Cultural. June 1995. p. 6.
  34. ↑ "Jaguar: Iron Soldier". ST-Computer (in German). No. 107. falkemedia. March 1995. p. 94.
  35. ↑ Abramson, Marc (March 1995). "Cahier Loisirs / Test - Jaguar: 3 Nouveaux Jeux - Iron Soldier". ST Magazine (in French). No. 92. Pressimage. pp. 58–59.
  36. ↑ "Iron Soldier - Metal and Nerves of Steel". Ultimate Future Games. No. 3. Future Publishing. February 1995. p. 92.
  37. ↑ Schaedle, Wolfgang (February 1995). "Atari Jaguar - Reviews - Iron Soldier". Video Games (in German). No. 39. Future-Verlag. p. 89.
  38. ↑ Loftus, Jim (February 1995). "Power Reviews - Jaguar - Iron Soldier - Iron Soldier Quickly Becomes An All-Out, Obsessive War!". VideoGames - The Ultimate Gaming Magazine. No. 73. L.F.P., Inc. p. 69.
  39. 1 2 "GameFan's Third Annual Megawards". GameFan. No. Volume 3, Issue 1. Shinno Media. January 1995. pp. 68–75.
  40. ↑ W. Harding, Craig (April 18, 1996). "IRON SOLDIER - Trademark Details". justia.com. Retrieved 2018-09-11.
  41. ↑ W. Harding, Craig (April 18, 1996). "IRON SOLDIER Trademark Information". trademarkia.com. Retrieved 2018-09-11.
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