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Why Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri Is Looking Glass’s Forgotten Classic

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Why Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri Is Looking Glass’s Forgotten Classic
Rob Zacny on July 3rd, 2015 at 5:00 pm.

terranova1.jpg


Released in 1996, tactical mech simulator Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri [GOG page] was one of Looking Glass’s most interesting games – and one of their biggest commercial failures. We asked Rob Zacny to explore what made the game so interesting in the wake of its recent addition to GOG.com.


Peggy O’Connell and her husband Kevin Kulp tell a story about her days at Looking Glass Studios, where she worked as a designer on Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri.

She’s asleep in bed while Kevin is playing Terra Nova on the computer in the next room. He’s been playing a ton of the game lately, and he’s got it pretty well figured-out. The mission he’s playing, however, involves deploying his squad of battle-suited soldiers against a pirate base on a moon. A pretty routine mission, and he treats it as such. He finds a safe vantage to scout the pirate defenses well out of range of their missile launchers and grenade launchers, while he rallies his squad and prepares to assault.

“I’m far from the pirate base,” he says. “Way too far for them to target me. I’m advancing slowly. Suddenly one of my squadmates shouts, ‘I’m hit! Systems critical! I’m out of here!’ Or something similar.

“I’m bewildered. What hit him? I glance at the pirate base and — WHAM! My second squadmate goes red, systems critical, and evacs. What? Now I look at the pirate base closely, see the thin line of the missile arcing in a low-gravity trajectory… and WHAM. Hits me head on, both the missile and what was happening.”

Kevin gets up from the computer and bursts into the bedroom. “Oh my God that moon mission is amazing! The low gravity! I couldn’t figure out why the pirates were hitting me until I realized, OF COURSE they can hit me. Because of the low gravity!”

Peggy is still half-asleep as she squints at Kevin. “It’s Dorian’s level. Leave me alone,” she growls, then turns over to get back to sleep.

It’s a cute story about their early days as a couple, but also about the place she worked and the way that work affected people. It’s about the way Terra Nova was a game that was built to let players make discoveries and figure things out for themselves. The kind of things that make you wake up your best friend in the middle of the night because the most amazing thing just happened, and you want to share it with someone.

terranova2.jpg


Terra Nova was one of the biggest flops in Looking Glass history. Perhaps not coincidentally, it’s also their most unusual.

While you could call Terra Nova a first person shooter, it’s really an attempt at simulating, in detail, the kind of powered battle armor so lovingly described in books like Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. It looks and plays more like a sub sim than an FPS, focusing on systems management over gunplay. While you are looking at the world through your suit’s visor, the real focus is on all the displays and tools that surround it. Information, communications, flexibility, and firepower are what Terra Nova is all about. The world outside is just a canvas where you can apply them.

“We just wanted to set up a lot of world systems that just worked, and worked together and made sense,” Dorian Hart, Terra Nova’s lead designer, says today. “So, with the moon mission, it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, because of the low gravity, we’re going to set up these specific things because of it.’ …Obviously you can keep that sort of thing in mind when you’re building new missions, but it didn’t come from a desire to fake out the player. It came from a feeling that it would be cool if the moons had less gravity, like a real moon. And then players will have to discover that and its consequences on their own.”

That was how Looking Glass approached game design, Hart insists. “At any given moment, in the LGS hallways, you could find anywhere from 2-6 people hanging around, having talks about things like that. That’s a very LGS thing to have happen. It was just in everybody’s mind all the time. What little details can we add to this world to make it more real, more simulation-y?”

terranova3.jpg


This isn’t a surprise coming from a veteran of the studio that practically created the “immersive sim” genre. Ultima Underworld, System Shock, and Thief are renowned for the ways that sophisticated systems created space for unexpected and life-like interactions between players, NPCs, and their environment. And Terra Nova, despite a number of mechanical and thematic differences compared to LGS’ more celebrated games, is more like them than it first appears.

“It was going to be a really hardcore powered battle armor simulation. Like, every tiny little detail simulated. And the game was mostly going to be about that, rather than shooting pirates and bad guys.” But turnover in the team, Hart explains, led the game in a different direction. “We wanted to make more of an Underworld-style, fun game. So we started making decisions that were decidedly not hardcore simulation.”

It may have been easy to say, in the mid-1990s, that Terra Nova had taken a turn away from simulation. But playing it today, it’s still surprising how detailed the game is. You can give your squadmates incredibly specific orders. To the point where you can basically let them do the majority of the fighting while you micromanage them via radio commands. You can deploy and control drone scouts and turrets, and use oddball “weapons” like an electromagnetic detection device that launches a grenade that briefly reveals enemies on your radar.

And it all takes place on maps that, back in 1996, were both enormous and surprisingly life-like. The terrain textures and models may not have been cutting edge even at the time, but they allowed Terra Nova to have sprawling levels full of realistic, contoured terrain.

It was, in some ways, a precursor to games like the early Spec Ops games or Ghost Recon: your small force is extremely capable, but gets overwhelmed if you don’t make sure to go into every battle from an advantageous position. So much of the game becomes about sneaking around hills, scouting out valleys, figuring out where the enemy is… and then murdering as many of them as possible before they can get a return shot off.

terranova4.jpg


Yet Terra Nova is almost the forgotten Looking Glass classic, even among fans of the studio. It sold disastrously at the time of its release and, unlike Thief, never really enjoyed an afterlife as a widely-available discount title.

“When people see me over the winter, wearing my old Looking Glass jacket,” Hart says, “I often get people stopping me and being like, ‘Looking Glass?! You mean like the computer games?!’I still get that, even though it’s 20 years after the fact. Anyone who recognizes the name Terra Nova tends to treat it with the same reverence as the other LGS games.”

“It’s just that fewer people have heard of it,” he adds.

Terra Nova was one of Looking Glass’s self-published games, a decision that many feel the studio did not have the experience to successfully execute. A hapless marketing effort didn’t help matters.

“No one knew how to sell it, or what it was,” Peggy O’Connell says now. “It didn’t get press or good promotion. It succeeded, inasmuch as it did, on good word of mouth and reviews. The smiling, polo-shirted marketing types really didn’t know what to do with it.”

You can still find the marketing trainwreck smoldering on YouTube, where the game’s trailer features strange, distorted voices and disembodied mouths repeatedly warning players that they’re probably not good enough to play Terra Nova. Especially not those who play “mindless shoot ‘em up games for children”. Like Doom fans. It’s a strange, dick-measuring approach that sits awkwardly alongside the reality of Looking Glass’s cerebral combat sim. It’s so busy putting people off the game that it never successfully explains what Terra Nova is.

But the real body-blow to Terra Nova, one that sent its production time spiraling out of control, was the decision to wrap the entire game around FMV narrative cutscenes.

“If any one decision torpedoed the game, it was that decision to go to FMV, to be just like Wing Commander,” Hart recalls. ” We weren’t’ going to have FMV, we were just going to have 2D cutscenes between missions. And then Wing Commander 3 came out, and the marketing guys’ minds were blown and suddenly it was all, ‘If we don’t have FMV, we will look second-rate!’ So, strangely, our answer to that was to produce third-rate rate FMV.”

terranova5.jpg


Despite the fact that LGS was a small company, they kept the filming in-house. Audio and video engineers from the company suddenly found themselves charged with shooting what amounted to a small movie. Designers and writers, including Hart, were taking time away from game development to do script rewrites.

“It was an INCREDIBLE time sink for the team,” Hart says. “I weep when I think how much more polished and fun the game could have been if the team had spent all the hours we spent worrying about and working on the FMV and instead spent it on anything else. I remember spending months and months of personal time making [the script] actually match the gameplay.”

FMV delayed Terra Nova by a year, Hart estimates, and it turned out to be a critical year. Look at screenshots of Terra Nova, release in 1996, after MechWarrior 2 had already been out for months. Graphics that would have been nearly cutting-edge if the game had come out in early 1995 were looking dated and smudged next to the state-of-the-art in 1996.

“MechWarrior sold the fantasy a bit better,” Hart admits. “You were actually in the powered battle armor. In Terra Nova, you weren’t, really. You had your HUD, but it wasn’t as cool a the MechWarrior HUD if you put them side by side. [In theory] Terra Nova …should have tapped into the teenager’s regard for putting on a giant metal suit, but it wasn’t quite the direct needle in the vein they wanted out of that experience.”

So Terra Nova’s fate was sealed. It was late to market behind an instant-classic that worked in a superficially similar vein, saddled with expensive and low-quality FMV and a marketing campaign whose chief argument in favor of Terra Nova was that it was “not for beginners”. It sold 100,000 copies, an abysmal number even by the smaller-scale of mid-90s PC gaming.

And yet Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri remains unique. Since it came out, nobody has really made a convincing future-combat infantry simulation. It was at odds with what came before and what followed. Ironically, this has kept it fresh and original in a way many of its contemporaries no longer are.
 
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Siobhan

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Now I want a Terra Nova Director's Cut with 2D cutscenes instead of the FMVs. Everything else can stay the same, it's already perfect.
 

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Played that game to death. It was brilliant. Never forgot how massive it all felt, how powerfull yet vulnerable your suit felt, how amazing it was to jump over a hill and rain death below or how awesome the missions where designed. The game was a classic and the only game ever to actually have you play with a powered mobile infantry armor. They may cry about the time spend on the fmv or script but it really did wonders for the presentation and feel of the game.

Always expected a sequel as Looking Glass basically ended the game with everything in place for just that or someone else to pick up on the ideas presented. Alas, it never happened. Not even mods with mission packs and the like. Massive disappointment. Oh well, time to head to GOG and replay it.

EDIT: Terra Nova also had an awesome manual filled with cool artwork. Back then they usually didn't skimp on the booklets and this one isn't an exception. I really loved leafing through it.

http://www.replacementdocs.com/download.php?view.2278
 
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Jaesun

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Released in 1996... And then Wing Commander 3 came out, and the marketing guys’ minds were blown and suddenly it was all, ‘If we don’t have FMV...

:M
 

Trash

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That's one of my pet peeves. In the 90's gaming went from a niche hobby to an industry and with that came the takeover by suits and marketing guys.



Anyhoo, what this article doesn't really mention is how the game got raving reviews at the time in pretty much every magazine. It also got labelled as needing a very heavy pc to run though. That was named as a big reason why many people never bought it here.
 

:Flash:

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The game was a classic and the only game ever to actually have you play with a powered mobile infantry armor. They may cry about the time spend on the fmv or script but it really did wonders for the presentation and feel of the game.

Always expected a sequel as Looking Glass basically ended the game with everything in place for just that or someone else to pick up on the ideas presented. Alas, it never happened.
Well, there was Outwars, which was a dumbed down Terra Nova, and a dumbed down version is all we'd ever get anyway.
 

Dayyālu

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Terra Nova was a good game.

The only heir of TN was maybe Tribes, and the original Tribes (before the skyiing bug discovery) in MP would probably have been fairly similar to the Terra Nova MP, somewhat slow, tactical and requiring careful coordination.

They may cry about the time spend on the fmv or script but it really did wonders for the presentation and feel of the game.

Script an FMVs are fairly bad, though, and I got enough "atmosphere" from the manual and the overall gameplay. As the article says, money and time badly spent instead if making a more complex campaign. Terra Nova is an example where the "cinematic&awesome" requirements killed off a game.

And I only wanted to play the Hegemony and shoot the arrogant colonists, but no, you have to play as the Not!Americans
 

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Campaign wasx complex enough with a really wide variety of mission types and approaches to how you could tackle them. Infiltration, demolition, ambushes and lots of twists and turns during them. And regarding Tribes being it's spiritual sequel. Terra Nova really was a simulator at heart. Camera drones, deployable turrets, smoke grenades to negate laser fire, microwave guns that go right past shielding, squad orders and helmet cams. Sure, sometimes it devolved into a frantic close range slaughter but that usually meant something went wrong somewhere. There was so much in this game. Looking Glass through and through.

And that box art.

1046-terra-nova-strike-force-centauri-dos-front-cover.jpg


:love:
 

Dayyālu

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Campaign wasx complex enough with a really wide variety of mission types and approaches to how you could tackle them. Infiltration, demolition, ambushes and lots of twists and turns during them.

Maybe it's that it left me hungering for more. I had the feeling that the campaign was barely starting to gain steam as it ended, but again maybe that's me.

And regarding Tribes being it's spiritual sequel. Terra Nova really was a simulator at heart. Camera drones, deployable turrets, smoke grenades to negate laser fire, microwave guns that go right past shielding, squad orders and helmet cams. Sure, sometimes it devolved into a frantic close range slaughter but that usually meant something went wrong somewhere. There was so much in this game. Looking Glass through and through.

Tribes was developed as a fairly slow, "tactical" game also. Radars, packs, command, vehicles, mines and deployable turrets.... the direction it took was a surprise for the developers. Sure, TN is far more of a simulator, I agree.
 

Kersey

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I have a distinct memory of Terra Nova being the first game - at least the first I took interest in - to list a Pentium as a minimum requirement to run the game. That may have limited its commercial potential. Admittedly I was struggling with the trusty old 486 by 1996 but I'd imagine I wasn't the only one. Later on in 1997 when I did upgrade to a Pentium 100 MHz I managed to find a second hand copy of Terra Nova and played the crap out of it and even enjoyed the cutscene cheese. But it was long gone from store shelves by then so I guess I wasn't much of a help for Looking Glass back then. Funnily enough not too long after Thief would again have minimum requirements far exceeding my current hardware in 1998-99 forcing me to upgrade.

Wallowing in nostalgia, such fun.
 

Jack Dandy

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Well shit, I always wanted to play a game that simulated the Starship Troopers battle armor.
Didn't realize one existed.

Giving this a go.
 

DraQ

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Played that game to death. It was brilliant. Never forgot how massive it all felt, how powerfull yet vulnerable your suit felt, how amazing it was to jump over a hill and rain death below or how awesome the missions where designed. The game was a classic and the only game ever to actually have you play with a powered mobile infantry armor.
Fuck, yeah!
:salute:


Campaign wasx complex enough with a really wide variety of mission types and approaches to how you could tackle them. Infiltration, demolition, ambushes and lots of twists and turns during them.
Umm, no.
First and foremost the whole campaign was about 4h long. That's probably less than you can expect from a random cowaduty popamole today.
That alone makes the horrendous waste of resources that were FMVs inexcusable even if you didn't really find them cringe-worthy.

And yet we get shit like this:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/how-come-games-dont-use-real-actors-anymore.100416/
but I digress.

Terra Nova really was a simulator at heart. Camera drones, deployable turrets, smoke grenades to negate laser fire, microwave guns that go right past shielding, squad orders and helmet cams.
Yes, and it was awesome.
However it would also was much better if it wasn't simplified to the point where you could beat most threats by running backwards spamming particle beam.
The best parts of TN were those that stayed true to the sim-aspirations it originally had - subsystem management, drones, IR, suit damage. It made the game overwhelmingly immersive.

Edit:
Found a summary with decent gameplay footage:
 
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DraQ

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On muh wall Awor Szurkrarz said:
Why should I play Terra Nova? Also, does it have long-range combat?
Awor Szurkrarz
You should play it because there aren't many powered armor simulators in existence, nevermind ones made by Looking Glass and inspired by Starship Troopers. You get to wear what amounts to very mobile, tough as nails person-sized tank (actually one of three models from light but incredibly mobile recon model, to heavy assault model that not only doesn't have actual visor - none of the suits does - but mounts sensor packs on the sides of the helmet to not compromise the faceplate) with enough firepower that it's hard to avoid accidentally flattening buildings when fighting near them and swathes of forest erupting into fireballs just because they happen to be between your laser (or automatic grenade launcher) and a moving target are a common sight (pretty much anything short of terrain itself counts as light cover in TN).

You should play it because it's not just an FPS but features simulation of many auxiliary systems in your PA, both in terms of their use and damage model (it's not a full-blown sim, sadly, but it's definitely more than an FPS).

You should also play it because it was technologically stunning at the time (1996) and it still shows in both visuals, damage model, suit's subsystems and things like movement physics. It's one of the most immersive games I've ever played, with heavy hits producing appropriate feedback with visible internal suit damage and stuff like visuals distorting and cutting out or target lock/identification malfunctioning if you got hit in the sensors.

You should play it because it features and actually competent team AI you can order around and a lot of audio feedback from your team members.

As for long range combat - the combat range is sadly effectively limited to below 0.5km, in no small part thanks to limited visual resolution I guess, but it's exclusively outdoors, with ample opportunities to use things like your suit's built-in optical zoom, IR (especially in bad weather), remote recon drones and such.

Sadly the shooting itself is mostly relatively straightforward pewpew action (despite damage model, destructible scenery and all the other intricacies) although in some missions clever solutions can go a long way and later on you have to manage your team to succeed.

Other shortcomings include LG folks were never good at sci-fi fluff and, worst of all the campaign is awfully short at about 4h (presumably due to resources being blown on copious amount of questionable quality FMV cutscenes between missions).

Still more than just worth it.

Another gameplay vid:


A recent short fanmade trailer hyping it (posting it because it packs relatively a lot of gameplay into its short timeframe):
 

octavius

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This game is definitely not easy.

Got my ass kicked even in the first real mission. Then I came up with the cunning plan of using the pirates' hut as cover against one pirate when engaging the other.

Second mission I had to try about five times before succeeding. Guess I should have let the butch black women who was my sidekick (but spoke like she was the commander) do the job, while I sat back and watched the show.

Any tips?
When to use smoke grenades?
When to switch between regular laser and multi laser?

Oh, and I cringe when I see the FMVs. Not that they are particularly bad, but because so much resources must have been spent on them.
 

octavius

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Mission 29: Operation Sparkplug (protect both a convoy and ships) almost broke my will to live.
The only way to do it is to use meta knowledge: you need to deploy your squad mates at the right place to defend the air strip, all need Auto Turrets, and you yourself need something lighter than a Heavy Suit or you will be too late to save the trucks.

Why the fuck can't the strike force be dropped one minute earlier? It's like one of those stupid time travel movies where someone is sent back in time, and then they are too late to whatever they are supposed to do.

Also, I hate having to save scum to succeed.
All in all, the levels have quite variable level of quality and difficulty.
 

likaq

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Now I want a Terra Nova Director's Cut with longer campaign, bigger resolution and more FMVs. Everything else can stay the same, it's already perfect.

fixed
 

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