Hover Strike: Unconquered Lands

Story: You fear the worst for the planet's missing colonists. Communications have ceased from the distant colony for over six months. Federation scouts have discovered that Terrakian pirates have taken over the planet, their deadly machines patrolling every section of the surface.

The planet's colonists have completely disappeared. The Terrakians have established a horrible factory in the fourth quadrant, where they process human corpses to extract valuable organic compounds. You must lead the rescue mission to save the remaining humans, if any, and regain the planet.

There is no contact with the surface. The Terrakians have established an atmospheric cannon which makes invasion plans and the armada's entry impossible.

The Federation has chosen you to launch the preemptive strike. They've provided you with military reconnaissance reports.

A military transport will slip you through the enemy's shields and take you to your drop zone. Your vehicle is a state-of-the-art armored hovercraft. It's the ultimate war machine, equipped with rapid-fire connon and powerful missiles. You have full maneuverabilty over many planetary terrains, including snowdrifts, lava floes, desert sands, and turbulent water. Anti-grav units let you float above the ground, so you need to use your brakes to slow down.

You mission is to knock out key targets in each zone, crippling the Terrakian forces and halting the bloody work. Let your sensors guide you to destroy enemy radar stations and blow up strategic fuel depots. Once you eliminate the atmospheric cannon you'll make way for the Federation armada.

Save the colony before it's too late!

It opens up with a CG intro FMV. It is light sourced and looks extremely awesome. Then I got to the game. The first thing I noticed was the music. This stuff sets an unbelievable mood, it makes you feel as if it's a movie you're controlling. There is one in-game track 15 minutes long composed of the old tunes off of the original, only remixed to perfection by Brad and Robert Wait. They've done an excellent job on this game of setting the ultimate mood for this type of dark game.

The next thing I noticed as I got up close to a wall was.... There are NO BLOCKS!!! These textures are so high-res it's hard to believe. I think the ones on the new missions use mit-mapped interpolation techniques. I could be wrong though. Get up close to those and pick out a block! Good luck man. That is how high-res these are. Some of the textures animate! This effect is awesome. The landscapes also animate. The frame-rate seems to be improved the slightest bit. Everything is now light sourced like in the original's night missions. This stuff adds a new sense of realism to the game.

Then as I got to play some more, I noticed that the control was very much improved. The annoying problem of getting damaged from jumping stuff is now gone. Good riddens! It just balances out the feeling of a real hovercraft and a good sense of control. There are even options now to make it so when you let off the accelerate button, you automatically stop. I keep the sliding effect on for the realism. It's cool.

There are new sounds, enemies, levels and better music and graphics. I think that even if you own the original Strike, you won't want to miss this one. With all the new and improved stuff, it's well worth the purchase.

Graphics-10

Everything has been improved to the max. These T-maps are the best I've ever seen. The light sourcing is a huge plus and the new animations are a great addition. The rendered cinemas have been light sourced to perfection. These graphics rule!

Sound/music-10

As I mentioned above, this game doesn't make you feel like you're playing a game. The in-game tune is very high quality and is not repetitious is any sense. The lefts and rights on the Battle Surround are corrected(the original was flipped). Very good stuff.

Control-10

There are options to configure the control setup, but the default is extremely improved to give you more control, but still give you the feel of realism.

Power-10

Ultra high-res T-maps. Light sourcing and CG cinemas. Enhanced framerate(not speed). Lots of high quality textures on the screen all the time.

Fun factor-10

All of the above things add up to create an excellent game. The challenge progresses as you get further, so watch out. I highly recommend this game, especially if you like the original at least somewhat.