Gunship 2000: Islands & Ice
| Gunship 2000 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | MicroProse |
| Publisher(s) | MicroProse |
| Designer(s) |
James M. Day Darrell Dennies Detmar Peterke |
| Programmer(s) | Darrell Dennies Detmar Peterke |
| Artist(s) | Michael Reis Max D. Remington III Michael Gibson |
| Composer(s) |
Jeffery L. Briggs Ken Lagace Jim McConkey |
| Platform(s) | Amiga, Amiga CD32, MS-DOS, PlayStation |
| Release | 1991-1996 |
| Genre(s) | Combat flight simulator |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Gunship 2000 is a helicopter combat flight simulator video game developed and published by MicroProse as a follow-up to their earlier game Gunship. It was originally released in 1991 for MS-DOS; this version received an expansion in 1992. The Amiga, Amiga CD32 and PlayStation versions were released in 1993, 1994 and 1996 respectively (the PlayStation version was retitled as simply Gunship, but was sometimes still referred to as Gunship 2000).
Gunship 2000 significantly enhanced and expanded the features and gameplay from the original Gunship. Besides improved audio and graphics, key areas of change were enhanced terrain, the ability to fly multiple helicopter types, and the ability to command a team of helicopters and their crews.
Gunship 2000 utilised roughly the same format as most of the other MicroProse flight simulators of the time: the player had a profile, chose their combat theatre, and either performed single missions or a campaign. The primary similarity was the randomly generated 'primary-secondary' mission types where the player was given a primary mission (destroy a target / pickup or drop off troops or cargo / recon an objective) and a less valuable secondary objective that included the same kind of tasks as a primary. The campaign strung these missions together in a 'tug-of-war' system. Victories advanced the player's side towards victory and harder missions, defeat went the other way (though the missions sometimes got harder too).
Initially the player flies a lone helicopter to complete missions, choosing between AH-1 Cobra, AH-64 Apache, OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, MD 530MG and UH-60 Blackhawk. As the player's rank increased, the RAH-66 Comanche and the AH-64B Apache Longbow were unlocked (the 'B' designation is due to the game being designed before the Longbow Apache was in service as the 'D' model). Using less powerful helicopters resulted in a higher mission score, though this had to be balanced with the likelihood of having enough fuel/weapons to complete the mission. Realistic tactics such as nap-of-the-earth flight and 'pop-up' attacks can be employed on account of the reasonably detailed terrain.
...
Wikipedia