MissionForce: CyberStorm
| MissionForce: CyberStorm | |
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Cover art
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| Developer(s) | Dynamix |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra Entertainment |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
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| Genre(s) | Turn-based tactics |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
MissionForce: CyberStorm (commonly referred to as "CyberStorm") is a turn-based strategy game developed by Dynamix and published in 1996 by Sierra Entertainment. The game is set in the Earthsiege universe created by Dynamix, and the player control units of HERCULANs (Humaniform-Emulation Roboticized Combat Unit with Leg-Articulated Navigation): bipedal warmachines of varying size and construct, more commonly known as HERCs. Although CyberStorm was a limited commercial success, it sold well enough to spawn a 1998 sequel called CyberStorm 2: Corporate Wars.
The player starts as an employee of the Unitech Corporation, serving as a commander of a private military taskforce to fight a race of mechanical beings mankind created long ago called Cybrids. The game's plot and atmosphere is filled in via messages and text between missions, and is rather dark. The corporate environment is cold and ruthless, with military decisions being controlled by a computer system called the Main Synthetic Intelligence (MSI). Early on in the game one of the corporate communiques implies that Unitech can and will execute any of its military officers if they fail. This is confirmed if the player ever loses the game by having his or her forces eliminated down to the last HERC without having enough credits to replace them.
The player's soldiers are "BioDerms," or artificially created humanoids, designed to pilot the HERC war machines. The BioDerms are supposedly used because of their genetically engineered reflexes, their ability to be directly "linked" to the HERCs, and their obedience. The instructions and early parts of the game indicate that these BioDerms are sub-human, more like trained dogs, but later communiques show that they are intelligent, can think independently (and even rebel), and even think of one model as a "messiah." Thus, the BioDerms are actually slaves: disposable humanoids to be used on the battlefield, and "recycled" for a few credits or blown up in kamikaze attacks by corporate officers when they are no longer useful. One early communique describes the horror of having one's genes taken to create BioDerms, and if the player wins the game, Unitech makes it clear that they will in fact do that with the player's avatar, it is an "honor," and there is no choice.
By completing missions and progressing, the player gains rank in order to get access to more advanced equipment and hardware, as well as being able to control more HERCs. Missions can be selected from a list of Cybrid-controlled planets within a specified system.
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