Terminal Velocity

Terminal Velocity is an arcade-style simulation video game released by 3D Realms in 1995 for PC and Mac.

Terminal Velocity was quite different from the flight simulation games of its time as it had fast-paced, action-packed sequences that made the player cling to the edge of their seat.

As soon as you boot up the game, it becomes clear to anyone that the game's graphics are astounding. Even popular titles in its era, such as Doom and Descent, couldn't compare to what Terminal Velocity could dish out. The game offers 360 rotational vision for the player. The texture is phenomenal with excellent detailing, even the hills and the grounds have substantially intricate detailing. What came as a surprise at the time, is that it ran pretty smoothly, with high frame rates and very little skipping. A high-486 or low-Pentium were capable of running it without difficulty, making use of the different graphic settings.

Maybe the game is not something I'd play for days continuously carrying on from where I left, but it's something you can pick up for a few hours of fun without worrying about the missions or campaigns. Just take up a plane and fly up to blow up some enemies. The enemies and the challenges are specific to each world, as you move along players can find powerups and weapons that will aid them in their goal of causing as much mayhem as possible. The game is more of an arcade shooter rather than a simulator. The controls weren't that complicated; with just a few keys, the player can use their lasers, missiles, and countless other weapons to blow up all the Starwars inspired enemies hovering around.

The sound was excellent, especially the in-game music tracks, that could be rendered in 16 Bit CD quality, not a very common feature. In fact, the music was in MOD, not in the more popular MIDI format. Some of the tracks did sound repetitive, but when taken as a whole, the music really brings out the atmosphere in most situations.

If you are a fan of Descent and Descent II, and you like space dogfights, this is the game for you.