- Task Force 1942
Task Force 1942: Surface Naval Action in the South Pacific is a
DOS PC game, released by MPS Labs (MicroProse ) in 1992.The game is a surface naval simulation which allows the player to operate single ships or a
task force made up of ships, from the United States Navy (USN) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN), or the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the South Pacific during WWII. It was designed to run underPC-DOS orMS-DOS , version 5.0 or higher. The specific historical setting was the series of ferocious naval engagements fought around the largest island in the Solomon Islands chain, Guadalcanal, in 1942, including the following:Battle of Tassafaronga Battle of Empress Augusta Bay Naval Battle of Vella Lavella Battle of Savo Island Battle of Cape Esperance First and Second
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal Battle of Kula Gulf Source: Task Force 1942 video game and manual.
The game was originally released on five 3 1/2" high density floppy disks. Copy-protection was provided by the 100 page Task Force 1942 identification book which had an illustration of each ship encountered in the simulation, including the ship specifications (class, maximum speed, dimensions, displacement, fuel capacity and armament). As stated in the manual appendices, the IJN did not issue ID manuals, they used copies of
Jane's Fighting Ships to identify enemy vessels.The 76-page user manual details the history of the naval treaties during the pre-war period, and the development of the naval conflict in the Pacific that lead to the naval engagements fought around the island of Guadalcanal. The foreword was written by Vice Admiral William P.Mack (USN,Ret.), who also served as technical advisor during development of the simulation. The designer's notes by Lawrence Schick indicate that this was the Microprose simulation that covered surface vessel combat, with an as-yet-unnamed sequel to cover the carrier air war, i.e. 1942 Pacific Air War. The 3-D graphics were developed from Microprose F-117A graphics engine.
Credits:
Project Leader/Game Design/Manual Text - Lawrence Schick
Lead Programmer/Game Design - Ed Fletcher
3-D Objects/Art Director - Max Remington III
Graphics Programming - John Paquin
Screen Graphics - M.Reiss,Todd Brizz,Rawn Martin,Brian Martel
Musical Score - Jeffery L.Briggs, Roland Rizzo
Sound Effects and Programming - Ken Lagace,Jim McConkey,Scott Patterson, Roland Rizzo
3-D Rendering/Title Sequence - Frank Vivirito, M.ReisGraphics Assistance - Susan Ullrich, Steve Horka, Artino
Programming Assistance - Michael Springer, William Loughery
Quality Assurance Leader - Mike Rea
Quality Assurance- Dave Ellis,Chris Hewis,Bill Burton,Andy Mazurek,Mick Uhl,Brian Hellesen, Dave Ginsburg,Mark Reis,Frank Brown,Paul Murphy,Rawn Martin
Product Manager - Carl Knoch
Source: Task Force 1942 video game & manual.
The introduction video to the game begins with a 1940's era newsreel logo entitled "Microtone News" in a style similar to other WWII military simulations from Microprose, such as the intro screens in "1944: Across The Rhine" and
European Air War . The main musical theme features a musical motif of trumpets playing an echoing triplet figure, similar to the main musical theme from the motion picture "Patton".External links
*moby game|id=/task-force-1942|name="Task Force 1942"
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