Mercenary (computer game)

Infobox VG| title = Mercenary


developer = Novagen Software
publisher =
designer = Paul Woakes (code/concepts), Bruce Jordan (level design/concepts), Mo Warden (graphics)
engine =
released = 1985
genre = Action-adventure
modes = Single player
ratings =
platforms = Atari 400/800/XL/XE, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Commodore 16/116/Plus/4
media = Cassette, Floppy disk
requirements =
input = keyboard, joystick, mouse

"Mercenary" is the first in a series of computer games, published on a number of 8-bit and 16-bit platforms from the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, by Novagen Software. The second and third games were known as "Damocles" and "Mercenary III: The Dion Crisis" respectively.

The games were notable for their smooth vector and polygonal graphics, vast environments, and open-ended gameplay; there were several ways to complete each game. All three titles were favourably reviewed when they were originally released ["Mercenary" reviews: [http://www.zzap64.co.uk/zzap11/mercenary.html "ZZAP!64" magazine] (Commodore 64); [http://www.crashonline.org.uk/44/mercenary.htm "CRASH" magazine] (ZX Spectrum); [http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena1.htm#mercenary1cu "CU Amiga" magazine] (Commodore Amiga)] ["Damocles" reviews: [http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/damocles.htm#damoclesac "Amiga Computing" magazine] , [http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/damocles.htm#damoclesaf "Amiga Format" magazine] , [http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/damocles.htm#damoclescu "CU Amiga" magazine] , [http://mercenarysite.free.fr/zzapdamo.htm "ZZAP!64" magazine] (Commodore Amiga); ] ["Mercenary III: The Dion Crisis" reviews: * [http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm#mercenary3af "Amiga Format" magazine] , [http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm#mercenary3cu "CU Amiga" magazine review] , [http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm#mercenary3zero "Zero" magazine review] (Commodore Amiga); [http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mercena3.htm#mercenary3ac "Amiga Computing" magazine] (Atari ST)] , and the titles have a following in the retrogaming community [ [http://mercenarysite.free.fr/ The "Mercenary" Site] , dedicated to all three installments of the "Mercenary" series] .

Overview

The "Mercenary" series consists of three main games and a number of add-on datasets. While each game is self-contained, they make occasional references to other games in the series and are connected in terms of their freeform, open-ended gameplay, visual appearance and general ambience.

Within each game the player must explore a world rendered in realtime 3D graphics, completing a number of non-linear tasks in order to achieve a single main objective. The title of the series derives from the player's role in carrying out tasks as a "hired gun". In "Mercenary" the player crash lands into an ongoing conflict and is able to play the warring factions off against one another, to the player's own advantage. In "Damocles" the player is encouraged to bargain the fate of a whole world for financial reward. However, in "The Dion Crisis" the player has a less selfish agenda, and must gain the support of voters against the plotting of a sinister businessman.

In all three games, the player is accompanied and advised by Benson, a 9th generation PC. This interaction is handled via a scrolling news ticker at the bottom of the display. As well as providing assistance to the player, much of the humour within the games comes from the occasional sarcastic remarks made by Benson.

The "Mercenary" series

"Mercenary"

"Mercenary" (also known as "Mercenary: Escape from Targ") is the first game in the series. It was initially released on the Atari 800 XL/XE in 1985 and later converted to the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore Amiga and Commodore 16/116/Plus/4 platforms. Across all versions, the game environment was presented using wire frame graphics.

Having crash-landed on the planet Targ ("en route" to the Gamma System of "Damocles"), the player's main objective is to find a means of escape. In a trademark element of the "Mercenary" series, there are several ways to achieve this end. A civil war between two factions, the Palyars (indigenous "good guys") and the Mechanoids (invading "bad guys"), affords the player an opportunity to earn money to buy their escape from Targ. For instance, each faction seeks the destruction of installations belonging to its rival, and the capture of material or other resources to support their cause. There are other routes to escape, and it is possible to combine strategies to both leave Targ "and" keep the wealth accrued there.

"Mercenary: The Second City"

"Mercenary: The Second City", released in 1986, is an expansion pack for the original game. Initially its major distinction is the new colour scheme - a red planet with a pink sky instead of a green planet with a blue sky, representing the other side of the planet. However, after a similar objective, the differences reveal themselves subtly: there is a more intricate underground complex, a new set of puzzles to overcome and several significant changes with game objects. It was later repackaged with the original game under the title "Mercenary Compendium".

"Damocles"

"Damocles" (occasionally advertised as "Mercenary II") is the second game in the series. It was released on the Atari ST and Amiga platforms in 1990. Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum versions were originally in development but eventually cancelled as a consequence of the declining 8-bit market. Unlike "Mercenary", "Damocles" represented the game environment using solid vector graphics, allowing a both more realistic and colourful world. An improved, fully texture mapped IBM PC version was in an advanced stage of development and scheduled for release in 1995, but was ultimately cancelled when a conflict between its developers, Novagen and Sony/Psygnosis, arose.

Once again, the player is stranded on a planet, Eris, with an inoperable spacecraft. Unlike the first game, however, the scope of "Damocles" is considerably widened, offering the player an entire solar system to explore (the Gamma System; the player's original destination before the Interlude on Targ). There is also a race-against-time element to the game as a comet, the eponymous Damocles (a reference the Sword of Damocles), is hurtling towards Eris. The player is encouraged to both escape Eris and find a means to prevent Damocles from destroying the planet, if possible without destroying the comet. Although an obvious, but destructive, solution exists, "Damocles" has no fewer than five distinct solutions.

A notable feature of "Damocles" is its inclusion of relatively detailed celestial mechanics into the game physics. While the game also features less standard physics (e.g. teleportation), it includes a detailed representation of the Gamma System and even includes a simplified form of special relativity. To cross the solar system in reasonable (to the player) time, time dilation occurs. However, given that the player has only a few hours to save Eris, extended periods at near-light speed are unwise. One of the game's many solutions even involves manipulating various planetary bodies in order to make use of the changes in gravitational pulls to divert the Damocles comet. From an aesthetic point of view, the inclusion of celestial physics allows the player to experience attractively-rendered sunrises and sunsets while on planet surfaces as well as various satellite occultations.

"Damocles" contains many real-world references, particularly drawn from the UK in the 1980s. For example: the president of the planet Eris is named Margaret, after Margaret Thatcher (British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990); and there is a bank called Lawson Bank, after Nigel Lawson (British chancellor of the exchequer from 1983 to 1989; though a real [http://www.lawsonbank.com/ Lawson Bank] does exist). Some of the references are more elusive; for example, several stores are called "GUM Stores", after the real Russian Gosudarstvennyj Universalnyj Magazin department stores. Despite these references, the game universe has no actual connections with Earth, since the player is given information that the Gamma System was actively explored before the present day (e.g. on approaching a particular moon, Benson informs the player that a space flight company was already present there in 1190). According to the poster that accompanied the game, the events of "Damocles" take place on 27 April 2099.

"Damocles: Mission Disks"

Two mission disks for "Damocles" were released, known simply as "Damocles: Mission Disk 1" and "Damocles: Mission Disk 2" respectively. Each disk added a number of extra missions that could be loaded in as saved games, offering the player a few more tasks to complete within the game. Usually these tasks put the player in difficult or unusual situations.

"Mercenary III"

"Mercenary III" (also known as "Mercenary III: The Dion Crisis" or "Damocles II") is the third and final game in the series. It was released on the Atari ST and Amiga platforms in 1992. "Mercenary III" is set in the Gamma System again and is based on an improved version of the engine used by Damocles: this time the roads of the various cities are populated by vehicles such as taxis and buses; observation and attack spacecraft are present in the skies; and interaction (albeit to a limited degree) with other characters is possible.

After Eris' President Margaret steps down, the player becomes involved in a political crisis on the planet Dion, pitting their wits against a power-hungry politician running for president. The goal of "Mercenary III" is to prevent this politician from being elected to office. Similarly to the earlier titles, there are several ways of achieving this, with both straightforward and oblique solutions. No mission disks were released for this concluding chapter of the "Mercenary" series.

Particularly prevalent in this game is the villain of the whole series, PC BIL, short for the Palyars Commander's Brother-In-Law, a character from the first game.

References

External links

* [http://mercenarysite.free.fr/mddclone.htm "MDDClone"] , an unofficial PC port of all three installments of the "Mercenary" series