BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception
BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception | |
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BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception is a turn-based adventure/role-playing video game released in 1988 by Westwood Associates and based on the BattleTech franchise.[2] It was one of the first commercial ports of the licence, and featured some of the franchise's worlds, institutions, political figures, and weapons, particularly the three-story tall BattleMechs. It was followed by a sequel, BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge, though that game featured significantly different gameplay, falling into the real-time tactics genre rather than adventure/role-playing.
Storyline
The player takes the role of Jason Youngblood, a young cadet
Gameplay
The game is divided into three sections, each with different objectives and gameplay style, but a similar interface. The first section is set at the Citadel, and as a way to get a feel for the engine and the interface the player must complete successively harder training missions in a BattleMech, and may also enroll in lessons in a selection of small arms. As well as giving the player an idea of the theme of the game, this section allows the player to "level up" and earn some C-bills, the staple currency in the BattleTech universe. Unusually, all of the game's plot events occur in-play, having the game start before the story. During one of the training missions, the citadel comes under attack and the game changes.
The second section of the game is much more staple RPG: finding people to join the player's party, finding better weapons, items to advance the plot, and, of course, engaging in or avoiding battles. The game here sees the growing party search Pacifica's towns and cities for the means to open an old
Although the game data contains info for all of the pre-3050 weaponry found in the table-top games, a very limited catalogue of 'Mechs appear in the actual game.
Reception
Computer Gaming World's review of the game noted it wildly deviated from normal Infocom adventures, concluding, "It's a good game, but definitely for beginning to low intermediate players."[3]
Tony Watson reviewed Battletech, The Crescent Hawk's Inception in Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer No. 88.[4] Watson commented that "it's a judgement call; while I enjoy playing the game, I like the way it was done more than its subject matter. Fans of the FASA Battletech universe will probably enjoy the game more than most players."[4]
In a retrospective review of BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception in Black Gate, John ONeill said "the EGA graphics [...] were gorgeous eye-candy in 1988, and the ability to move a Mech around the screen and fire off its complement of missiles was thrilling. I know — I spent the first ten minutes of the game time doing exactly that (over and over again)."[5]
Reviews
- Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine v13 n6 (1989 06)[6]
- Jeux & Stratégie #60[7]
Notes
Special packages of the game were issued. In these special editions of the game, a special edition of the BattleTech miniature of the Phoenix Hawk LAM (Land-Air Mech) were included.
References
- ^ "Battletech - the Crescent Hawks Inception".
- Gamasutra. Archived from the originalon 30 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
- ^ DeNardo, Vince (Jan 1989). "Mech Wrecks". Computer Gaming World. No. 55. pp. 36–37.
- ^ a b Watson, Tony (March–April 1990). "Battletech, The Crescent Hawk's Inception". Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer (88). Future Combat Simulations: 7.
- ^ https://www.blackgate.com/2013/12/06/vintage-bits-battletech-the-crescent-hawks-inception/
- ^ "Asimov's v13n06 (1989 06)".
- ^ "Jeux & stratégie 60". July 1989.
External links
- BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception at MobyGames
- BattleTech: The Crescent Hawks' Inception at the BattleTechWiki
- BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive