This article needs additional citations for verification .(June 2018) |
Laser Squad Nemesis | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Codo Technologies |
Publisher(s) | Digital
|
Designer(s) | Julian Gollop |
Composer(s) | Nathan McCree |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
Release | Digital
|
Genre(s) | Turn-based tactics |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Laser Squad Nemesis is a 2002 multiplayer turn-based tactics video game developed by Codo Technologies for the PC. Its lead designer, Julian Gollop, previously designed the X-COM series and the original Laser Squad . [1]
Laser Squad Nemesis is a game of turn-based isometric combat, where players issue orders to a squad of soldiers or aliens. Each turn, the player gives orders to their troops, previews probable effects of those orders, and submits them to the LSN server via the web interface, or through email. Orders are resolved simultaneously after both players have submitted their orders, and the consequences of the round are sent back to both players. The result of the previous turn is viewed in a real time ten-second video, with pause, slow motion and rewind (multiple turns) options.
There are four species that can be played in the game: the Marines, the Machina, the Spawn and the Greys. Marines are armoured foot soldiers that rely on their mobility and firepower to stay alive. Machina are slower, durable mechanical units with strong firepower. Spawn are an alien race that rely on numbers. They are mostly melee units and must get close to the opponent to engage them, though they do possess some ranged units. Greys are the stereotypical alien race with expensive weapons, mind-control technology and energy shields to protect their fragile bodies. Each race is distinct from the others and requires different tactics to be used efficiently.
A number of enthusiasts run their own tournaments, where participants can play as part of a team or individually. There is also an automated tournament system that enables the game server to start games between players as necessary. Some of the more enterprising players have set up their own competitions using this system, and it is also used for the official Codo tournaments.
According to the official purchasing web page, the purchaser owns the Single player campaigns outright, and can also play unlimited Hotseat games with another person, but must maintain a paid subscription in order to play online multiplayer games. The entry-level version, which costs US$17, comes with one month of free online multiplayer play. Updates and patches were free for two years from date of purchase, though there have not been any since June 2006.
Laser Squad Nemesis garnered mixed reviews, and holds an average of 71% on aggregate web site GameRankings. [2]
Laser Squad Nemesis won The Electric Playground 's 2002 "Best Independent PC Game" award. [3]
Quake II is a 1997 first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Activision. It is the second installment of the Quake series, following Quake.
StarCraft is a real-time strategy video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows. The first installment of the video game series of the same name, it was released in 1998. A Classic Mac OS version was released in 1999, and a Nintendo 64 port co-developed with Mass Media and published by Nintendo was released in 2000.
XPilot is a multiplayer video game. It is open source and runs on many platforms. Although its 2D graphics have improved over time, they still resemble the style of Thrust. Gameplay includes Capture the Flag, base defense, racing and deathmatches. XPilot uses a client–server architecture, in which a central metaserver receives information from all XPilot servers on the Internet.
XCOM is a science fiction video game franchise featuring an elite international organization tasked with countering alien invasions of Earth. The series began with the strategy video game X-COM: UFO Defense created by Julian Gollop's Mythos Games and MicroProse in 1994. The original lineup by MicroProse included six published and at least two canceled games, as well as two novels. The X-COM series, in particular its original entry, achieved a sizable cult following and has influenced many other video games; including the creation of a number of clones, spiritual successors, and unofficial remakes.
Halo: Combat Evolved is a 2001 first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox. It was released as a launch game for Microsoft's Xbox video game console on November 15, 2001. The game was ported to Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X in 2003. It was later released as a downloadable Xbox Original for the Xbox 360. Halo is set in the twenty-sixth century, with the player assuming the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier. The Chief is accompanied by Cortana, an artificial intelligence. Players battle aliens as they attempt to uncover the secrets of the eponymous Halo, a ring-shaped artificial world.
Allegiance is a multiplayer online game initially developed by Microsoft Research. It is notable for providing a mix of real-time strategy and player piloted space combat gameplay.
Half-Life: Opposing Force is an expansion pack for the first-person shooter game Half-Life. It was developed by Gearbox Software and published by Sierra On-Line for Windows on November 19, 1999. Opposing Force was the first expansion for Half-Life and was announced in April 1999. Lead designer Randy Pitchford noted that he believed Gearbox was selected to develop Opposing Force because Valve, the creators of Half-Life, wanted to concentrate on their future projects. Over the course of development, Gearbox brought in a variety of talent from other areas of the video games industry to help bolster various aspects of design.
UFO: Enemy Unknown, also known as X-COM: UFO Defense in North America, is a 1994 science fiction strategy video game developed by Mythos Games and MicroProse. It was published by MicroProse for DOS and Amiga computers, the Amiga CD32 console, and the PlayStation. Originally planned by Julian Gollop as a sequel to Mythos Games' 1988 Laser Squad, the game mixes real-time management simulation with turn-based tactics. The player takes the role of commander of X-COM – an international paramilitary and scientific organization secretly defending Earth from an alien invasion. Through the game, the player is tasked with issuing orders to individual X-COM troops in a series of turn-based tactical missions. At strategic scale, the player directs the research and development of new technologies, builds and expands X-COM's bases, manages the organization's finances and personnel, and monitors and responds to UFO activity.
Close Combat is the name of a series of real-time computer wargames by Atomic Games. In the Close Combat series, the player takes control of a small unit of troops and leads them in battles of World War II from a top down 2D perspective.
Laser Squad is a turn-based tactics video game, originally released for the ZX Spectrum and later for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Amiga, Sharp MZ-800 and Atari ST and PC computers between 1988 and 1992. It was designed by Julian Gollop and his team at Target Games and published by Blade Software, expanding on the ideas applied in their earlier Rebelstar series. Laser Squad originally came with five mission scenarios, with an expansion pack released for the 8-bit versions, containing a further two scenarios.
Julian Gollop is a British video game designer and producer specialising in strategy games, who has founded and led Mythos Games, Codo Technologies and Snapshot Games. He is known best as the "man who gave birth to the X-COM franchise."
The Rebelstar games are a series of turn-based tactics video games designed by Julian Gollop. Rebelstar Raiders was published in 1984 by Red Shift for the ZX Spectrum. It was reworked in machine code as Rebelstar, published by Firebird in 1986. A sequel, Rebelstar II, was published in 1988 by Silverbird. Rebelstar, but not its sequel, was also adapted for the Amstrad CPC home computer.
Urban Assault is a 3D combined first-person shooter and real-time strategy computer game developed by the German company TerraTools and published by Microsoft in the year 1998.
Rebelstar: Tactical Command is a turn-based tactics video game developed by Codo Technologies and published by Namco and Atari Europe for the Game Boy Advance in 2005. It is the fourth game in the Rebelstar series. The game was created by Julian Gollop, who previously designed X-COM: UFO Defense, Laser Squad and the original Rebelstar games.
A man-to-man wargame is a wargame in which units generally represent single individuals or weapons systems, and are rated not only on weaponry but may also be rated on such facets as morale, perception, skill-at-arms, etc. The game is designed so that a knowledge of military tactics, especially at the small unit or squad level, will facilitate successful gameplay. Man-to-man wargames offer an extreme challenge to the designer, as fewer variables or characteristics inherent in the units being simulated are directly quantifiable. Modern commercial board wargaming stayed away from man-to-man subjects for many years, though once the initial attempts were made to address the subject, it has evolved into a popular topic among wargamers.
Turn-based tactics (TBT) is a sub-genre of strategy video games. They are turn-based simulations of operational warfare and military tactics in generally small-scale confrontations as opposed to more strategic considerations of turn-based strategy (TBS) games. Turn-based tactical gameplay is characterized by the expectation of players to complete their tasks using only the combat forces provided to them in a generally realistic manner.
World in Conflict is a 2007 real-time tactics video game developed by the Swedish video game company Massive Entertainment and published by Vivendi Games for Microsoft Windows. The game was released in September 2007, receiving generally favorable reviews and several awards. The game is considered by some to be the spiritual successor of Ground Control, another game by Massive Entertainment, and is generally conceived by its designers to be a real-time tactics game, despite being marketed as a RTS game.
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade is the second expansion to the real-time strategy video game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ. Based on Games Workshop's tabletop wargame, Warhammer 40,000, Dark Crusade was released on October 9, 2006. The expansion features two new races, the Tau Empire and the Necrons. Including the Imperial Guard from Dawn of War's first expansion pack Winter Assault, a total of seven playable races in this expansion.
The Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge is an unreleased video game for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 2 by Mythos Games. Developed by the team which produced X-COM: UFO Defense, including lead designer Julian Gollop, the game was planned to be "a remake of the first X-COM with 3D graphics," as the first of four games planned in the new series. Cancelled in 2001, the unfinished game was later bought and partially turned into UFO: Aftermath by Altar Interactive, which was in turn itself followed by two sequels. Some elements of the game are also present in Gollop's own Phoenix Point.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a 2012 turn-based tactics video game that was developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K. It presents a "reimagined" version of the 1994 strategy game X-COM: UFO Defense—also known as UFO: Enemy Unknown. XCOM: Enemy Unknown is set during an alien invasion of Earth in an alternative version of 2015; the player controls an elite, multinational, paramilitary organization called XCOM and commands troops in a series of turn-based tactical missions. Between missions, the player directs the research and development of technologies from recovered alien technology and captured prisoners, expands XCOM's base of operations, manages finances, and monitors and responds to alien activity.