Outwars
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Outwars | |
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| Developer(s) | SingleTrac |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft |
| Release date(s) | April, 1998 |
| Genre(s) | Third person tactical shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (13+) for Animated Violence, Animated Blood and Gore |
| Platform(s) | PC |
| Media | CD-ROM |
| System requirements | Windows 95, Pentium 133, Cd-ROM 4-x, 16Mb RAM |
| Input | Keyboard, Mouse |
Outwars is a science fiction third-person shooter developed by SingleTrac and published by Microsoft in 1998.
The player controls a heavily-armed "dreadnaught" marine, and must battle insectoid aliens (occasionally referred to as "The Skulls") intent on taking over the galaxy. Gameplay is mission-based, and the player may customize his suit of powered armour with different weapons and equipment at the beginning of each mission. The player may also issue orders to a small team of computer-controlled squadmates. The plot travels to many different planets and settings.
The game features a multiplayer mode, allowing teams of players to compete against each other.
A rather unusual feature of Outwars is that the legs and the torso can be controlled separately. This extra function can however be disabled by reconfiguring the controls. Furthermore, as in many shooters, the player can switch between a variety of weapons. Outwars accomplishes this feature in a departure from the norm; it is possible to map each of the weapons available to the player to individual keys on the keyboard or joystick. This enables players to fire weapons concurrently rather than consecutively as in a traditional shooter.
The savage gore (a rarity for MS-published games) and the unique jetpack/on-foot cores to the game made this replayable by many players.
Outwars is available free of charge at http://www.the-underdogs.info/
[edit] Multiplayer Community
Outwars enjoyed a strong community on MSN Games (http://zone.msn.com) from around the summer of 1998 to the year 2000. Fewer players were regularly seen online after that, and gradually the community disintegrated. Some moved on to other games, notably Starsiege: Tribes and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six. Others held on and maintained contact despite the Outwars matchmaking lobby being removed from the Zone. Many were saddened at the loss of these lobbies, attempting to uphold player strength through more general multi-game lobbies, but players had to move on. Like many other online games, players formed clans and participated in tournaments and other such events. In one instance, the winners of a Zone-sponsored tournament won the chance to play against a team of the game's developers. Players from the Roughneck clan (using a prefix of RN_) slayed the SingleTrac team. As of June 19, 2006 MSN Games no longer offers matchmaking for CD-ROM games.
Several generations of clans were formed and passed. Notable clans include, and are not limited to: ARM (Apocalyptic Rite of Mayhem), CAT (Complete Assassination Team), DEA (Death Dealers), FF (Freedom Fightors), JDI (Jedi-Dreadnaut Incenerators), JHD (Jyhad), RN (Roughnecks), STM, TCA (The Clan Apocalypse), TnT, Merlin, NoN, VeX, XXX.
