Review: TERMINAL VELOCITY: BOOSTED EDITION Takes You Back to the Summer of 1995
The year is 1995 and Terminal Reality and 3D Realms have released their latest arcade-style flight combat game Terminal Velocity. You get to run it on your home computer via DOS or Windows 95 and blow enemies out of the sky. This is how the scene may have been for some back when Terminal Velocity first launched. Recently, Ziggurat Interactive brought the game to modern platforms with Terminal Velocity: Boosted Edition. This new version of the game is essentially exactly what the game was, just outfitted so that it can run properly on modern hardware. This results in smoother gameplay, clear graphics, a fast framerate, improved sound, and the addition of achievements and trophies.
Unlike most other flight simulators, Terminal Velocity is all about combat. With low inertia flight mechanics that allow players to bank, roll, and loop easily across treacherous maps and a straightforward control layout, they’ll be thrust bow-first right into the action.
To maintain their aerial superiority, they’ll have access to an arsenal of weaponry and several game-changing power-ups to conquer deadly enemy fighters in the air and on the ground. They’ll feel the ultimate power of flight as they take to the skies and soar through alien environments and show off their aerial skills through dozens of tight tunnels and underground caverns. It's all about action, speed, and destruction!
Ziggurat Interactive was kind enough to provide me with a PC code for Terminal Velocity: Boosted Edition. You can grab your own copy on Nintendo Switch or PC. All the thoughts below are my own.
I have memories of spending time during a summer when I was probably about 10 in my basement playing a game called Descent. It looked very similar to Terminal Velocity which is why I was so excited when I saw that Terminal Velocity was being brought to modern hardware. Now that I’ve spent some time playing the game, it is indeed very similar. They look similar, they play similar, and they are both fun.
Terminal Velocity: Boosted Edition does a good job of preserving a 1995 arcade flight game. This is great for anyone wanting to revisit the game. The trick is that it hasn’t really been updated in any way. The graphics support 16:9 high resolution monitors, but that’s about it. Everything is just as blocky as before with old school explosion assets and blocky text. I will say that the game does have three different control options: keyboard, mouse, and controller. My personal favorite was controller followed by keyboard and then mouse.
One thing that bothered me was that I would look up the controls constantly to make sure what they are (old games are known for requiring manuals and the like) but then some of the buttons like the Save button (F2) didn’t seem to do anything. I’m not sure if it did nothing or there was just no confirmation message or what the deal is but that was a little frustrating.
Outside of that though, Terminal Velocity: Boosted Edition played well on my machine and appeared to be very faithful to the original. If you’re into these old games, I would say this is a good one. For the time, the game looks great. The only thing I would want is more of a remaster, but that’s not what the goal was. Do you remember playing this game back in the day?
