Designer(s) Glyn Williams Developer Motion Picture House Platforms Amiga, Atari ST, AmigaOS | Initial release date 1990 Genre Space simulator | |
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Publishers Activision, Motion Picture House Similar XF5700 Mantis, K240, Deuteros, I‑War | ||
Warhead is a 3D space combat simulator for Amiga (A500 and A2000) and Atari ST platforms. Warhead is known for its strong alien atmosphere, reasonably realistic space kinematics and a fish-eye perspective through which the space is viewed. It was created by Glyn Williams in 1989.
The game takes place during a war between the alien forces of Sirius and the humans of Earth. The player fights for the Earth forces. The game is played as sequential missions. Completing a mission successfully lets the player advance to the next mission. It is possible to save the game status after each mission, but not during a mission. Typical mission objectives include intelligence gathering, search and rescue missions, destroying enemies and protecting friendly forces. The player is sent for missions from the SolBase, a military base orbiting the Sun. The player must travel to different solar systems using a device that allows faster than light travel through quad-space, which is a form of hyperspace.
Warhead spawned a spiritual sequel, XF5700 Mantis.
Story
The story takes place in a fight between the alien forces of Sirius and the humans of Earth. The player has been enrolled as a fighter pilot for the Fist-of-Earth space force. The player is led to know that the forces of Sirius have attacked humans for an unknown reason. The player knows the following:
The enemy are an insect-like species from the star system Sirius. It is suspected that their present evolutionary form was achieved at the time there were Dinosaurs on Earth. It is also theorised that insects on Earth and Sirius share a same ancestor.
The Sirians operate as a group-minds of groups of tens or maybe hundreds of insects. As individuals the Sirians are not intelligent, but their intelligence comes from combining together in large groups. It is argued that their civilization acts as a single entity. The group-mind is based on radio communication that is a natural property of the metallic parts in their bodies. It is speculated that spaceship manufacturing technology is relatively new for the Sirians and that the first Sirian vessel was launched in 1897 from Sirius Five.
The Earth was attacked in the year 2045 by the Sirian fleet. The invasion lead to a planetary winter and 3 thousand million casualties and in following years a third of the Earth population died as a consequence.
The attack lead to political unity and the dissolution of national borders on Earth. The organisation called the Fist of Earth was formed to defend the Earth. The most important military base called SolBase was built in Earth orbit. When the SolBase became operational it was moved to orbit the Sun to a position that was thought to be a best place to defend the whole solar system.