Blog FeedMagnificent Men and Their Flying Machines
Every gamer has a favourite game vehicle which they just wish they could own in real life. Yes, of course there are those playing Need for Speed and Gran Turismo who salivate over the rather mundane and down-to-earth vehicles featured there, but I’m talking about more interesting modes of transport.
I mean, yes, an Aston Martin DBS is my current dream car, but far beyond that would be a Mammoth Tank. Then again, I’ve always fancied having my own Super Star Destroyer. It cuts me up inside every time I see it go down in Return of the Jedi, or Empire at War for that matter. One of those Mantas from Unreal Tournament 2004 would sure as hell solve all my traffic problems every morning.
Perhaps my favourite vehicle from any computer game is the original ORCA from the first Command & Conquer strategy game. Like a helicopter, but slicker, faster, and conceptually handsome (far too pixelated in actual gameplay to tell). All the elements of a perfect aircraft - VTOL capable, no massive rotors to cut your head off, and no horizontally mounted engines to get sucked in to. Plus, missiles.
The GDI’s ORCA has evolved over the three Tiberium games, moving to an even slicker design in Tiberian Sun and then to a more heavy duty design in Tiberium Wars. Neither of these deviations have really done it for me. The tilting engines of the first design, plus the curves and lack of pointless wing tips win me over. The frustrating part of the design is that it just looks so doable in real life. Why have these not been made yet?
Moving even further away from reality we come to the Terran Wraith from StarCraft. I know, I know, it seems like a pretty stock standard space fighter as far as sci-fi releases go. It has missiles, and it has laser cannons. Perhaps a bit more special is that this thing can cloak itself, and that would be damn handy to have in real life. You know, for when… things happen. Yeah.
That said, I am not sure who designed the look of this craft, but for me it is the most visually pleasing space fighter design I’ve seen in any sci-fi production. Movie, TV, or video game. Clearly a favourite amongst the devs too, as it was chosen as the desktop icon for the game. It sits as my runner up to the ORCA, because it’s extremely funky, but just not quite as cool.
So, I guess Blizzard has decided to try even harder to win my heart, because one of the units outlined for StarCraft II looks suspiciously similar to the ORCA, but makes up for this terrible lack of originality by adding in the Wraith’s old cloaking device! How original.
It’s called the Terran Banshee and it looks pretty awesome, though once again more in concept art and cinematics than in gameplay. I’m a little hesitant to knock the ORCA off it’s pedestal by what is essentially an impostor, but we’ll see how much I love it when the game comes out.
Of course, these are all just my personal favourites, and I just in fact noticed that no ground vehicles have made it on to my podium. Perhaps I’ve just not played enough games with awesome ground vehicles?
23rd September | Reply
I have fond memories of the mechs from the Heavy Gear games. Most mech games tend to involve rather large robots, ala the BattleTech MechWarrior games, or stupidly fast and nimble ones like those from the Japanese Gundam series. However, I rather liked the small ones from the Heavy Gear universe so put me down for a Dark Cobra. The lighter mechs tended to get me killed but the Dark Cobra came with lots of armor and some big-ass gatling gun that tended to shred the opposition nicely. Ah, fun days…
24th September | Reply
I love the covenant hovercraft in Halo I believe they’re called the Ghosts. They’re fast, manuverable and are great for running people over in them. Also if an elite is driving one you can just jack it and take the SOB down just like that.
25th September | Reply
I want to fly a Valkyrie. I’ll even learn how to sound the chick who pilots it.
But honestly, I’m not sure if this counts since it’s not a machine, I just want a horse named Epona who comes to my side when I whistle or play an ocarina or otherwise summon her. Anywhere. Even if I’m in Paris and I left her in New York. That would be my dream ride, right there.
25th September | Reply
It’d be an Aurora class Starfury (Babylon 5 space fighter) for me. I like the design, but more importantly it’s specs are insane. Zipping by at 1 km/s while blasting bolts capable of powering 3000 houses each, from it’s 6 rapid-fire pulse cannons - and launching high-yield fusion missiles from up to eight hard points…. yikes. Sign me up!
Although I’ll need a Dreadnought to go with that, because it’s not an atmospheric fighter and only lasts for about 20 minutes on full power…. damn. Although 20 minutes would be more than enough to make scrap metal of anything non-B5
Failing that… any of the EVE Online Titan-class ships would be fine too
28th September | Reply
If we’re talking spacecraft then I’m talking about the best damn thing ever released: the TIE Defender from LucasArts “TIE Fighter.”
Let me break it down for the neophytes: fast; maneuverable; four lasers firing single, twin- or quad-linked; two ion cannons firing single or twin-linked; shielded; and can carry a destructive payload of any heavy ordnance the mission requires.
Another favorite is the Terran Battleship from StarCraft. Atmosphere-capable and the Yamato Cannon makes short work of most structures. Especially in a massed twelve-ship configuration.
As for land-based travel, you can’t go wrong with a Flame Tank from the original Command & Conquer. Well…you can, if you’re a smoker. Lights all infantry on fire the first go-round, and those pesky Guard Towers are changed to tinder when a Flame Tank rolls into town. Awesome.
The only thing that would make a Flame Tank better is if it had “Command & Conquer: The FLAMETHROWER! The kids love it!” painted on the side. Which it does, in my mind.