When no fewer than four companies have their mitts all over a game as slight as Return Fire, you know there must be problems. Indeed, several things just don't come together in this arcade answer to Warcraft and Command & Conquer, proving that what succeeds on the platform market might not necessarily work for the PC. Return Fire was a sure-fire hit on 3D0 and PlayStation, with Next Generation Magazine crowing: “Not since Herzog Zwei on the Genesis has there been a two-player action strategy game of this caliber for a console system.”
Well, there have been plenty for the PC, and I'm not impressed.
Return Fire starts out okay, looking like a dumbed-down, arcadish answer to Command & Conquer, with more action elements than strategy. Each game is a version of capture the flag, with two forces arrayed against each other. We see each scenario (and there are at least 100) from a skewed, top-down view that shows the landscape and terrain features. A small, useless “radar map” is set into a control panel at the bottom of the screen, but provides little information on your environment.
In each scenario you start out in an underground bunker in your compound, with three helicopters, three tanks, three jeeps, and three armored support vehicles at your disposal. The object of the game is to use these resources to break down the enemy's defenses and methodically destroy his buildings, searching for the elusive flag, When you find the flag, only the jeep can rush out and grab it. Only one vehicle can be deployed at a time, and they are frightfully vulnerable vehicles at that (particularly the helicopter, which crashes after only a few hits). The strategy is to match your vehicles with your targets, and then keep them alive long enough to inflict maximum damage.
It seems like this should work fine, though the idea of only using one vehicle at a time will be maddening to C&C players. This is more of an arcade-action title than a strategy game - all well and good, but there are problems. The graphics are mediocre; the controls are spotty, with confusing keystrokes that can't be remapped; missions get redundant, and must be played repeatedly to get each one right, since maps tend to be large. Return Fire screams for head-to-head play, but only side-by-side is available as a vestige of its platform roots. The zoom level is set automatically, resulting in some dizzying changes as you move across the screen. Worst of all, the long-range attack features of all the vehicles (which are essential for winning) are useless since you can't zoom out far enough to see a long range target! You wind up lobbing bombs blindly off screen.
Return Fire may have wowed the button-pushers who bought 3D0 machines, but for PC gamers it's much too little, way too late.
