Full Metal Planete

Full Metal Planete is a game I had never heard of on any platform before, let alone the IIGS.

I've been sitting on the program, wanting to give myself whatever time I needed to find the proper motivation required to do this game justice in reviewing it. I've not found the proper motivation, but will persevere anyway.

The difficulty with this game is that it's in French, and short of saying (though I won't be repeating it in French here) 'I'm enchanted to make your acquaintance' I don't know the language. 'Hi Tech Productions' originally created the game in 1989; a group I had not heard of before. The IIGS version was created by Brainstorm Software, a notable French group of developers who developed the Manager, the Multi-Finder available for the IIGS, adding multitasking capabilities to GS/OS. The IIGS version's distributor is credited to Infogrames, which has since grown to be a massive player in the interactive entertainment industry.

Even though the game credits Infogrames, I wasn't sure the game was ever released, certainly not in America nor likely in France either as Infogrames had already stated earlier, with Teenage Queen, that they weren't interested in releasing their games to the IIGS anymore. But Nicolas Bergeret, who handled the graphics, told me it was in fact released.

Full Metal Planete is a turn based strategy game to be played by four or more (?) players. Players can either be human or computer controlled. The game reminds me of real time strategy games like Dune, Warcraft or Command & Conquer, as campaigns centre on a central base or command area. The game provides you with a demo of four computer-controlled players slugging it out with each other. With knowledge in French language and watching this demo, you just might understand how the game is played, apart from the obvious mouse driven interface.

While I can't play the game, and doubt I'll ever find the motivation to sit down and really try to understand it, I like to load it up once in a while just to listen to the very cool intro music. The sound effects that play during the demo are pretty cool, as are the graphics throughout the entire game. Sigh. The masses look like they've missed out on another potentially fine IIGS game. Full Metal Planete may well be another reason to envy French speaking people.