This is it. The most mid-1990s thing imaginable.
Independence Day is a 3D shooter based on the 1996 action film of the same name. I was so obsessed with this movie as a kid, though before this week I don’t think I’d enever played its game adaptation. It was developed by equally 90s-y Radical Entertainment. Here’s their original, super radical logo:
So rad. This company went onto develop some latter-day entries in the Crash Bandicoot series and made the under-appreciated Prototype games in the early 2010s. They’re also responsible for The Simpsons: Hit & Run, a very enjoyable GTA parody set in Springfield. Independence Day was among their first forays into 3D games.
In Independence Day, you take the role of a pilot who must disable and take out a series of “City Destroyer” ships that are threatening to destroy major landmarks (though not necessarily cities, as the game starts at the Grand Canyon for some reason). Along with the help of a sole AI ‘wingman,’ you’ll also need to deal with enemy fighters while taking out the big ship’s shields. There’s also a time limit while the massive ship charges its primary weapon – if that happens, the game ends.
So long, Grand Canyon…you were blown up and turned into, I presume, an even larger canyon.
Later levels have more urban settings, including ones in Moscow and Paris. The final level takes place on the enemy mothership, in which you can fly in that cool alien fighter from the movie:
The gameplay is largely enjoyable, though it gets a bit stale as the levels are all pretty much the same with different stuff i the background. The graphics also look much better than I feared – 3D from this era can be really rough, but this one is pretty impressive. The synthesized voices also sound good, though they’re about as repetitive as you’d expect.
If you’re a fan of the movie or really like aerial combat games, Independence Day is a decent pickup. It’s also available for the PS1, where it’s expectedly cheaper and easier to find.
Next week, I’ll be checking out another early release by Activision, this one from the year I was born. See you then!