The Collection Chamber: IRON ASSAULT

The mind is human yet the brain is electric. One hand of flesh controls another made of steel.

In IRON ASSAULT, all qualities of man and machine are forged into one.

In the cockpit of your 50-foot tall fighting titan, intelligent systems feed the information needed to plot your battle plan.
The EXTERNAL CAMERA supplies a view of the enemy from any allied robot.
The COMMUNICATION LINK keeps you in constant contact with your rebel squadron and base.
The COMPASS and WAY POINT COORDINATES keep you from getting lost in the variable terrain.
And when your instincts tell you that danger is near, the robot comes through with his RADAR and MOVEMENT SCANNER to confirm your suspicions.
On the battle field, weapons systems provide the muscle.
CANNONS, LASERS, MISSILES or MINES are enough firepower needed to get the job done.
In order to survive, you must think and react as both man and machine. Because if you don't, your enemy, the Ruling Corporation, will have all of the Earth's inhabitants to rule and control with their own iron fist of both man and machine.

FEATURES
Begin with your choice of three thundering robots. As you progress, gain rank and strength with even more robots and options to build your squadron.
Multiple terrain (mountain ranges, Arctic wasteland, harsh deserts and urban jungles) make battle conditions different with each mission.
Unprecedented graphic realism due to the use of 3-D texture mapping and robot models.
Mission briefings complete with digitized audio and animated video clips.
Support modem play. Challenge other players in the Battle Simulator.

~from the back of the US box

I always seem to like the concept of Mech games more than the games themselves. Most stick firmly to the complex formula of a strategic simulation complete with a multitude of switches and levers assigned to almost every key on the keyboard. I find that with the multiple distractions and responsibilities of modern life I have little patience to learn the ins and outs of such games but when I do, they can be some of the deepest and most satisfying action games around. Think EarthSiege, Terra Nova or MechWarrior II for some of the best. Iron Assault is nothing like them. Directly competing with each of these series by releasing in 1995, it is a far more arcadey affair. But will it win over fans of the genre?

Considering all of the hype about Iron Assault's graphical prowess, and the impressive polygonal visuals of Graffiti's own Screamer series, I am a little underwhelmed by how the actual game looks. While dated, EarthSiege II wowed with its fully 3D environments while the Doom-style ray traced, right-angled walls found here look archaic by comparison. The robots themselves are also 2D sprites making comparisons even more unfavourable. The multiple terrains are all just differently textured flat arenas which are just large enough to get lost in, but all this means nothing if the gameplay is satisfying.

Mission briefings tell your primary and secondary objectives (left).
Switch out your mech and its arsenal in between missions (right)

Thankfully, the gameplay itself is entertaining, if a little repetitive and occasionally annoying. You have a variety of mission objectives to complete which mostly consist of making things go boom. In order to find everything, your radar and map will become invaluable with other statistics being little more than performance readouts. There's even a second viewpoint by pressing "U" which gives you a crotch-eye view. I barely used this, but I believe it was added to assist with the clunkily designed rescue or object retrieval missions. In some levels, you can pick up objects by slowly walking up to them and they'll automatically suck up into your cargo hold. Go too fast, though, and they're squished - gone for good. This is far too easy to get wrong. It's hard enough just to find the things, let alone control your movement well enough to obtain them.

It's not like you can start the mission over. The objects are gone forever. Deaths, retreats, failed objectives - they are all remembered and recorded having a minor impact to the rest of the game. Kill one of your guys, and another soldier will take over or, if you yourself snuff it you'll get a game over. Your demise has caused the death of civilization as a whole so I hope you feel guilty. It's best not to pay attention to any of this as it's tangential at best, but it explains why you can't see a "save" button anywhere.

Your basic cockpit view (left) versus the lowered "crotch" view (right).
The former has a larger viewing area, but the latter displays more information at once.

Later on in the campaign up to three braindead pilots with a death wish join you, but they are more of a liberty than anything else. This is where the game truly loses me. The mechanics are too simplistic, and the AI too under-baked to implement squads in any worthwhile fashion. They have 6 commands with which they can be issued, each selected from the map screen. I stuck with "Group With Me" or "Attack My Target" and gave up on the rest (though if you really want to see how dumb they are, choose "Attack Anybody" in a confined indoor space). You can recruit friends to control them via LAN or online, but as is always the case with older games with this feature, it is all but defunct.

Iron Assault is a game that doesn't quite satisfy each of the bases. Tactical simulation fans will baulk at the simplistic control scheme and basic missions and look to EarthSiege II or MechWarrior II. Action fans will be put off by the slow pace and comparatively complex controls and will try out Terminator: Future Shock or install the latest Duke Nukem mod instead. The stylised stop-motion cinematics do have a B-movie charm, but it doesn't carry over to the game itself making it only an okay diversion for a couple of hours. Nothing more.

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses the DOSBox ECE version of DOSBox to bring the game to modern systems. Manual, Install Guide, Help Document and Errata included. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 79.2 Mb. Install Size: 122 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

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