''Armada'' is a video game developed and published by

Metro3D Metro3D, Inc. (formerly Metropolis Digital, Inc.) was an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher. Based in San Jose, California, and founded in 1998 , the company released several games for the Dreamcast, Game Boy Color ...

. It was released for the

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

Dreamcast in North America on November 26, 1999. ''Armada'' is a shooter

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

(RPG) that allows up to four players to fly about the universe, fighting the enemy, performing missions and improving their ship.

Plot

Earth has been destroyed by the unfathomable Armada, giant space aliens of unknown origin with an unknown purpose. Fleeing in whatever was available, humanity took to the stars in a desperate attempt to survive. Eons later, humans have split into six distinct groups who maintain a shaky alliance against the Armada.

Development

''Armada'' was developed by

, (formerly Metropolis Digital, Inc.) and was announced in mid-1998 as an

online game An online game is a video game that is either partially or primarily played through the Internet or any other computer network available. Online games are ubiquitous on modern gaming platforms, including PC game, PCs, Console game, consoles and ...

. The company had previously developed a space-themed, real-time strategy game titled '' Star Command: Revolution''. In May 1999, the game was revealed to be a massively multiplayer online role-playing game in development for the

Dreamcast. The game was planned to be released as a launch title for the console on September 9, 1999, but was delayed until late September or early October of that year. The game was delayed again with a projected shipment the week of November 19. ''Armada'' was finally made available at retail on November 26, 1999, the day following Thanksgiving. At one time ''Armada'' had been scheduled to be released in Japan along with '' Dark Angel: Vampire Apocalypse'' in 2000, but both games never made their release in Japanese stores for reasons unknown.

Reception

The game received favorable reviews according to the review aggregation website

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

. Greg Orlando of '' NextGen'' said, "As a solitary experience, ''Armada''s RPG elements make the game worth a look – and maybe a second one, too. These unfriendly skies (and galaxies), however, are really meant to be traversed in the company of others." The game was a finalist for the "Console Action Game of the Year" award at the

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentation ...

3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards The ''3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards'' is the 3rd edition of the Interactive Achievement Awards, an annual awards event that honors the best games in the video game industry. The awards are arranged by the Academy of Interactive Arts & ...

, which went to ''

Crazy Taxi ''Crazy Taxi'' is a series of racing video games that was developed by Hitmaker and published by Sega. The first game appeared in arcades in 1999 and was very successful, prompting Sega to port the arcade version to their Dreamcast consol ...

''.

Legacy

Armada F/X Racers ''Armada F/X Racers'' is a 2000 video game for the Game Boy Color, developed by Metropolis Digital Inc. and published by Metro3D. The game is a futuristic-themed racing game based on the 1999 Dreamcast game '' Armada''. Gameplay ''F/X Racer ...

'' for the

Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...

, a racing game which takes place in the same universe as ''Armada'', was developed by Metro3D and released in 2000. A direct sequel to ''Armada'' was under development, originally for the Dreamcast, then for the Xbox and

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

under various titles including ''Armada II'', ''Armada's Revenge'', ''Armada 2: Exodus'', and ''Armada 2: Star Command''. However, due to repeated delays and redesigns along with limited resources, the game was canceled after spending over four years in varying degrees of development. In early 2005, EvStream, an independent game development studio formed by former Metro3D members, purchased the rights for ''Armada''. An online continuation titled ''Armada Online'' has been announced and is under development by Roger Fang and Mark Jordan. An

alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , whic ...

of the game was released.

References

External links

*{{moby game, id=/dreamcast/armada
''Armada Online''
official website 1999 video games Dreamcast games Dreamcast-only games North America-exclusive video games Role-playing video games Shooter video games Video games developed in the United States Multiplayer and single-player video games Metro3D games