''Black Dawn'' is a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

-combat simulation, published by

Virgin Interactive Entertainment Virgin Interactive Entertainment (later renamed Avalon Interactive) was the video game publishing division of British conglomerate the Virgin Group. It developed and published games for major platforms and employed developers, including Westwoo ...

. It was released on the

Sony PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divi ...

and the

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the succ ...

in 1996.

Plot

Set in 1998, the player controls a helicopter ace recruited into a black ops counterterrorism strike force named Operation Black Dawn. The player pilots the agile AH-69 Mohawk, an advanced combat helicopter with a powerful arsenal of weaponry.

Gameplay

The game consists of seven campaigns that take place in different areas, and each campaign has a number of different missions. In addition to search-and-destroy objectives, there are hostages that require saving. The game has drawn comparisons with ''

Soviet Strike ''Soviet Strike'' is a helicopter-based shooter game developed and published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation in 1996 and the Sega Saturn in 1997. The game is a sequel to the ''Strike'' games which began on the Sega Genesis with '' Des ...

'', another helicopter simulator released in the same year. However, ''Black Dawn'' resembles an arcade game rather than a typical simulator, not least because various

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chosen ...

s are obtained from destroyed enemies. A two-player

deathmatch Deathmatch, also known as free-for-all, is a gameplay mode integrated into many shooter games, including first-person shooter (FPS), and real-time strategy (RTS) video games, where the goal is to kill (or "frag") the other players' characters a ...

mode is included, but can only be accessed via a

cheat code Cheating in video games involves a video game player using various methods to create an advantage beyond normal gameplay, usually in order to make the game easier. Cheats may be activated from within the game itself (a cheat code implemented by ...

Development

Lead programmer Will Botti cited ''

Choplifter ''Choplifter'' (stylized as ''Choplifter!'') is military themed scrolling shooter developed by Dan Gorlin for the Apple II and published by Broderbund in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family the same year and also to the VIC-20, Com ...

'' as an inspiration for the game. The game uses the same engine as ''

Agile Warrior ''Agile Warrior F-111X'' is a video game developed by Black Ops and published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation and Windows. It was the first title produced by the studio, initially developing the title from home before they ...

'',

Black Ops Entertainment Black Ops Entertainment was an American mobile app developer and former video game developer located in Santa Monica, California. From 1994 to 2006, it developed sixteen games for several platforms, including the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, PlayS ...

's previous game. The soundtrack was originally composed by Todd Dennis.

Reception

''Black Dawn'' received generally positive reviews. Critics praised the intense gameplay with numerous targets, the orchestral music, and the clean, detailed graphics, though some criticized the heavy use of

distance fog Distance fog is a technique used in 3D computer graphics to enhance the perception of distance by shading distant objects differently. Because many of the shapes in graphical environments are relatively simple, and complex shadows are difficult ...

and the blocky ground textures. Some also remarked that the complex controls take time to get used to. However, nearly all were left with an overall positive impression; ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' assessed it as "what loud, engaging gameplay is all about", '' Next Generation'' called it "a pleasing combination of excellent graphics and dead-on game play", ''

Sega Saturn Magazine ''Sega Saturn Magazine'' was a monthly UK magazine covering the Sega Saturn, a home video game console. It held the official Saturn magazine license for the UK, and some issues included a demo CD created by Sega, ''Sega Flash'', which included ...

'' summarized it as "A top 3D shoot 'em up that's initially difficult to get to grips with, but ultimately is a very fine game indeed", and ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' concluded, "A few flaws aside, ''Black Dawn'' is a well-rounded game that delivers riveting, adrenaline-packed combat." ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The m ...

'' named it a runner-up for Flying Game of the Year (behind ''

Pilotwings 64 is an amateur flight simulator game developed by Nintendo and Paradigm Simulation and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was one of three launch titles for the Nintendo 64 in Japan as well as Europe and one of two launch titles in Nor ...

''). ''GamePro'' called the Saturn version "an impressive, exact port of the PlayStation game", but went on to say that the graphics are not as clean and the control configuration is not as intuitive.

References

External links

''Black Dawn''
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Dawn (Video Game) 1996 video games Combat flight simulators Helicopter video games PlayStation (console) games Point of View games Sega Saturn games Video games about terrorism Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by Tommy Tallarico Video games set in 1998 Virgin Interactive games Black Ops Entertainment games Single-player video games