''iM1A2 Abrams'' is a simulation of the

M1A2 Abrams The M1 Abrams is a third-generation American main battle tank designed by Chrysler Defense (now General Dynamics Land Systems) and named for General Creighton Abrams. Conceived for modern armored ground warfare and now one of the heaviest ta ...

main

battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the role of armor-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more powerful engines, better suspension sys ...

for the

Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. The first operating system in the 9x family, it is the successor to Windows 3.1x, and was released to manufactu ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

, developed by Charybdis Enterprises, and published by

Interactive Magic IEntertainment Network (IENT, stylized as iEntertainment Network and formerly known as Interactive Magic, iMagic, and iMagiconline) is an American video game company founded by Bill Stealey, the co-founder and former CEO of MicroProse Software, ...

(also known as Imagic) in 1997. The game was released as a CD-ROM.

Gameplay

''iM1A2 Abrams'' is a simulation focusing on battlefield management as a

tank commander A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engi ...

controlling an entire company of support vehicles including

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and m ...

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieg ...

, and

air strikes An airstrike, air strike or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighters, heavy bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters and drones. The officia ...

as well as the players' own tank

platoon A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrol A patrol is commonly a group of personnel, such as Law enforcement officer, law enforcement officers, military personnel, or Security guard, secur ...

(s). Mastering the many company commands, and regular use of the real-time updated tactical map is essential for success. The player also has the ability to "jump" to each crew position (commander, gunner, driver) in every

M1A2 The M1 Abrams is a third-generation American main battle tank designed by Chrysler Defense (now General Dynamics Land Systems) and named for General Creighton Abrams. Conceived for modern armored ground warfare and now one of the heavies ...

vehicle on the battlefield and take control of each directly. Three separate fictional campaigns are available to play: the

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

ian (taking place in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

), Bosnian, and

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * Som ...

. All of the major eastern and western vehicle types were accurately modeled, and a fictional

T-95 T-95 is the common informal designation of the Russian fourth-generation main battle tank internally designated as the Object 195, that was under development at Uralvagonzavod from 1988 until its cancelation in 2010. Little about the tank is ...

main battle tank was added to the mix to create more of a challenge for the somewhat superior M1A2 MBT.

Development

The game's head designer was Arnold Hendrick, best known for designing ''

M1 Tank Platoon ''M1 Tank Platoon'' is a tactical simulator of tank warfare developed and published by MicroProse for the Amiga, Atari ST and MS-DOS in 1989. The game features a mixture of first-person, third-person tank warfare, and tactical simulation gamep ...

''. To help with the game's authenticity, Hendrick consulted with a number of contacts in

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Un ...

and the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...

, including a master gunnery sergeant who was actively training

Saudis Saudis ( ar, سعوديون, Suʿūdiyyūn) are people identified with the country of Saudi Arabia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. The Saudis are composed mainly of Arabs and primarily speak a regional dialect ...

in the use of the MIA2.

Reception

Publisher Interactive Magic shipped 100,000 copies of the game in preparation for its launch. ''

Next Generation Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to: Publications and literature * ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company * Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...

'' rated it three stars out of five, and stated that "At times, it feels more like a job than a game. The designers went for keeping it true to life, and that means authenticity, not adrenaline." North American distributions of the game included the red black and white "

PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...

Editor's Choice" sticker. This was one of Interactive Magic's last releases in a line of military simulations. It has been compared to

MicroProse MicroProse is an American video game publisher and developer founded by Bill Stealey, Sid Meier, and Andy Hollis in 1982. It developed and published numerous games, including starting the ''Civilization'' and '' X-COM'' series. Most of their inte ...

's ''

M1 Tank Platoon II ''M1 Tank Platoon II'' (sometimes referred to simply as ''M1TP2'') is a tank simulation video game developed and published by MicroProse Software in 1998 for Microsoft Windows. It is a simulator of the M1 Abrams main battle tank and a follow-up to ...

'' over the years, due to many similarities in layout and gameplay.

References

External links

''iM1A2 Abrams''
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 ...

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