Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Armored Fist 2 puts you in the commander’s seat of the US Army’s M1A2 Abrams main battle tank, offering a blend of action‐oriented arcade thrills and sim-style mechanics. From the moment you start a mission, you’ll find controls that are approachable for newcomers yet deep enough to keep veteran tankers engaged. The developers strike a balance between button-mashing firepower and tactical choices, such as when to call in helicopter gunships for close air support or coordinate platoon maneuvers with AI teammates.

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With over 50 pre-scripted missions spanning Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Armored Fist 2 ensures variety in both objectives and environments. One mission might have you holding a chokepoint in a narrow mountain pass, while the next sends you barreling across desert dunes under heavy artillery fire. Dynamic mission briefings and in-field radio chatter give each objective context, even if the game stops short of a Hollywood-style narrative.

The multiple camera angles—from the driver’s port to the gunner’s station and the commander’s seat—provide unique perspectives on the battlefield. You can even drop into exterior views to appreciate the Abrams’ hulking presence or survey enemy formations before engaging. This flexibility keeps gameplay fresh, as switching between viewpoints can mean the difference between an ambush and a clean shot on target.

Graphics

Powered by Novalogic’s VoxelSpace engine—the same technology behind Comanche 3—Armored Fist 2 delivers surprisingly detailed terrain without requiring a 3D accelerator card. Hillsides, valleys and dune fields are constructed from layered voxels, resulting in smooth, organic landscapes that rival many polygon-based games of the era. Even pop-up or clipping issues are minimal thanks to the engine’s elegant rendering pipeline.

The M1A2 Abrams model is impressively accurate for its time, featuring detailed textures and moving parts such as turret rotation, gun recoil and suspension articulation. Dust kicks up realistically under heavy tracks, and explosions send fragments of wreckage flying, reinforcing the feeling of raw battlefield power. Color palettes shift between lush greens in European theaters and sun-bleached tans in Middle Eastern deserts, maintaining visual variety across missions.

Novalogic also enriches the CD release with live training footage from the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at 29 Palms, California. These real-world clips play before campaign briefings and showcase how real tank crews operate under fire. While not strictly “in-game” graphics, they lend authenticity and serve as a concise tutorial for players unfamiliar with armored tactics.

Story

Though Armored Fist 2 isn’t a narrative-driven RPG, its campaign structure provides a coherent backdrop for your armored crusade. Each theater comes with a distinct set of geopolitical objectives—securing oil fields in the Middle East, halting enemy advances in Central Europe and holding strategic passes in Asian mountain ranges. Briefing slides and radio chatter flesh out the stakes without bogging players down in cutscenes.

The story’s strength lies in its modular design: you’re never tied to a single protagonist, but rather to the US Army’s overarching mission. This approach maintains pacing, ensuring fresh scenarios every few missions. Enemy forces adapt from Soviet-style T-72 brigades to insurgent pickup trucks with improvised rocket launchers, so you’ll constantly recalibrate tactics rather than follow a rigid plotline.

Immersion is further enhanced by dynamic mission debriefs that summarize successes and failures. If you fail to protect an allied supply convoy or allow enemy armor to break through, you’re dropped back into planning mode with revised objectives. This feedback loop encourages replay and strategic thinking, giving the loosely woven story more weight than a simple list of missions.

Overall Experience

Armored Fist 2 stands out as a solid middle ground between hardcore simulation and run-and-gun arcade. It’s accessible enough for a casual player to jump in and enjoy immediate thrills, yet it offers enough tactical depth—armor management, flanking, crew coordination—to satisfy more deliberate strategists. The learning curve is gentle, and frequent checkpoints mean you rarely lose hours of progress to a single misstep.

The absence of a dedicated multiplayer mode is a notable omission by today’s standards, but in 1997 the focus was firmly on the single-player campaign. Even so, the game’s AI platoon mates and occasional helicopter escorts keep the action feeling dynamic. You can replay missions on harder difficulties to extend longevity, and the varied theaters prevent gameplay from growing stale too quickly.

Graphical fidelity may feel dated now, but the VoxelSpace landscapes still hold up as a testament to Novalogic’s technical prowess. Combined with live-action training footage and a robust mission roster, Armored Fist 2 delivers a complete package for budding tank commanders. Whether you’re looking to experience the power of modern armored warfare or simply enjoy a straightforward action sim, this title remains a worthwhile excursion into late-90s military gaming.

For buyers seeking a balanced, no-frills armored combat experience with a healthy dose of variety and approachable controls, Armored Fist 2 is an enduring classic. Its strengths lie in fast-paced mission design, authentic hardware simulation, and versatile camera options—all wrapped in a package that runs on modest hardware. Strap in, power up the 120 mm cannon, and prepare for a blast across multiple continents.

Retro Replay Score

7.2/10