Looking Glass Classic Terra Nova Now Available On GOG

Wherever and whenever Looking Glass Studios are mentioned, I light a candle and consider playing through the first two Thief games again. Before the flame has died, I can usually be found somewhere in the vicinity banging on about Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri, the first-person squad-based tactical action game that I like to refer to as 'the forgotten Looking Glass classic'.

GOG have just added the game to their catalogue (£3.99) and the excitement in my twitter timeline suggests people hadn't forgotten Terra Nova at all - it was just really hard to get hold of. I haven't played it since 1998 or thereabouts but, good lord, I adored it.

The variety and impact of the weapons! Lasers felt as if they were streaking hot death across the screen, searing into armour and through to the flesh beneath. Turrets and tanks rocked the screen and obliterated squad members as they scrambled for cover. Missions were fraught with tension and Looking Glass managed to make the powered armour of your characters feel simultaneously like an empowering piece of kit and a claustrophobic death trap.

If it holds up even half as well as Thief and Ultima Underworld, I'll be delighted. Even if not, it's a piece of my own gaming past that I'm eager to revisit.

Oh, and the forgotten Looking Glass classic is actually British Open Championship Golf.