Recoil is a fast-paced action game that puts you in charge of the only device that could possibly save the human race from the mechanical monster it’s created: the BFT (BFT stands for Battle Force Tank…I don’t know what you were thinking). Your job is to pilot the BFT through enemy territory, infiltrating the cybernetic empire and ultimately destroying its central computer. The fate of mankind lies in your hands.

The BFT comes equipped with a rapid-fire pulse gun and a mortar cannon, and is ready to accept other weapons and upgrades as soon as they are discovered. Hidden throughout the levels are over fifteen additional arms, including napalm launchers, freon cannons, laser rifles, and nuclear warhead launchers. Additional ammo and armor refills are also scattered throughout the regions, adding a bit of life to your seemingly futile mission. And for additional exploratory capability, the BFT can function as a boat, a hovercraft, and a submarine – provided you’ve acquired the respective upgrades.

Recoil’s missions are very nicely designed, sending you through chemical factories, cloning foundries, computer assembly plants, and even a volcano. Though there are only six single-player missions, each mission has several objectives, providing several hours of gameplay and numerous opportunities for replay (more than once I found myself failing missions). The mission designs provide a nice blend of outdoor, indoor, and underwater scenarios.

The game ran very smoothly on my TNT card, and from everything I’ve read, it runs at least as nicely on a Voodoo 2 or a Voodoo 3. The lighting and shading in the game are incredible, as are most of the other graphics. The underwater visuals were a bit disappointing, but the underwater levels provided a nice change of scenery. The explosions and smoke look very nice, and the landscapes are amazing.

Recoil’s sound is incredible. The CD-audio tracks that play in the setup screens and in the background put me in a real ass-kicking mood. The sound effects are great under DirectSound, and totally cool under A3D support: buildings being demolished, missile and laser cannon shots, vehicle motors running…truly amazing.

The gameplay in Recoil is fast and furious; there are always plenty of Mega Corp troops waiting to try and turn you into slag. The enemy uses a variety of forces to defend its territory, some more effectively than others. Enemies are relatively smart, moving and concealing themselves to avoid shots from the BFT, and opting to retreat when they are losing.

Though the game’s interface is adequate, but it doesn’t reach that higher level . I guess my biggest complaint was not being able to invert the mouse’s y-axis. This made turret control a bit more difficult. Nonetheless, Recoil’s heads-up displays are intuitive: there are locators on the screen, pointing the direction of your enemies, and a magnified sighting system that makes locking onto distant targets a breeze. The game offers a first-person perspective, but keeping track of your tank’s heading and your turret direction without actually being able to see them is a chore.