Armored Fist 2
In Armored Fist 2, NovaLogic dropped players straight into the commander's cupola of an M1A2 Abrams without forcing them to wade through a thick ring binder of system schematics first.
Voxel terrain meets heavy armor
Back in 1997, most flight and vehicle sims demanded a heavy commitment. You had to memorize complex keybindings just to start the engine, let alone engage an enemy platoon. NovaLogic took the opposite path with their simulation games. They built this title on VoxelSpace 2, the software engine powering Comanche 3. It rendered rolling hills and valleys without requiring an expensive 3D graphics card, dressing the landscape with high-detail polygonal models for enemy vehicles.
To set the mood, the game shipped with live video filmed at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twenty Nine Palms, California. Actor Ed Lauter appeared alongside actual U.S. Marines to brief you on tactical doctrine. NovaLogic even flew twelve gaming journalists out to the desert to compare the game against real M1A2 tanks. It was the best-selling tank combat game in the United States in 1997, moving nearly 27,000 copies.
Inside the turret and taking command in Armored Fist 2
The campaign structure spans over 50 missions across four combat zones: Operation Provide Relief, Operation Siberian Fist, Operation Secure Peace, and Operation Thunder Road. You jump between four internal stations - driver, gunner, unbuttoned commander firing the .50 caliber machine gun, and buttoned commander using the thermal sight. You can also pop out to an external chase camera, which includes a hidden 3D stereo vision mode activated through a secret key sequence.
Combat hits hard and fast. Swapping between the main 120mm thermal optic and the auxiliary sight feels sharp, letting you spot distant T80 tanks and BMPs long before they close the gap. When your four-tank platoon gets pinned down, you can call in artillery strikes or close air support from AH-64 attack helicopters. The audio punch is immediate, taking full advantage of Sound Blaster hardware with authentic crew calls and engine rumbles recorded in Dolby Surround Sound.
Where the tracks fall off
The trade-off for all this accessible action was a serious lack of mechanical polish. Reviews at launch were split down the middle. TankSim praised the accessible gunnery interface, but PC Gamer hit the game with a brutal 34 percent score. On a typical Pentium 133 processor, the voxel engine dragged frame rates down to a choppy crawl. If your system stuttered during a heavy engagement, hitting target waypoints became a chore.
Worse yet, the wingman AI regularly drops the ball. Friendly tanks will idle in open ground while enemy artillery rains down around them. Mission planning is equally rigid; if you need to alter your unit waypoints halfway through a battle, you have to restart the whole scenario. The world also lacks physical destruction. You cannot flatten trees or crush concrete barriers with your 60-ton vehicle, leaving your platoon trapped in narrow canyon layouts.
How to handle the challenge and key cheat codes
Designed by Kent Simon with technical advice from Captain Rory J. Aylward, the game focuses heavily on raw gunnery speed and basic land navigation. When the pre-scripted AI fails or a mission objective gets too punishing, built-in debug commands offer instant relief during play:
- Ctrl+F12: Toggles the complete tactical overview map.
- Alt+Shift+R: Restores full ammunition for all onboard weapons.
- Alt+Shift+D: Instantly repairs all structural and system damage.
- Alt+Shift+I: Toggles total invincibility for your tank.
How Armored Fist 2 holds up online
If you come looking for a strict study sim, this MS-DOS game will feel too light. But if you want quick armored action where you can jump between crew seats and trade shellfire over rolling hills, NovaLogic hit the target for fast-paced tank battles. The punchy audio and rapid sight-switching keep the action brisk once you learn to work around the rigid mission waypoints.
You can play Armored Fist 2 online right now directly in your browser. There is nothing to install and no system setup required, so you can jump straight into the gunner seat and start slinging 120mm rounds within seconds.