Crusader: No Remorse

About Crusader: No Remorse

Crusader: No Remorse (1995) is Origin's isometric action game in which a supersoldier deserts a tyrannical 22nd-century world government and fights for the Resistance in highly destructible levels.

Crusader: No Remorse in Depth

Economic collapse has merged the world's nations into the World Economic Consortium, a dictatorship with taxes above 90 per cent that crushes all opposition. Returning from a mission in which they refused to fire on civilians, three of its elite Silencers are ambushed by a WEC mech, and the one survivor, a nameless captain, joins the outnumbered Resistance led by General Quentin Maxis. Distrusted and resented as a symbol of the regime, he earns respect through dangerous missions, often with poor equipment, until he uncovers the Vigilance Platform, a space station able to bombard any city on Earth, as a traitor betrays his cell from within.

The game is split into missions in factories, military bases, offices and space stations, full of soldiers, servomechs, traps, puzzles and civilians. Security cameras and secured doors trigger alarms that teleport in fresh soldiers or release robots until an alarm box is used, and keycards and switches do not work while it sounds. The environment was unusually interactive: most of it can be destroyed, and traps and defences can be turned on enemies, encouraging tactics that save resources. Weapons, ammunition, credits and healing stations are scattered through each level, and in the PC version the Silencer can carry only five firearms at once.

Making Crusader: No Remorse

Loose Cannon Productions, a division of Origin Systems, developed it under Tony Zurovec, with live-action FMV cut-scenes in which the hero never speaks and music by Andrew Sega and Dan Grandpre of Straylight Productions. It was released for MS-DOS in 1995, with PlayStation and Saturn ports in 1997. Zurovec hoped for 100,000 sales, but it sold well over a quarter of a million and, according to Retro Gamer, earned a higher return on investment than any other standalone Origin product. GameSpot called it "so viscerally exciting that its shortcomings can be overlooked" despite cheesy cut-scenes and erratic controls, Next Generation praised its interface, graphics and sound, and Computer Games Magazine argued it was more than a mindless shooter. Crusader: No Regret followed in 1996.