Description

Under Fire was a tactical level computer game released by Avalon Hill's computer division in 1985 but like most Avalon Hill computer games, was behind the industry standards for graphics and gameplay. It was not billed as a computer version of Squad Leader

Squad Leader

thumb|Squad Leader game package.Squad Leader is a tactical level board wargame originally published by Avalon Hill in 1977. It was designed by Hall of Fame game designer John Hill and focuses on infantry combat in Europe during World War II...

, though it did bear some similarities in that players commanded roughly company sized forces. Only three maps were available for play. The game was released for Apple II

Apple II

The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...

, Commodore 64

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...

, and DOS

DOS

DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...

 systems. The game was unique (and rather unsatisfying to many) in that for each of the nine scenarios, victory was not declared at game's end. A results screen would show losses in men and equipment, and list possession of objectives, leaving the determination of "victory" to the player. Like the original Squad Leader board game, German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n and American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 nationalities were represented. Unlike earlier attempts at computerized tactical combat simulations (notably Dniepr River Line, also by Avalon Hill, which included a physical copy of Squad Leader's board 3 and cardboard counters which were necessary for gameplay), the computer tracked the movement and position of all units as well as handling all computations for sighting and combat resolution. (Some computer games, notably those by Simulations Canada, were being sold at that time with either a physical mapboard and game pieces that the player had to use to manually track movement and position, or even plastic covered maps and grease pencils).

Initial packaging had the name of the designer, Ralph H. Bosson, over the title on the box front so as to read Ralph Bosson's UNDER FIRE!, but subsequent packaging replaced his name and read Avalon Hill's UNDER FIRE! instead.

An Extended Capabilities Disk was sold by Avalon Hill also, adding 56 more US, German and Russian assault guns and tanks to the game, as well as providing Japanese, British and Italian forces, with two additional maps and six more scenarios.

A Second Extended Capabilities Disk also underwent initial development, bringing a campaign layer to the game, increasing the speed of play, and making use of 64K of additional memory (where available).

Game play

The player would select display options and game scale at the start of play (the map was divided into squares, which could represent a variable number of metres per square, selected by the player at the outset of the game). The display as very simple, with units represented by crude tank, halftrack, or soldier icons. The display was a 4 color output. A scenario and map were selected (with only three choices of each, for a total of nine combinations to choose from). However, forces were randomly selected for each nationality, and the player could also choose to either attack or defend, providing even more diversity to gameplay. The player also had the option of playing either a human opponent, or against a computer opponent.

The game was "WEGO" in concept (the same concept later made famous by Combat Mission) in that both players entered their orders, and then watched the order resolution unfold simultaneously.

The game was summarized in Issue #50 (Sep/Oct 1986) of Fire & Movement Magazine, in an article by Omar L. DeWitt:

There is much to keep you busy with this game; skills to learn, new situations to face, and new conflicts to be created. I am very favourably impressed by this game; much enjoyment per dollar.

The game has been criticized for being slow. For those used to arcade games, it certainly is. Perhaps it could be faster; a few functions lend themselves to being speeded up, and some simple shortcuts could have been taken, but I did not find the time factor a drawback....

If I have a criticism, it is with winning....I suspect that level one in Under Fire! is too good.

The computer opponent was actually a form of artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...

; in the words of the designer: "I attempted to create a player that would try to win, not simply fire back. The computer has been given a knowledge of small arms (sic) tactics. It will, when possible, co-ordinate its attacks."."