- The height of battle. The depth of fear.
Before the Xbox, before Halo, even before Age of Empires, there was Deadly Tide; a Rail Shooter developed by Rainbow Studios and released by Microsoft in 1996 for PC.
On January 10, 2445 A.D. (That was 450 years into The Future back in the day, for those keeping score), the aliens entered our Solar System. Humanity did not know much about them, except that they had entered our oceans upon arrival, their technology was far in advance of our own, and they were slowly flooding the planet. As seen in the game's intro movie, the Global Space Initiative's defence forces were unable to stop more than one of their gigantic ships and the planetside navies didn't fare much better.
Five years later, the Earth Oceans Alliance is preparing a counterattack with a new, experimental hydrofighter called the Hydra that can handle the extreme pressures at which the aliens operate. Unfortunately, the base at which they are being tested comes under attack from the aliens and only a few of them survive. As one of the few survivors of the attack (and certainly the best), it is your mission to strike back against the alien menace and save the world from ruin.
Deadly Tide contains examples of:
- Bottomless Magazines: Justified, as you are using a laser, which will overheat instead.
- Cool Boat: The Hydra itself and the Hastings, an underwater command ship that doubles as a carrier for the hydrofighters.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: Every enemy craft you defeat will be instantly annihilated in a bright green or blue explosion.
- Energy Weapon: Many of the enemy vehicles fire green lasers that travel in discrete bursts. Your own laser is similar, though its shots actually look circular, somehow.
- Heroic Sacrifice: The unnamed squad leader in the intro and, ultimately, the Lieutenant himself.
- Hollywood Tactics: There are times where the Hydra will just sit perfectly still while shooting at oncoming enemies. Many times.
- Organic Technology: The inside of the alien ships is clearly organic.
- Point Defenseless: Zigzagged with the Hastings during the level you’re ordered to defend it against a surprise attack. At first it’s justified because the aliens managed to knock out the ship’s defense grid in the opening moments of the attack, forcing you to hold them off long enough for the crew to bring it back online. Once it does come back online, however, the trope is promptly turned on its head as the Hastings’ guns proceed to annihilate every single one of the dozens of alien fighters attacking it in approximately seven seconds.
- Post-Defeat Explosion Chain: Invoked in the final mission, where you are supposed to blow up the main reactor connected the alien motherships surrounding it, and thus start a chain reaction that'll blow them all up and save everyone.
- Taking You with Me: What the squad leader does in the opening "Welcome to Earth" cutscene.
