History VideoGame / Crusader

* MadeOfExplodium: Any piece of scenery that can be destroyed (and there is a lot of it) give out at the very least a small burst of flames as it breaks. This includes things which have absolutely no reason to do so, such as ''railings''. Oh, it gets sillier, don't worry. Cafeteria trays are also made of explodium, as are the bloody ''ketchup bottles.'' It's a weird world, but not a quiet one.

* MadeOfExplodium: You'd be hard-pressed to find more examples in any video game ever made. Pretty much everything in this game can explode if you shoot it enough times, including tables, chairs, and railings.

The Silencer has a [[HyperspaceArsenal vast array of weapons]] he picks up (or, in the first game, buys from Weasel, an arms dealer sympathetic to the Resistance), from assault rifles, shotguns and grenade launchers to lasers and UV projectors to, in the sequel, inventively vicious weapons like the liquefier and the crystallizer. While the graphics aren't high resolution enough for it to be truly horrifying, the Silencer's more exotic weapons were delightfully gruesome when used against humans. ''No Regret'' in particular was somewhat notorious for the number of ways humans could die--which included being shot, set on fire, frozen (and then, if you wanted, shattered), blown apart, melted, reduced to a puddle of non-differentiated grey-green goo, and having the flesh burned off one's skeleton. Ruptured high-pressure chemical lines could also freeze people or light them on fire if they wandered into the leak. Crusader is also notable for being a rare game at the time in which the player was free to slaughter unarmed civilians without any in-game consequences. In, from a pure standpoint of gameplay mechanics, it was actually beneficial to do so, since you could get extra cash from their corpses.

Combat was done with weapons only, though a skilled player could make use of demolitions equipment in a pinch. If in the harder settings you ran out of ammo, energy, or ordnance, you couldn't kill anyone until you found some more. This could be very difficult, as most of the Silencer's supplies were either stripped from dead opponents or taken from storage areas that were heavily guarded. It was also somewhat strange, as literature from the second game indicated Silencers were highly skilled martial artists, and the character could certainly pick up the equipment to survive to close combat range.

The controls, while they took a little getting used to, were well-laid out, allowing for an impressive array of diving, rolling, strafing, and just plain walking and running (though jumping was hit-or-miss), and it was easy to see where you were aiming, thanks to a targeting reticle drawn on the screen. Hitting things that were off screen was a problem, and you often found yourself wishing for a way to move the camera independently of the Silencer. On the other hand, enemies that shouldn't have been able to see you generally didn't react until you scrolled into their screen, but could still be killed by you if you knew they were there.

At least one sequel was planned. Depending on source, as many as five more were hoped for, but around the time ''Crusader II'' went into development, Creator/ElectronicArts started to rework how Origin was organized. Eventually, Tony Zurovec and others left the project, the games failed to materialize, Origin itself shut down, and the license, while still held by [=EA=], hasn't been used since (though a proposal was made for a budget remake, Crusader 2006).

* BoringButPractical: The three round burst machine gun is not very flashy but its fairly powerful and nearly every enemy carries a clip of ammo for it. This one should probably stay in your inventory throughout the game once you get it.

%%* ExplodingBarrels

%%* InvisibleGrid

* SuperSoldier: The Silencers, though no one you meet seems to know exactly what they are or how they're made

%%* ArtificialGravity
%%* ArtificialStupidity

%%* CorruptCorporateExecutive

%%* {{Cutscene}}

%%* DeflectorShields

* FakeDifficulty: The highest difficulty level, No Remorse/Regret, gives the weakest enemies heavy weapons...but their corpses still give ammo for lower-tier weapons.

* GuideDangIt: [[spoiler: At the end of ''No Remorse'', the way to the escape pod is blocked by Vargas- who's trying to beat you to the last ride off of the doomed Vigilance Platform. The problem is that she's also armed with a UV-9 (presumably a Senate pistol) and is protected by a Graviton Shield with seemingly limitless energy. The most commonly suggested way to deal with the situation is to dodge her shots and run straight for the escape pod switch. However if you're looking to get {{Revenge}} for the destruction of Echo Base there's another way: The room is lined with pylons that in fact connect Vargas's Battery and Shield to the Vigilance Platform's power grid. Destroying them will in fact strip her seeming invulnerability. The AR-7 is the recommended weapon to use since the spread of micromissiles will not only damage the pylons but will also stagger Vargas in place while the Graviton Shield absorbs the hits... until the connection to the power grid is destroyed and she goes down a screaming inferno.]]

* BigBad: Chairman Draygen serves in this role for both games, although there is an implied BiggerBad in the President of the WEC.

* CoolButInefficient: Neat as the death effects are, is there any point to creating things as inaccurate and with as little in-game ammo as the Liquifier when one already has a perfectly serviceable rocket launcher with a ''lot'' more ammo and destructive power, and a rapid-fire shotgun that doesn't destroy enemy equipment?
** Justified in-game though, as one of the most potent weapons a Silencer has is terror - and many of the exotic weapons seen in game are pure terror weapons. There's a reason civilians run screaming from the sight of you.

* HighlyVisiblePassword: The WEC facilities have doors locked with access codes, which change regularly, but in the vicinity of every one of them is an unsecured computer with an email to the effect of "In accordance to our security policies, the code to the computer lab has been changed. The new code is 382." on the monitor. This practice makes getting into said 'secured' areas a trivial exercise.
** The real problem with frequently rotating passwords, especially when there are multiple of them in the same building, is that it's really really hard for the staff to remember the codes.

* ScienceMarchesOn: It's not so bad... yet...

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: In 2006, a European developer approached Origin and offered to port No Remorse to the UsefulNotes/PlaystationPortable. They put together [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJvkaw4xerY&feature=player_embedded an example of possible gameplay]]. Unfortunately, Origin turned them down...but not before Andrew Sega, the lead composer on the original game, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZq-YvEUnyA wrote a new version of the theme music]].

* ArmsDealer

* ArtificialGravity
* ArtificialStupidity

* BonusDungeon

* BossBattle

* CloningBlues

* CorruptCorporateExecutive
* CriticalExistenceFailure: Justified, as [[AllThereInTheManual the manual mentions]] that Silencers are trained to [[{{Determinator}} ignore]] [[FeelNoPain injury]] and stay functioning at 100% up until the point of death.
* {{Cruel And Unusual Death}}s: The more exotic terror weapons the Silencer can get his hands on will deal these out very easily. You can also use the hazardous environments the WEC allows to flourish against their personnel with gruesome effects.
* {{Cutscene}}
* CutsceneIncompetence
* DeadlyGas
* DeflectorShields
* DeathSeeker: Denning in ''No Regret''.
* DieChairDie
* DifficultyLevels

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: See {{Aesoptinum}}, above.

* EternalProhibition

* EvilutionaryBiologist
* [[MalevolentArchitecture Exploding Architecture]]
* ExplodingBarrels
* [[SmashingHallwayTrapsOfDoom Exploding Hallway Traps of Doom]]
* [[ExplosiveInstrumentation Exploding Instrumentation]]
* [[CollapsingLair Exploding Lair]]: Are we sensing a pattern yet?
* {{Expospeak}}: Rare, but present

* FakeMemories
* {{Feelies}}: Fake WEC newspaper and other goodies; they were mid-90s Origin games, so it was to be expected.
** The things that came in the box genuinely were pretty awesome. The newspaper was supposed to be something The Silencer found in the rebel base. It's focused on the evil rebels and as such has been doodled on by one of its members which makes for some fun stuff.

* GameLevel

* HealThyself

* HitPoints

* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels

* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: WEC guard uniforms.

* IncrediblyObviousBug

* InvisibleGrid

* ItsUpToYou

* LaResistance
* LegoGenetics
* LifeMeter
* LimitedAdvancementOpportunities: The protagonist is ''still'' a captain?
** A Captain in the Silencer Corp itself. Defecting to the Resistance isn't good for promotions.

* TheManBehindTheMan

* UsefulNotes/{{MOD}}: Used this format for its music.
* TheMole: [[spoiler:Vargas]]
* {{Mooks}}: Guards, Soldiers, LMC Guards
** EliteMooks: Stormtroopers and Elite Stormtropers
** MechaMooks: The mechs and androids
** PraetorianGuard: Enforcers and Headquarters Elite Guards are nearly as well-armed and -armored as you.
* MookMaker: Encountered rarely
** In No Regret this is pretty much the main function of the teleporters which you can't use

* {{Nanomachines}}: Limited use, second game only

* OneWorldOrder

* PeopleJars

* PerfectHealth
* ProtagonistWithoutAPast: This is a subplot point in the first game.

* RecurringTraveller

* RedHerring: TheMole is [[spoiler:Brooks. Except it's actually Vargas]].
* {{Revenge}}: The entire point.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified: Generally averted by the game's backstory

* RoboSpeak: Only for androids
* RunDontWalk

* ShinyLookingSpaceships: Used ''and'' subverted
* ShoutOut: There are several, many well-hidden. Probably the first is that Tony Zurovec and Mark Vittek, both project leads, are the names of the Silencer's murdered companions.
** In an aversion, the Silencer armor, despite looking like a cross between a [[Franchise/StarWars Royal Guardsman and Boba Fett]], was apparently designed by someone who wasn't familiar with Franchise/StarWars at all.

* SomeKindOfForcefield

* SpaceClothes
* SpaceIsNoisy
* StandardFPSGuns
* StandardizedSpaceViews

* SuicidalOverconfidence

* TeleportersAndTransporters: Key to both gameplay and story
* TeleportingKeycardSquad: Used sparingly but consistently

* ThirdPersonShooter

* TimeBomb
* TimedMission

* UseItem

* MadeOfExplodium: Any piece of scenery that can be destroyed (and there is a lot of it) give out at the very least a small burst of flames as it breaks. This includes things which have absolutely no reason to do so, such as ''railings''.

The ''Crusader'' series was an early entry into the Isometric Shooter genre. Developed by Loose Cannon Productions and published by Origin Systems as ''Crusader: No Remorse'' (1995) and ''Crusader: No Regret'' (1996), they told the story of [[SuperSoldier a Silencer]], one of the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive World Economic Consortium's]] ([[MegaCorp WEC]])'s most elite soldiers.

At least one sequel was planned. Depending on source, as many as five more were hoped for, but around the time ''Crusader II'' went into development, ElectronicArts started to rework how Origin was organized. Eventually, Tony Zurovec and others left the project, the games failed to materialize, Origin itself shut down, and the license, while still held by [=EA=], hasn't been used since (though a proposal was made for a budget remake, Crusader 2006).

The Silencer has a [[HyperspaceArsenal vast array of weapons]] he picks up (or, in the first game, buys from Weasel, an arms dealer sympathetic to the Resistance), from assault rifles, shotguns and grenade launchers to lasers and UV projectors to, in the sequel, inventively vicious weapons like the liquefier and the crystallizer. While the graphics aren't high resolution enough for it to be truly horrifying, the Silencer's more exotic weapons were delightfully gruesome when used against humans. ''No Regret'' in particular was somewhat notorious for the number of ways humans could die--which included being shot, set on fire, frozen (and then, if you wanted, shattered), blown apart, melted, reduced to a puddle of non-differentiated grey-green goo, and having the flesh burned off one's skeleton. Ruptured high-pressure chemical lines could also freeze people or light them on fire if they wandered into the leak.

* EnergyWeapon

* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence

* OneManArmy

* {{Badass}}: The Silencer, natch

Both ''Crusader'' games used a modified version of the engine developed for Origin's own ''UltimaVIII'', providing an isometric 3rd-person view on the PlayerCharacter not unlike that of ''{{VideoGame/Diablo}}''. The game featured pre-rendered sprites instead of 3D accelerated polygons generated on the fly. These graphics still hold up when their age is taken into account.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: In 2006, a European developer approached Origin and offered to port No Remorse to the {{P|laystationPortable}}SP. They put together [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJvkaw4xerY&feature=player_embedded an example of possible gameplay]]. Unfortunately, Origin turned them down...but not before Andrew Sega, the lead composer on the original game, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZq-YvEUnyA wrote a new version of the theme music]].

Made of roughly equal parts ''Syndicate'', ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', ''Franchise/RoboCop'', and ''Franchise/StarWars'', the story is as follows: In the year 2196, the WEC is a global economic hegemony, ruling the Earth and other colonies in the solar system with an iron fist. At the beginning of ''No Remorse'' the Silencer's team is betrayed by the WEC after refusing an order to kill unarmed civilians, identified by their commander as rebels. The rest of his team is killed, so the Silencer betrays them in turn, joining up with the [[LaResistance Global Resistance]], who are trying to remove the WEC from their position of system-wide dominance. The WEC is getting close to tightening their grip further by completing the orbital bombardment platform ''Vigilance'', which would allow them to bombard any point on Earth into rubble on a moment's notice through centralized control of nuclear-armed satellites and would itself remain safe by being a very small target well out of reach of conventional attack.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: See all these guns you have that invoke all manner of horrible deaths? See all those helpless scientists and engineers? Get experimenting. AS mentioned before, murdering civilians has no repercussions.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: See all these guns you have that invoke all manner of horrible deaths? See all those helpless scientists and engineers? Get experimenting.

* NonstandardGameOver: At least one mission in each game was timed, and if time ran out, you not only got a general game over but an expository last [=FMV=].