Arcticfox [retro DOS game] (1986, Dynamix)

This is a video capture of the classic sci-fi tank simulation, Arcticfox, made by Dynamix in 1986. Its designers loved the arcade game Battlezone and wanted to bring something like it to personal computers. This game is more than just an arcade shooter. It is a simulation that has both strategic and tactical elements. This is the Tandy 1000 version, one of the best looking ports with its 16-color graphics.

You are tasked with piloting the state of the art Arcticfox tank through the antarctic in an attempt to save Earth from aliens who are stealing the Earth's oxygen. The tank has various weapons and technologies. There is the main cannon, guided missles which you control through a camera, radar & camera systems, the ability to tunnel beneath the snow for cover, and mines to destroy tanks following behind you. The clock is ticking however, as the oxygen is being stolen as you play. You have to hunt down the alien HQ in a timely manner while at the same time outsmarting enemy forces.

Terrain plays a major part in how you play the game. Among the snowy landscape are ridges, crevices, mud flats, rocks, and mountains. Weather can come into play with snowy whiteouts. The terrain affects your ability to see and detect enemies, it affects your speed, and it provides ways to outwit foes.

You are attacked from ground and air by other tanks, automated mines, air fighters, and ground installations. Radar towers and recon vehicles will detect your presence and notify enemy reinforcements. Destroy them quickly or you will be surrounded and outmatched. Air converters can be destroyed to increase the time you have to find the enemy fortress.

Arcticfox is a sequel to Stellar 7 and prequel for Nova 9. PC games such as the 1998 RTS/tank sim hybrid Battlezone share various aspects with this classic.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• arcticfox
• dynamix
• tandy
• 1000
• retro
• DOS
• computer
• game
• tank
• simulation
• battlezone
• stellar7

[timeodaneosetdona]

Thanks for beating this game ;) I never quite found the time, and then lost the disks. Is there a modern equivalent? Games like Mech Warrior come close, but I feel they never captured the same feel.

[swaaye]

@timeodaneosetdona The most similar "recent" games are Battlezone and Battlezone 2, I think. Yeah Mechwarrior is not really the same kind of game.

[v1nce1007]

thanks for uploading !!!

loved to play this on my AMIGA 1000 !!!!

[swaaye]

@v1nce1007  I hadn't played the game for like 20 years when I decided to make a video of it. And I also beat it for the first time while recording it. I played it on a Tandy 1000TX 286 computer way back. I can remember picking the game out at Radio Shack! :D I think I was probably 7 years old or so.

[gyiyg996]

Ah, thanks for uploading this and posting it as a response to my playthough, I've been dying to see what Arctic Fox looked like but I could never find any relevant videos on Youtube until this popped up.

I plan to get this someday, although I wouldn't know where to find a hard copy. Finding a CD version of Stellar 7 was just blind luck for me.

[swaaye]

Glad you like the vid. I'd been wanting to play the game again for a long time. I think that this is the first PC game I ever played. It was inspirational. :) I also had the Stellar 7 remake that you recorded.

As to how to get it, well I lucked out and found unopened boxed copies (!!) of it on ebay about two weeks ago. It looks like there are still some on there. I had to crack the game to get it to work in DOSBOX though. Annoying floppy copy protection that wouldn't work with it.

[QuestionDeca]

There is actually part of a screenshot of Arctic Fox and one of Pong as part of the "intel" images in Ford Cruller's Sanctuary in (at the least) xbox360 downloadable version of the Double Fine game Psychonauts.

[pavo6503]

I loved this game so much I built my own models of the vehicles out of plastic sheets I bought at the hobby shop. So much fun with tons of replay value. Thanks for posting.

[kwkiller]

@v1nce1007 OMG me too, amiga had the awesome orchestral music on the intro, but I can never remember which one!

[arcticfox1985]

I tried playing this game and was EXTREMELY confused. had no idea my username was the name of a game lol.

[gremlingrem]

Trop bien, merci de m'avoir fait "rejouer" a Articfox, j'y jouais en 1988 sur mon apple //c !