A heavy curtain of artillery fire directed in front of friendly troops to screen and protect them.
A rapid, concentrated discharge of missiles, as from small arms.
An overwhelming, concentrated outpouring, as of words: a barrage of criticism.
tr.v., -raged, -rag·ing, -rag·es.
To direct a barrage at.
[French (tir de) barrage, barrier (fire). See barrage1.]
SYNONYMSbarrage, bombard, pepper, shower. These verbs mean to direct a concentrated outpouring at something or someone: barraged the speaker with questions; bombarded the box office with ticket orders; peppered the senator with protests; showered the child with gifts.
(DOD) 1. A prearranged barrier of fires, except that delivered by small arms, designed to protect friendly troops and installations by impeding enemy movements across defensive lines or areas. 2. A protective screen of balloons that is moored to the ground and kept at given heights to prevent or hinder operations by enemy aircraft. This meaning also called balloon barrage. 3. A type of electronic attack intended for simultaneous jamming over a wide area of frequency spectrum. See also barrage jamming; electronic warfare; fires.
Strapped into a high-speed hovercraft, you traverse a virtual mosaic of 3D environments including outdoor, underground, and underwater locations. The game features five settings of Prairie, Tunnel, Canyon, Chicago, and Ocean.
Guns blazing, you must destroy enemies who stand between you and the mysterious portal. The portal, when activated, opens a gateway to the next world. You must race to locate and open the portal before your fuel and time run out. Barrage offers a range of weapons which are gradually introduced throughout the game, including the laser which is introduced in the tunnel, the plasma pack (canyon), the speed booster (Chicago), and the Nuke (ocean).
The levels in Barrage are large in scale and offer the player many different ways to traverse them. From underwater to air, the game has no set path to take to complete the mission. Additionally, Barrage offers multi-player support for two to eight players.
~ Chris Couper, All Game Guide
Roots & Influences
Barrage is a fast action shooter with definite overtones of an arcade game. The game is not a flight simulation, as there are no damage from impacts with the ground and no limit on ammunition. It is a race against time with points scored for targets destroyed and bonus points for time remaining. As such, the influence of arcade shooters is evident within the game structure of Barrage.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide
Review: Overall
Barrage sounds like a lot of fun on paper. You jet around large levels in a hovercraft blowing up anything and everything you see. The catch is you have to do things in a specific time frame. The clock is always ticking against you and there are goals to be met.
Each level takes place in a different geographical location such as a canyon or city. The levels are grand in scale and give you lots of freedom to complete them. In some levels, you'll have to fly around pillars that have been set up. If you do so successfully, you'll get time added to your grand total. Also strewn about are hourglass pick-up items that add time to the clock. Your power meter works against you. Each time you get hit or run into something, the meter goes down. Once your power has been completely drained, you are hit with a ten-second penalty and it is deleted from your overall time.
You are supplied with a nice arsenal of weapons. There are lasers and plasma guns to use; you'll need them to fight end-level bosses as well as fend off your foes. Basically, you get a new weapon every level, which is a nice design feature.
So far, so good, right? Unfortunately, there is one significant problem keeping Barrage down and that is the control. Controlling this game is very frustrating; the mouse control is horribly flawed. Not only is it slow and sluggish but it is almost impossible to line up shots and hit anything with accuracy. You'll have to rely on luck far too often.
Also, the multi-player support is very disappointing. It's pretty much a straightforward death match in which you fly around aimlessly while looking for random targets or foes to hit.
Because of the poor control, it is almost impossible to hit anything with accuracy. The developers tried to justify themselves in the instruction manual but I don't see the point. If you go through all the trouble to make a game in the first place, why would you want to make it absolutely frustrating to control?
What you're left with is a game that could have been a world of fun but is marred with abysmal controls and boring, poor multi-player support. There are far better shooters out there than this one. If you can find it in the bargain bin at your local software store and are a shooter fan, then you may want to look at this game. For everyone else, pass on it.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide
Review: Enjoyment
Because of horrible controls, Barrage is a real turn-off in the enjoyment department. It's not very fun trying to ignore the unresponsive and sluggish controls while trying to be at least somewhat accurate (which you need to be at times).
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide
Review: Graphics
The frame rate is solid and the game engine is fast. The graphics are also pleasantly detailed and look nice.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide
Review: Sound
All of the sound effects, such as explosions, really sound good and the soundtrack is fairly good.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide
Review: Replay Value
Unfortunately, the game just isn't fun enough to hold your attention very long and the multi-player support is weak.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide
Review: Documentation
The manual is okay with information about controls.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide
Production Credits
MANGO GRITS Technical Director, Game Design, Sound Design, Programming: Michel Royer; Art Director Lead, 3D Art, 2D Art, Game Design: Spencer Levy; Programmer, Game Design, Gameplay Tuning, Programming: Pierre Schiro; President, What Ever It Takes, Anything Else, That Too: Joan Wood; SIGNIFICANT OTHERSGEMINI TECHNOLOGY OPENGVS Support: Dale Stimson, John Archdeacon, Daniel Bybee, Tony Sawyer, Charlene Bolta; D3D Support Programming: Daniel Bybee; Multi-Player DirectPlay Interface Programming: Jean-Luc Brouillet; Video Lighting & Canyon Acting: Steven L. Reynolds; Mango Grits Game Testers: Lord Kurt Adkins, Len "Linzord" Akers, Dylan Bradford; Rush Compatibility Testers: Dave Stewart, Sean Hall; Two Level Version Manual Translators: Thomas Buteler, Jesper Bengtson, Hannes Erven, Johannes Spielmann; Music: George Englund, Nick Smith; Story: Flint Dille; Intro: Spencer Levy; Voice Acting: Zook Norman, Ross Smith, Gary Tarolli, Scott Sellars (SST); Chief Squidmaster & Rutabaga Engineer: Ross Q. Smith; ACTIVISION Associate Product Manager: Barbara Matias Haynes; Associate Producer: John Cibulski; Documentation: Belinda Van Sickle; Installer: Jeff MatsushitaLocalizations: Sandi Isaacs, Jonathan Eubanks; QUALITY ASSURANCE Sr. Project Lead: Tim Vanlaw; Project Lead: Doug Jacobs; Associate Project Lead: Tanya Langston; Testers: Chris Toft, Sam Nouriani; Compatibility Team: John Fritts, Jennifer Oneal
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