Icarus: Alien Vanguard

Icarus: Alien Vanguard is a 32-level megawad released in 1996 by TeamTNT. When TNT: Evilution, originally intended to be a freeware release, was picked up for publishing by id Software (in what would become Final Doom), Icarus was developed to take its place. The central theme revolves around the exploration cruiser, Icarus, and takes the player through various planets, portions of the ship, and deadly simulation programs. It later received a sequel in the form of Daedalus: Alien Defense.

The soundtrack team for this megawad was known as MusIcarus and comprised of the following members: Brian Kidby (coordinator), Jeremy Doyle, Jonathan El-Bizri, Charles Li, David Shaw, and Tom Mustaine.

Story
The story of Icarus: Alien Vanguard was written by Brian Kidby, and is available only on the official TeamTNT website for the WAD. Like official Doom story materials, it is written in the second person.

The story takes place twelve years after the events of Doom II, characterized as "total global war" between humanity and an invading race that "attacked with a fury that seemed the spawn of Hell itself". After the human race evacuated Earth, it was decided to bomb the entry points of the invasion from space. Following this, "special military teams" were sent to take out the surviving forces. Nearly a year later, the human race returned to their now devastated planet and began to rebuild, amidst occasional but ongoing battle with the remnants of the enemy.

In the wake of the invasion, the newly arisen United Nations established the Earth Defense Council (EDC), which would protect the planet from future invasions. Fulfilling this is the Earth Defense Force (EDF), their active arm, consisting of every military force in the world, which also explores nearby planetary systems for life forms hostile or not.

The exploration has been going on for one year prior to the beginning of the story via short-range cruisers, equipped with Personnel Transport (PT) systems developed by the UAC for direct travel between ships and planets. Two have reached their destinations and have sent back preliminary scans suggesting no signs of intelligent life, with more data expected as the exploration teams are planned to do surface scans soon.

When the story begins, Doom's protagonist is woken up at 2:00 AM by a call from his commander, General Bill Robinson, for an emergency, which sends him on a flight to the Northern United States EDF base near. There, he receives the news: it seems the EDF has lost contact with the Icarus, the last exploration cruiser to be launched, headed for the system. It was exploring and scanning the five planets of Beta Pictoris as planned when, according to its logs, scanners detected intelligent life on the third. Analysis revealed Beta Pictoris 3 to have Earth-like conditions, and a recon team was sent to the surface. Unfortunately, the team encountered hostile life forms six hours after landing, resulting in an almost half-hour firefight in which the hostiles were apparently killed along with several members of the recon team. The bodies were brought in for analysis by the Science branch of the Icarus. The last log entry, around five hours later, reveals the hostiles were playing dead, and subsequently took over the ship using the PT systems to increase their numbers. The entire crew of the Icarus was seemingly killed.

Asked by the protagonist when he is scheduled for takeoff, the General informs him that the EDF has nothing capable of reaching the Icarus or Beta Pictoris 3. What it does have is the location of a storage depot in Florida once owned by the, which included a fully functional hyper-shuttle among other spacecraft and armaments. However, it was overrun by the invasion forces early in the conflict, and EDF has not taken it back since. One soldier (or a small team) is to sneak into the depot, reclaim the shuttle, fly it to the Icarus and eliminate all hostiles aboard. The protagonist is the one assigned to this mission, which he accepts gladly. He has a "jump-jet" prepared for him, scheduled to launch at 11:00 AM.

Before dismissing him, however, the General informs the protagonist of two things. Firstly, the jump-jet only has enough fuel to make it to the Icarus and not the return trip, unless the protagonist can refuel from the Icarus. Secondly, the Icarus must be returned with none of the hostiles alive. If it appears this is impossible, the protagonist is to activate the self-destruct and escape.

With both of those points understood, the protagonist leaves to prepare for takeoff.

The Icarus log entries are dated to 2024, suggesting that the events of Doom II took place in 2012. In real life (as of this writing), the Beta Pictoris system has only one confirmed planet,.

Levels
The exits to each level all require a red key to access, and are marked with a sign declaring what type of level the following level will be. Each level's type is listed here in parentheses.

Secret levels:
 * MAP01: Shuttlecraft by Christopher Buteau
 * MAP02: Shuttle Bay by John Minadeo (Ship)
 * MAP03: Quarry by Ty Halderman (Planet)
 * MAP04: Engineering by Jim Lowell (Ship)
 * MAP05: Flipside by Mark Snell (Simulation)
 * MAP06: P.E.T. Rescue by Gary Gosson (Planet)
 * MAP07: Sickbay by Tom Grieve (Ship)
 * MAP08: Donnybrook by David "Mentzer" Hill (Planet)
 * MAP09: The Moat by David "Mentzer" Hill (Simulation)
 * MAP10: Bridge by Ty Halderman (Ship)
 * MAP11: Feeding Frenzy by Gregg Anderson (Planet)
 * MAP12: Hydroponics by Gary Gosson (Ship)
 * MAP13: Asylum by Robert Taylor (Simulation)
 * MAP14: Fortress of Evil by Robin Patenall (Planet)
 * MAP15: Waste Disposal by Ken Simpson and Jim Kennedy (Ship)
 * MAP16: Bootcamp by Mike Marcotte (Simulation)
 * MAP17: Bloodbath by Mike Marcotte (Planet)
 * MAP18: Cargo Bay by Andrew Dowswell (Ship)
 * MAP19: Blessed are the Quick by Rand Phares (Planet)
 * MAP20: WarTemple by Rand Phares (Simulation)
 * MAP21: Engine Core by Dean Johnson (Ship)
 * MAP22: Nightfall by Gary Gosson (Simulation)
 * MAP23: Painful Discharge by Brian Kidby (Planet)
 * MAP24: The Haunting by Gary Gosson (Ship)
 * MAP25: Another Fine Mess by Michael Bristol (Planet)
 * MAP26: Weapons Bay by Jim Dethlefsen (Ship)
 * MAP27: Starhenge by Ty Halderman (Planet)
 * MAP28: Excavations by Steven Phares (Simulation)
 * MAP29: Brutality by Mike Ruete (Planet)
 * MAP30: Nucleus by Ty Halderman, Brian Kidby, and Jim Lowell (Ship)
 * MAP31: Great Balls of Fire by Jim Lowell (Simulation)
 * MAP32: Prestidigitation by Ty Halderman (Simulation)

Official links

 * TeamTNT Home Page
 * Icarus: Alien Vanguard website
 * &mdash; Official no monsters mode help demos
 * &mdash; Official no monsters mode help demos

Demo links

 * &mdash; UV max demos recorded by George Bell
 * &mdash; UV -fast demos recorded by Roger Moraga and Michael Reid (prower)

Reviews

 * Icarus: Alien Vanguard review at Visions of Doom
 * Icarus: Alien Vanguard review at Doomed: Doom WAD Reviews