Sierra Games

Abrams Battle Tank

Last updated: October 9, 2026

Overview

Abrams Battle Tank is a tank simulation for MS-DOS developed by Dynamix and published by Electronic Arts, first released in the United States in April 1989.12 The player commands a single M1A1 Abrams main battle tank in a Third World War on NATO’s Central Front, fighting Warsaw Pact forces through eight missions that can be played individually or as a campaign.34 Damon Slye directed and designed the game, with David McClurg as lead programmer.25

The game predates Sierra’s 1990 purchase of Dynamix. It belongs to the run of 3D action and simulation titles Dynamix built for outside publishers in the late 1980s, alongside Arcticfox, F-14 Tomcat, MechWarrior, Deathtrack and A-10 Tank Killer.67 SierraVault covers it because the vault’s inclusion criteria take in Dynamix’s complete catalog, including work done before the acquisition. The real publisher was Electronic Arts, not Sierra.13

Contemporary critics were split on what kind of game it was. Compute! called it “a graphically excellent, tactically complex simulation” once players set aside questions of realism.4 Computer Gaming World’s M. Evan Brooks, an Army Reserve officer, judged it a good game but no simulation at all.3 A 1991 Sega Genesis port by Realtime Games Software was retitled M-1 Abrams Battle Tank.18

This page is about the Dynamix game. It is not Spectrum HoloByte’s Tank: The M1A1 Abrams Battle Tank Simulation, a separate product that Computer Gaming World listed as one of the later releases that superseded Abrams Battle Tank.9

Story Summary

There is no character-driven plot. Compute! framed the premise this way: the Warsaw Pact has broken through NATO’s defenses in Western Europe to begin World War III, and the player commands an M1A1 Abrams sent to stop it.4 Computer Gaming World placed the fighting on the European Central Front.3

Briefings and mission recaps come from the player’s superior officer, Colonel Wilson. Computer Gaming World objected to his tone. The review notes that Wilson tells the player to kill “scum-sucking Commies” and threatens to have the player executed for failing a mission.3

The Genesis version’s mission list, as documented by Sega Retro, runs through Moselle Defence, Moselle Intercept, Siegen Infiltration, Nuremberg Highway, Mass Destruction, The Road to Bonn, Hanover Push and Convoy, fought around France and Germany.8 Brooks’s review of the MS-DOS original also mentions a time-critical “Mossel Intercept” mission.3

Gameplay

Interface and Controls

The tank is operated from separate crew stations, each with its own view. Accounts differ on how to count them. Dragon described four operations stations, Computer Gaming World mentioned four viewing positions, and Compute! said the player takes three roles: commander, gunner and driver.1034

  • Gunner station (F1): here the player aligns the turret, switches control between hull and turret, locks on targets, fires the machine gun, turns on thermal imaging, and zooms the sight to 1×, 3× or 10×.10
  • Commander station (F2): a view of the whole battlefield that can pan 360°, with area maps and readouts for damage and fuel.10
  • Driver station: Compute! thought it “more an afterthought than a necessity”, because the commander’s station already shows speed and engine warnings.4
  • Steering: the arrow keys or a joystick turn the tank or the turret. A aligns the turret with the hull and C switches control between them.4
  • Targeting: in the gunner’s station, Enter cycles the target acquisition and designation box, L locks the target and the space bar fires.410
  • Thermal imaging (T): lets the player see at night and through smoke.4

Dragon said the range readout changes color to show the chance of hitting the target with the selected round. In EGA, a red readout meant at least a 75% chance.10 Brooks found that holding a steady speed with the keyboard was hard, and noted reports that the game ran slowly on 8088 machines.3 Compute!‘s reviewer said it ran well on an AT clone but responded slowly on a Tandy 1000 EX.4

Structure and Progression

The main menu has four options: Scenario, Campaign, M1-Info and Exit. Scenario plays any one of the eight missions. Campaign plays all eight in an order chosen at random by the computer. M1-Info describes the tank’s weapon systems.4

  • Difficulty: Novice, Moderate and Expert can be chosen only in Scenario mode. A campaign is always played on Expert.4
  • Loadout: each mission starts at the fuel depot, where the player picks the ammunition mix.4
  • Repairs: a badly damaged tank can return to base for repairs and rearming.43
  • Pace: Brooks advised a slow, methodical advance. In his experience time mattered in only one mission.3

Puzzles and Mechanics

As a combat simulation, Abrams Battle Tank has no puzzles. Its tactical decisions are about ammunition, range and cover:

  • Main gun: a 120mm Rheinmetall cannon.10
  • Sabot: an armor-piercing round with a range of 2,500 meters, not to be used against infantry or aircraft.10
  • HEAT: a round with a range of up to 2,000 meters that works against infantry, barriers and armor, but not helicopters.10
  • AX: an experimental wire-guided anti-helicopter round with a range of 770 to 4,000 meters. It takes longer to load than the other two.103
  • Coaxial machine gun: Brooks found it of limited use because of its short range of about 1,000 meters.3
  • Smoke: smoke canisters blind the enemy for about 20 seconds.4

Brooks pointed out that the game omits several real tank rounds (HEP, APERS, AP and HE), and that it makes the AX available even though, he wrote, such weapons were still in testing and had not been issued. He also noted that the newest Soviet tank in the game, the “FST-1” or “Future Soviet Tank”, was the designers’ “best guesstimate”.3

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

PublicationDateVerdict
Computer Gaming World (M. Evan Brooks)June 19892.5/5 stars113
Compute! (Peter Scisco)June 1989Recommended, with reservations about realism4
Dragon (Hartley, Patricia and Kirk Lesser)July 19893/5 stars1110
Computer Gaming World wargame surveyJanuary 19942/5 stars9

M. Evan Brooks reviewed the game for Computer Gaming World under the headline “High Powered Pillbox”. He praised the zoom feature and the terrain graphics, but he faulted the hidden slope gradients and, above all, the military doctrine.3 His conclusion: “Abrams Battle Tank succeeds as something more than an arcade-type game. It does require planning and careful execution; however, it is not a simulation and should not be treated as such.”3 He also wrote that Colonel Wilson’s briefings left him “personally affronted” as a serving reserve officer.3

Peter Scisco of Compute! agreed that the game did not reflect real NATO defensive strategy. He nonetheless concluded that players who “accept the game as a graphically excellent, tactically complex simulation” would “get a lot of bang for your buck”.4 His complaint about the Expert-only campaign was that it was “frustrating for beginners eager to fight an entire campaign”.4

Dragon’s Lessers called it “a well-conceived M1A1 tank simulation”. Their one disappointment was the sound, which they blamed on the PC’s hardware rather than the programmers.10

Modern Assessment

Computer Gaming World repeated the same capsule judgment in its June 1992 and January 1994 wargame surveys: “The first serious contemporary tank simulation for the faster 16-bit machines, this product has been superseded by later releases (cf. M-1 Tank Platoon, Tank).” Both surveys also faulted the terrain elevation and the decision to model a single tank rather than a company or squadron.129 Wikipedia reports that PC Gamer US named it the 50th best computer game ever in 1994.11

On aggregate sites, an archived MobyGames page from 2015 showed a critic score of 62 out of 100.2 MyAbandonware visitors rate it 4.1 out of 5.13

Development

Origins

Dynamix began as Jeff Tunnell’s company in Eugene, Oregon, co-founded with Damon Slye.14 By Jimmy Maher’s account, Dynamix’s skill with the C language gave it an opening with Electronic Arts, which needed developers for the Commodore Amiga. Slye’s Arcticfox reached shelves in early 1986, sold over 100,000 copies, and established Dynamix as a maker of 3D games.6 More 3D titles for outside publishers followed, Abrams Battle Tank among them.6 Maher writes that by 1988 Tunnell was “terminating his publishing contract with Electronic Arts under less-than-entirely-amicable terms” and signing with Mediagenic. That places Abrams Battle Tank among Dynamix’s last Electronic Arts releases.6 A 1997 Computer Gaming World history of the BattleTech licence describes the same period from the Activision side: “Dynamix was defecting from EA and began building the 3Space engine”, which Activision then used for MechWarrior.15

Production

MobyGames credits list the following team:2

  • Director / Designer: Damon Slye
  • Lead Programmer / Simulations: David McClurg
  • Lead Artist: Kobi Miller
  • Artistry: Kobi Miller, Cyrus Kanga
  • World Creator: Jerry Luttrell
  • Sound Designer: Bryce Morcello
  • Product Shell: Richard Rayl, Greg Volkmer
  • Producer: Richard Hilleman

Dragon credited the design to Slye and McClurg.10 Several of the team moved straight on to MechWarrior for Activision. That game’s manual lists Abrams Battle Tank among the earlier Dynamix projects of Slye, programmer Paul Bowman, 3-Space animator Cyrus Kanga and artist Kobi Miller.16 Reviewing MechWarrior in 1990, Dragon likewise described Dynamix as “the coders responsible for A-10 Tank Killer, Arctic Fox, and Abrams Battle Tank”.7

Technical Specifications

  • Media: one 3.5” disk or two 5.25” disks, with an install program that copies the game to a hard disk.10
  • Graphics: CGA, Hercules (HGC) and EGA.10
  • Input: keyboard or joystick.3
  • Copy protection: Brooks noted that the documentation of weapons and scenarios “serves as part of the protection scheme”, so the program could be installed on a hard disk easily.3
  • Price: Computer Gaming World listed 49.95. *Compute!* listed 39.95 for the IBM version and $44.95 for a combination pack with both disk sizes.34

Version History

VersionDatePlatformNotes
Original releaseApril 1989MS-DOSPublished by Electronic Arts (US)1
Planned Amiga versionAnnounced for August 1989AmigaMentioned by Compute!; no Amiga release is listed by MobyGames41
M-1 Abrams Battle Tank1991Sega Genesis / Mega DrivePorted by Realtime Games Software; published by Sega in the US and Europe18

The release year is reported inconsistently. MobyGames dates the MS-DOS release to April 1989, and Computer Gaming World’s survey listings give 1989.112 Wikipedia and the Internet Archive’s demo listing use 1988.1117 SierraVault files the game under 1989, the documented US release.

Sega Genesis Version

According to Wikipedia, Realtime Games Software in the UK did the Genesis conversion with its own 3D engine, earlier used in Carrier Command and adapted for the console and the tank scenario.11 Sega Retro records that Sega of America licensed the game in 1990, that it uses the GEMS sound driver, and that it was released alongside 688 Attack Sub in a short-lived “Simulator Series”. It sold for £34.95 in the UK.8 MobyGames lists Sega of America as publisher in the US and Sega Enterprises in Europe.1

Legacy

Abrams Battle Tank is one of the 3D action and simulation games through which Dynamix built its reputation before Sierra bought the studio in 1990.614 Several of its staff, including Slye, Kanga and Miller, went on to MechWarrior.16 After the Sierra acquisition, Dynamix became best known for titles such as the flight simulator Red Baron.14

MobyGames records a Hebrew release titled Krav Hatankim, and an alternate US title carrying the tagline The Realistic M1A1 Combat Simulation.1

Downloads

Purchase / Digital Stores

  • Not currently available. As of October 2026 the game is not sold on GOG or Steam. The Steam listing “Tank: M1A1 Abrams Battle Simulation” is Spectrum HoloByte’s different game.

Download / Preservation

Manuals & Extras

  • Reviews quoted on this page can be read in full in the Internet Archive scans of Computer Gaming World #60 and Compute! #109 (see references).

See Also

Abrams Battle Tank comes from Dynamix’s pre-Sierra period, when the studio built 3D games for Electronic Arts and then for Activision.6

References

Footnotes

  1. MobyGames – Abrams Battle Tank – developer/publisher per platform, DOS release April 1989 (US), Genesis 1991 (Sega of America / Sega Enterprises, ported by Realtime Games Software), alternate titles. Retrieved via the MobyGames API, 2026-10-09 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13

  2. MobyGames – Abrams Battle Tank credits (Wayback Machine, 2015) – full credits list, critic score 62 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  3. Computer Gaming World #60 (June 1989), M. Evan Brooks, “High Powered Pillbox”, pp. 10–11 – Internet Archive – review: premise, price, weapons, views, Colonel Wilson, copy protection, verdict ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19 ↩20

  4. Compute! #109 (June 1989), Peter Scisco, “Abrams Battle Tank”, p. 68 – Internet Archive – review: menus, eight missions, campaign, controls, difficulty levels, prices, planned Amiga version ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19

  5. Dynamix Fandom – Abrams Battle Tank – credits (director/designer Slye, producer Hilleman, lead programmer McClurg) ↩

  6. The Digital Antiquarian – “The Dynamic Interactive Narratives of Dynamix” (Jimmy Maher, 2018) – Dynamix–Electronic Arts relationship, Arcticfox, list of late-1980s 3D games including Abrams Battle Tank, break with EA and move to Mediagenic ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  7. Dragon #161 (September 1990), “The Role of Computers” – Internet Archive – MechWarrior review describing Dynamix as the coders of Abrams Battle Tank ↩ ↩2

  8. Sega Retro – M-1 Abrams Battle Tank (Wayback Machine, 2021) – Genesis port: Realtime Games Software, Sega of America licence (1990), Simulator Series, GEMS, UK price, mission list ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  9. Computer Gaming World #114 (January 1994), M. Evan Brooks, “War In Our Time” wargame survey – Internet Archive – two-star rating, “superseded by later releases (cf. M-1 Tank Platoon, Tank)” ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  10. Dragon #147 (July 1989), Hartley, Patricia and Kirk Lesser, “The Role of Computers” – Internet Archive – review: designers Slye and McClurg, media, graphics modes, stations, ammunition ranges, cannon ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14

  11. Wikipedia – Abrams Battle Tank – Genesis port details (Realtime, Carrier Command engine), 1988 date, PC Gamer US 1994 ranking, Dragon and CGW ratings ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  12. Computer Gaming World #95 (June 1992), M. Evan Brooks, “The Modern Games: 1950–2000”, p. 120 – Internet Archive – survey entry, 1989 date, “first serious contemporary tank simulation” capsule ↩ ↩2

  13. MyAbandonware – Abrams Battle Tank – DOS 1989, publisher Electronic Arts, developer Dynamix, alternate names, user rating 4.1/5 ↩

  14. Wikipedia – Dynamix – founding by Tunnell and Slye in Eugene, games for Penguin Software and Electronic Arts, 1990 Sierra acquisition, Red Baron ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  15. Computer Gaming World #153 (April 1997), sidebar “Getting Your Bearings In The ‘Mech Universes” – Internet Archive – Dynamix leaving EA, 3Space engine, Activision deal for MechWarrior ↩

  16. MechWarrior manual (Activision, 1989) – Internet Archive – “The Developers of MechWarrior” bios listing Abrams Battle Tank among prior projects of Slye, Bowman, Kanga and Miller ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  17. Internet Archive – Abrams Battle Tank Demo – demo listing (creator Dynamix, publisher Electronic Arts, dated 1988), description of eight missions and four stations ↩

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