One day, I found myself strolling down the aisles of Cybersmith, a computer company that sets up an arcade of PCs and allows you play their games while charging you by the hour via credit card-ish access cards. As I seated myself and started playing a fragfest on "Quake 2" I heard somebody say how much their game rocked.
Unfortunately, the loud comment aided in the loss of my concentration, and I was fragged by a newbie named "Phatass" who proceeded to laugh and point and strut around onscreen like Dennis Rodman. I logged off my PC and walked over to the loud gamer, where I found him playing a relatively smooth, particularly interesting game that looked like "Doom" and a WW2 tank shooter rolled into one.
The game was "Battlezone" and I must say I was almost as impressed with it as I was with "Half-Life" and "System Shock 2".
Battlezone is set in the past (the late 60s, early 70s to be exact) when the United States was competing with the "REDS" (communist Russians) to colonize the moon. Trouble was, both forces arrived at the same time, and engaged in some surface warfare with hovertanks, fighters, and a variety of other futuristic craft.
"Battlezone" revolves around missions involving these vehicles, which involve rescuing hostages, conducting reconnaisance, leading an assault, capturing minerals or defending a site from the enemy until help arrives. The beginning of these missions involves the "Starcraft"-ish techniques of resource gathering and unit production, all mounting up to the moment where you must direct a full-mounted assault on your destination with hopes that the enemy is less developed than you are.
While those of you who consider yourselves seasoned gamers may be bored with this article already, there's a little twist to it:
The game is first person shooter style.
First person shooter with a considerable strategy element integrated inside? Blasphemy you say! Repent! Repent! Anybody who hears of this abnormal hybrid is ready to dismiss any game with this configuration as a crap-tacular game and would rather go back to alternating between "Half-Life" and "Starcraft". But there's a second twist: The combination works.
"It works? Why?" you ask.
First of all, the control layout is simple and easy to use. The training course helps you adapt to numerous and sometimes complicated controls, which revolve around the manuevering and special options of your vehicle, as well as the buttons that order around your army. You'll need to use half the keyboard and both hands frantically to stay one step ahead of the computer, but the reward is a well-played and enjoyable game.
Second, the graphics are excellent. The textures in the game are put to very good use, and the modified engine that runs the game is exceptional. Playing this game on my Pentium 2 300mhz, I was able to experience fluid and lag-free gameplay, even when 15 enemy tanks and 10 allied ones crowded the screen.
Third, the entire game is fun to play. Contrary to what most people think about first-person shooters, the levels are unique and challenging. Enemies are scattered randomly, and as the game progresses, their tactics will evolve from boot-camp to special-forces in no time flat. This can be a major hindrance for those of you who look forward to acing the game in record time, but I'm sure many of you enjoy the gaming experience in itself instead of seeing how fast you can fire your cannons.
To be honest, the only defect I can find in the "Battlezone" game is that it's outdated. It was released a while back, and "Battlezone 2" is coming out, better than ever. If you think you would like to purchase Battlezone, wait until its sequel comes out, which is said to be even better in every department than its predecessor.
My computer is a pentium 2 with 64mb of Ram and a Voodoo2. If you have a 3d accelerator, you're all set.
In conclusion, "Battlezone" is a great game, simply outdated. "Battlezone II" may have higher system requirements than the original, which may be a cause to but "Battlezone". But if you have the specs and the patience, wait until the second one comes out. In the end, you won't be disappointed with either.
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