06-25-2016, 08:03 AM
(06-24-2016, 03:56 PM)Surge Wrote: So with that said I guess let's talk Battlezone.
Battlezone is a Cold War sci-fi game that is as much a product of the Cold War as it is about the Cold War. In Battlezone the US and USSR aren't duking it out with nukes on earth because they have secret hyper advanced armies duking it out across the solar system...somehow. Anyways you pick your side, strap into your hover tank, and embark on a bizarrely engaging FPS/RTS hybrid adventure, setting up bases at predetermined viable points using mobile structures, harvesting scrap metal from destroyed enemies to bolster your ranks, and occasionally catapulting much needed supplies to wherever you need them.
Flying a hovertank is actually every bit as complicated as you might expect, though you lack much in the way of vertical agility, however if you're bad and get blown up, you can rest easy knowing that all modern hovercraft are equipped with a handy ejection system and a lightly armored cockpit, and that all pilots are issued a sniper rifle, so once you land again, you can punch right through the cockpit of somebody else and steal their craft. On the RTS side of things you have a recycler that is your resource dropoff point, constructs most basic units, and is generally the heart of your operation, a factory that builds advanced vehicles, an armory that builds weapons and catapults them at you, and a constructor that sets up more permanent structures. Commands are issued via a numpad menu, and are about as unwieldy as any FPS/RTS will inevitably be.
The game has an actually robust list of vehicles, missile tanks, battle tanks, light tanks, bombers, fighters, APCs, artillery pieces, turrets, walkers, and a modest list of weapons for them all to use, of course the downside to that being that you can equip your missile tank with an AT gun, chaingun, and earthquake gun (yes that is a thing in battlezone) and then no missiles, but oh well. Each vehicle has unique dimensions, a custom cockpit, all are pilotable, and most have different capabilities.
My only complaint right now is that my initial tenure with Battlezone was in an N64 port...with the infamous N64 controller, so not only is adjusting to the mouse and keyboard new, the PC version also appears substantially more difficult, or maybe it's just because I haven't gotten back into the habit of strafing yet.
Battlezone 98 Redux is thus a very compelling revisit for fans, and in my opinion the game itself is mechanically compelling enough that it's worth a look even for new users.
Basically the UK right now.
Jesus 2016 has been a mess.
Never been a day where I'm happier to have moved to Australia.