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Something Smells
Plain, But Functional Opening Screen
The real time strategy genre seems to be a bit stale of late. In the midst of the new creativity found in the FPS, RPG, and even turn based fantasy strategy genres, RTS games do not seem to be moving forward quite as quickly. While other genres can point to System Shock 2, Unreal Tournament, Planescape Tourment, and other excellent titles, RTS fans get to hold up Command & Conquer: Tiberium Sun, Total Annihilation: Kingdoms, and other less than inspiring titles. Age of Empires 2 is probably the toast of the RTS crowd, Home World shows glimmers of an exciting game engine, and Seven Kingdoms 2 at least tries to be different. Warzone 2100 is good and interesting to play, but it took many months of patches to change a good effort into an interesting game. Otherwise we are stuck with the same old formula wrapped in new clothes. While not quite as near life support as the PC sports genre, is it time to break out the shovels and start digging a grave for the RTS genre as it shows signs of withering on the vine?
When you can reissue a game like Enemy Nations that was made in 1996 and charge near full price for it, this should be a sign that something is amiss in this genre. Total Annihilation is still a game that can hold its own against almost every title produced since its initial release years ago. The RTS formula has seen many iterations, combinations, and alterations and now it is at the point where there do not seem to be many fresh ideas. Yet people still play these games no matter how little they are different from the first RTS titles. This popularity seems to have kept the genre's developers fat, dumb and happy because no one seems to want to rock the RTS boat with new and innovative concepts.
And why should they? Three franchises have tried and failed miserably to convince RTS fans that there is something better out there. Warzone 2100 added excellent graphics and some new twists to the usual RTS fare but did so in relative obscurity. Uprising began the new action/fps/strategy hybrid genre and while critics enjoyed the game, not many game fans purchased it. Uprising 2 did not improve on Uprising in any way. Battlezone was released with much hype and received a GDR gold award. It was also a hybrid, but it had very nice graphics and seemed to be poised to garner good retail figures. Alas, this was not to be as the game never sold very well, yet it still developed a fringe following of hardcore strategy fans. With the dismal performance of Uprising 2, Battlezone fans could only hold their breath and pray that Battlezone 2 did not suffer this same fate. It seemed that if you deviated from the Command & Conquer tried (and tired) and true RTS model you were doomed.
Yes, This Is A RTS Game!
I am happy to write that I may be prematurely proclaiming this genre's demise. There are certain gaming experiences that I will always remember as defining moments that kept me hooked on this hobby for all of these years. Playing Ultima 4 for the first time made me realize just how much fun a RPG could be on a computer. The original Command & Conquer kept me up many hours when I should have been studying. I do not remember what I was studying for, but I will never forget that first opening sequence. Front Page Sports Baseball 96 showed me that deep and complex computer baseball games could be created and they could use graphics just like the arcade games. I can now add a fourth game to this list of great PC gaming moments. When I hit the launch button on the first campaign scenario in Battlezone 2 I was lost for words. It's a challenge to describe just how beautiful the graphics are and how this beauty immerses you into the game like no other RTS product out there, except maybe the original Battlezone. I knew then that I was hasty in my dismissal of RTS games. If you are a RTS fan and like action, then Battlezone 2 is a must buy. Here are my reasons why I give such a strong recommendation.
The Game
In the original Battlezone the National Space Defense Force (NSDF) raged a secret
interplanetary war against the Cosmo-Colonist Army (CCA) over a substance discovered
in 1952 (that's right, 1952) called bio-metal. An experiment was conducted merging
human beings with bio-metal machines that produced the Furies. These were to
be the ultimate NSDF weapon, however, things did not go as planned and the Furies
would not bend to their master's will. The NSDF and the CCA merged into the
International Space Defense Force (ISDF) in order to meet this new challenge
and succeeded in defeating the Furies. Battlezone 2's stage is set when you
find out that the ISDF built a secret base on Pluto that was attacked by an
unknown force. Without giving away too much of the plot, the attackers are later
called the Scions and all sorts of intrigue awaits during the campaign missions.
As in the original game, you play the role of a commander which offers an interesting way of allowing for first person interaction in a strategy game. Commanders can operate vehicles and fire weapons. They can also coordinate attacks with friendly units, call in air strikes, and all sorts of things that one could potentially do if you were standing on the ground and commanding forces against an enemy. Commander's can also uplink into a strategic level satellite system which gives you a birds eye view of the planet and allows you to strategically plan your base, vehicle movements, and manage production. RTS fans will find this mode very familiar because it is similar to typical RTS fare. What makes it interesting is that your commander can go to the satellite level when he needs to and then jump back to first person view and command an attack from the ground. A commander can also run on foot wielding a rifle and move into different vehicles as required. When you are equipped with a sniper rifle you can actually shoot a pilot of an enemy craft, hop in, and turn the enemy's ship against its former comrades.
A New Scenario Awaits
An interesting campaign plot complements a slew of multiplayer options available in the game. The manual is functional and explains the important game features, but it is limited like most found in RTS games. It does do a good job setting up the story. The notion of a secret space race going on since the 1950's seems a stretch, but once you get past that the campaign is much more entertaining than what is found in most RTS fare with the exception of Starcraft. Campaign missions generally contain sub-missions that move the plot forward. There is a lot of character interaction as you find yourself responding to commands and orders from superiors. There are only a few animated cut scenes, but the static cut scenes do contain spoken dialogue that enhance the plot. Players should be patient with the campaign because the first nine or ten missions are designed to slowly introduce you to the basic mechanics of a somewhat complicated interface and game system. You can potentially play around 22 missions depending on your actions and choices during the campaign.
Not A Bad Server Count For a Friday Morning
Your multiplayer options highlight the unique nature of this title. Death matches are typical free-for-all battles and there is a team death match mode. Team strategy games have you fighting to conquer enemy recyclers. You can play team games as single player against single player or with multiple players. Strategy games are similar to team strategy games although some maps require a minimum of four players on each side. There is a typical capture the flag mode and an interesting looting game where you try and find bags of cash bags in a downtown setting. Unfortunately there were many multiplayer problems with the original retail version of the game. The currently released beta patch fixes many of these problems, although I have only successfully completed one strategy game without having any problems. Another irritating omission is that there is no lobby function so you have to wait until you are in the game to chat. There is an instant action mode which lets you jump into a game and play against a computer component. One complaint about Battlezone 2 is that there is no ability to play against computer AI opponents in multiplayer mode as you can in most other RTS games. Maps also are not randomly generated.
Instant Action Mode
The interface in Battlezone 2 takes some getting used to. If you use a joystick, you must use the beta patch to get any use out of your input device. I found the game unplayable with my joystick pre-patch. The patch makes tweaking your joystick much easier and you will need to spend some time getting things just right because the controls are very sensitive. Commanding your troops is both easy in some cases and frustrating in others. Most commands are issued through a series of menus. As in the original game, you press a number to open a building or unit's menu and press another number to issue a command or you can point a cursor on the ground to command a unit to move or perform some function at that point. This is a pretty nice way of commanding your troops and buildings. You can queue multiple units to be built by buildings. One problem I had was with moving the sensitive cursor with my joystick and hitting the space bar just in the right place. This took some concentration. It is also near impossible to hit anything with your sniper rifle if you are using a joystick and autocentering is on. I had to turn off autocentering in order to get enough stability to hit any targets.
Another minor irritant is that you cannot create groups of different unit types. All units of one type are assigned to one F key. For example, all tanks would be assigned to the F1 key, mortar bikes to the F2 key, etc. While this is fine commanding troops to attack certain enemy units, I would have liked the ability to create combined arms groups. The units themselves are not as varied as can be found in other RTS games, but there is enough variation between craft types to make things interesting. One difficulty in commanding your troops is that you should be sure to watch where you are in relation to your comrades because they will not hesitate to fire through you to get to the enemy. They will usually stop fragging your hull after a while (my bad!) but if you have one tiny bit of hull left you will find yourself ejected and floating down to the ground. One neat feature is that you do not die if your craft is blown up. You are now on foot and if you are more vulnerable to enemy fire, but you can hop into the nearest friendly vehicle or snipe an enemy craft and take it over as your own. It does become irritating when you blow up those enemy ships and have those enemy commanders taking little pot shots at you, but a nice dose of machine gun fire quickly solves that problem. Another problem is that your units will be very eager to execute your commands and get to you, but they may take dubious routes to get to you. Path finding will take units through the most direct route, even when this route goes through enemy or unexplored territory.
Getting Ready to Launch Attack
The graphics are spectacular. The sound is nice and functional. The problem is that you will need a powerful machine to maximize the graphics engine. I could not run the game at 1280 resolution without a serious loss in frames per second and I do not exactly have an old or slow processor or video card. I could run the game with all features turned on at 1024 with no problem. I don't think many people are playing the game with the minimum configuration in any meaningful way.
My Take
Strategy View
Battlezone 2 is a very fun game to play that has some minor irritating problems. The campaign system eases the player into the game system in a manner that I thought was quite nice but others may not find so agreeable. Veteran Battlezone players will find the first ten scenarios a bit boring because the focus is on slowly adding game system features so that new players can grow accustomed to using these controls. I did not like the original Battlezone because I found the controls too awkward to use without investing a great deal of time learning the basics without much help. Pandemic seemed to be reading my mind when they developed the Battlezone 2 campaign because instead of being overwhelmed by command options, by campaign scenario ten I felt that I could easily manage the battlefield. Developers are in a rather untenable position when it comes to complicated interfaces. They can choose to give basic instructions in a standalone tutorial and throw you to the campaign scenario wolves or they can ease your pain a bit by varying the complexity so that you can gain some comfort using the interface. Seven Kingdoms 2 is an example of a game that throws you into the fire without a whole lot of help and I believe this makes the game less attractive to new players as they struggle to figure out the Seven Kingdoms game system. Battlezone 2 players are afforded the opportunity to slowly gain confidence in their ability to maneuver in the system and I think it will attract new fans to the game at the expense of irritating some of the veteran players.
They're In the Wire!
Folks, there is no RTS game that you can purchase that has better atmosphere. Period. You are down in the trenches with your comrades in arms and I found the gameplay very exciting. Having spent a little time in the United Stated Marine Corps infantry, I felt right at home lazing targets for my comrades to direct their fire on, calling in bomber strikes while sitting back and watching the explosions, and with the general interaction between myself and my computer AI mates as we moved forward to contact the enemy. You really feel like a mechanized platoon leader on some weird far-off world fighting for your survival. I think that Battlezone veterans need to step back and appreciate some of the nice new interface features added to the sequel. It is much easier for me to play the game, although I do want the ability to assign different units to groups. Some of the bad press Battlezone 2 is getting is being generated by fans of the original game that were disappointed by the lack of inclusion of certain new features. Do not let these negative reviews obscure the fact that Battlezone 2 is quite an achievement. The good parts of this game very much outweigh its minor problems.
Doesn't Get Any Better Than This
If the AI and multiplayer stability problems are fixed, Battlezone 2 earns the highest praise I can give to a RTS game. I think that veterans of the original Battlezone will enjoy the sequel due to the improved graphics and streamlined interface. Yes, some interface options were removed from the original (the joystick hat commands for example), but most of these made things a bit too complicated and unwieldy for me. Battlezone 2 really is a RTS Wing Commander type of game. You have a Wing Commander type of universe, same type of action, except that it is planetary based and there are a lot more tactical and strategic elements to the game. What you lose in cut scene extravagance you gain in strategy options. My brother played the first Battlezone 2 campaign scenario and he told me that he didn't want to play a first person shooter Quake type of multiplayer game. I told him to just be patient and continue through the scenarios. He now enjoys the game and it is our number one multiplayer option (replacing Age of Empires 2). You may not like the first person aspects of Battlezone 2, but if you even slightly enjoy action or FPS games you will be able to satisfy your strategy cravings as well. If you have enough computer horsepower, I highly recommend Battlezone 2. It earns the first award I have ever recommended for a game that I reviewed for the Strategy Camp.
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