Steel Soldiers
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''Z: Steel Soldiers'' (originally released for
Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
simply as ''Steel Soldiers'' in North America) is a
real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that does not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time." By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, tur ...
game released by the
Bitmap Brothers The Bitmap Brothers is a British video game developer founded in 1987 by Mike Montgomery, Eric Matthews, and Steve Kelly. The company released its first title, the scrolling shooter ''Xenon'', in 1988. Shortly thereafter, it released '' Speedb ...
in 2001 for the Windows platform and later by Kavcom Limited and KISS for
Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...
and
iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
in 2015. It is the sequel of their earlier game '' Z'', and follows the same futuristic
military science fiction Military science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction and military fiction that depicts the use of science fiction technology, including spaceships and science fiction weapons, weapons, for military purposes and usually principal characters ...
storyline and battlefield gameplay. The graphics are enhanced from 2D to 3D. As a result of a breach in peace negotiations, players take control of one side as a leader of an army of robots. Playing the game primarily involves fending off robust opponents during battles to control a location, whilst expanding one's forces. Objectives are met by occupying and holding territory rather than the more typical method of harvesting resources. Despite featuring solid fundamentals and gaining mixed or average reviews the game had minimal impact. While only receiving one gaming magazine award and garnering some criticism upon its release, the title was still an important technological advance for the development team.


Plot

''Steel Soldiers'' is plot driven, unlike the original game, which had little or no plot and consisted of two sides fighting each other for no given reason, while the game cutscenes were focused on comical, humorous situations. After 509 years of conflict MegaCom Corporation (red) and TransGlobal Empires (blue) are set to make peace and sign a
treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...
; in preparation, forces on both sides have reduced their military presence to a skeleton
regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...
. The culmination of the peace treaty is the removal of both forces from the contested territory on Planet Rigal. The plot was written by Martin Pond. As the game is played it progresses with elements of intrigue and conspiracy. The peace initiative is brokered personally by Commander Keeler and TransGlobal's premier, Commander Rieman. After a court martial judgement, the recently demoted Captain Zod, previously Commander Zod in the original Z, has been sending patrols into the
demilitarized zone A demilitarized zone (DMZ or DZ) is an area in which treaties or agreements between states, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel. A DZ often lies along an established frontier or boundary ...
to spy upon the TransGlobal Empires. The scouts Brad (one of the pilot robots from the original Z; the other one, Allan, is staying in the campbase) and Clarke find a secret
landing strip In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (grass, dirt, gravel, ic ...
and promptly shoot down a transport ship after this discovery. The game begins with Zod sending in forces on a mission to retrieve the two missing scouts and find out "what the hell is going on", during which they find a broken box with the word "Omega" on it. Brad and Clarke's radio remains silent and although Zod lacks the proper authority, he is confident the peace agreement will remain intact but his aide Lassar is more concerned.


Gameplay

Developers wanted an accessible strategy game combined with the immediacy of an arcade title. Consequently, the game was designed so a player could get into the action as quickly as possible. ''Z: Steel Soldiers'' sports a humorous
comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
style with a realistic 3D environment. These graphics are best displayed on a moderately fast or recently purchased computer although game options allow playing the game on older
Pentium II The Pentium II is a brand of sixth-generation Intel x86 microprocessors based on the P6 (microarchitecture), P6 microarchitecture, introduced on May 7, 1997. It combined the ''P6'' microarchitecture seen on the Pentium Pro with the MMX (instruc ...
systems. This title is not compatible with
Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, released five years earlier, which was then the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft W ...
. The game features the ability to scroll, rotate, zoom and tilt the isometric viewing position to gain a better perspective. There is a high level of graphical detail such as reflections, shadows, weather effects and other environmental factors that can slow the
frame rate Frame rate, most commonly expressed in frame/s, or FPS, is typically the frequency (rate) at which consecutive images (Film frame, frames) are captured or displayed. This definition applies to film and video cameras, computer animation, and moti ...
on low end PCs. The game has an advanced
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...
that makes holding defensive positions central to completing each mission. There are 30 missions on six different worlds including desert, forest, volcanic, ice, archipelago and wasteland types. Each type of world has varying wildlife and lighting effects. This sequel adds aircraft and water vessels to the units available. With the completion of missions comes the introduction of new buildings and armored units including
rocket launcher A rocket launcher is a weapon that launches an unguided, rocket-propelled projectile. History The earliest rocket launchers documented in imperial China consisted of arrows modified by the attachment of a rocket motor to the shaft a few i ...
s, bombers, helicopters and tanks. When the game is paused players can scroll across the playing area, but places not under their control will not display enemy buildings and unit commands may not be issued. There are three
difficulty level Game balance is a branch of game design with the intention of improving gameplay and user experience by balancing difficulty and fairness. Game balance consists of adjusting rewards, challenges, and/or elements of a game to create the intended pla ...
s - easy, medium and hard. ''Steel Soldiers'' has no tutorial, however the CD-ROM contains a 59-page game manual. The
background music Background music (British English: piped music) is a mode of musical performance in which the music is not intended to be a primary focus of potential listeners, but its content, character, and volume level are deliberately chosen to affect behav ...
was designed to heighten the game's intensity. The game has a
high score In video games, score refers to an abstract quantity associated with a player or team. Score is usually measured in the abstract unit of points, and events in the game can raise or lower the score of different parties. Most games with score ...
table and the ability to load and save games. There are options for changing the
screen resolution The display resolution or display modes of a digital television, computer monitor, or other display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resoluti ...
, a
gamma correction Gamma correction or gamma is a Nonlinearity, nonlinear operation used to encode and decode Relative luminance, luminance or CIE 1931 color space#Tristimulus values, tristimulus values in video or still image systems. Gamma correction is, in the s ...
level setting and mouse sensitivity sliders. A free
single-player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the gameplay. Video games in general can feature several game modes, including single-player modes designed to be played by a single player in add ...
demo is available for download. Skirmish mode is a customisable secondary play mode based on a series of separate maps to the missions.
Multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
games occur on another twenty additional maps. Players control a group of robotic soldiers and vehicles in a two-sided war. At the start of each mission the current scenario and objectives are outlined. Level objectives vary considerably compared to the original from "Capture Aircraft Hangars and Shipyards" to "reach the EVAC point within a time limit". Some operations are timed with a countdown. Other mission duties are securing a landing area, to capture research facilities and evacuate personnel. The Command Centre is the headquarters and functions as a communications hub. If this building is destroyed the mission ends in
failure Failure is the social concept of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and is usually viewed as the opposite of success. The criteria for failure depends on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. On ...
. The
gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game. The term applies to both video games and Tabletop game, tabletop games. Gameplay is the connection between the player and the game, the player's overcoming of challenges, and t ...
is based around fast-paced battle action without resource gathering. Winning the game requires speed and sound
blitzkrieg ''Blitzkrieg'(Lightning/Flash Warfare)'' is a word used to describe a combined arms surprise attack, using a rapid, overwhelming force concentration that may consist of armored and motorized or mechanized infantry formations, together with ...
tactics. The main aim is to gain territory by securing a sector after touching a flag. Each mission begins with an introduction that includes a discussion of the goals and a preview across a sweeping landscape, briefly revealing geographical features and approaches to some strategically important flag locations. The more territory a player gains, the greater the number of units that may be built and provides more land for the construction of buildings. Unoccupied buildings that are neutral are owned with control of the sector. Each flag has a number between 1 and 5 depicted upon it. The number represents a multiplier for the amount of credits a player will draw from that territory, each minute, when captured. Credits are used at factory buildings and research facilities to construct robots. Other activities include canceling orders, building
bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...
s and
gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanis ...
s, issuing repair tasks and selling buildings for credits. Players have the ability to queue commands and set way points so that newly created units can automatically move to a location once built. Each unit and structure in ''Z:Steel Soldiers'' has a damage indicator. Colored radius rings mark
line of sight The line of sight, also known as visual axis or sightline (also sight line), is an imaginary line between a viewer/ observer/ spectator's eye(s) and a subject of interest, or their relative direction. The subject may be any definable object taken ...
limits and weapon range boundaries for the currently selected unit. Collapsed status panels include the Message and Information Panel from a leader cam (overhead view), a Unit Info View Panel and Minimap Panel displaying which territories are held by the TransGlobal Empires, MegaCom Corporation or are neutral. These panels are used to coordinate army unit movements, view mission goals and
troop A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the US Cavalry and the King's Troo ...
statistics.


Development

On 24 August 2000, the Bitmap Brothers announced a deal with
EON Digital Entertainment Eon Digital Entertainment was a computer games publishing company based in London, UK, operating globally. It was founded by John Burns, now of Electronic Arts and a former Managing Director of Activision Europe as well as senior management figure ...
to publish a sequel to Z, then given a
working title A working title is a preliminary name for a product or project. The usage is especially common in film and TV, gaming, music and publishing. It is often styled in trade publications as (wt) and is synonymous with production title and tentative ...
of Z2. This was after the developers had secured all rights to Z2 from the publisher
GT Interactive Atari, Inc. is an American video gaming company based in New York City, and a subsidiary of the Atari SA holding company. It is the main entity serving the commercial Atari brand globally since 2003. The company currently publishes games based o ...
. The Bitmap Brothers wanted to cater to both fans of the original and to players familiar with the RTS genre. Cool Beans Productions produced several animations, presented as
cut scene A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...
s between a few of the missions. This release was the first after a long break in titles for the pc, by the developers and as such was highly anticipated. Developers linked the delay to the substantial improvements between versions. Originally the game was to be released in late February 2001. After its initial release in June, several patches were released to fix a number of bugs and other minor tweaks were made. The Gaming Director for the Bitmap Brothers, Jamie Barber has explained that the development of ''Z:Steel Soldiers'' was fundamental to the creation of the more well-known '' World War II: Frontline Command''.


Reception

After it was released the game received "average" reviews according to the
review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
. A majority described the game as a fun
strategy game A strategy game or strategic game is a game in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous, decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome. Almost all strategy games require internal decision tree-style think ...
with great graphics. A ''
PC Zone ''PC Zone'', founded in 1993, was the first magazine dedicated to games for IBM-compatible personal computers to be published in the United Kingdom. Earlier PC magazines such as '' PC Leisure'', '' PC Format'' and '' PC Plus'' had covered games b ...
'' review awarded a Classic Award to ''Steel Soldiers'' and concluded that the game's strong points were the sharp artificial intelligence, good use of ambient sounds and well-designed maps. A smaller number of reviews were less flattering describing the experience as standard, as one that would bore a veteran RTS gamer. Z: ''Steel Soldiers'' is similar to other pc strategy games with a military science fiction theme including '' Ground Control'' (2000), ''
StarCraft ''StarCraft'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series, set in the beginning of the 26th century, centers on a galactic struggle for dominance amon ...
'' (1998) and ''
Warzone 2100 ''Warzone 2100'' is an Open-source video game, open-source real-time strategy and real-time tactics hybrid PC game, computer game, originally developed by Pumpkin Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. It was originally released in 1999 fo ...
'' (1999). Several reviewers commented that ''Steel Soldiers'' offers nothing new to the genre. ''Z: Steel Soldiers'' had a weak impact, compared to the more popular ''
Warcraft II ''Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness'' is a fantasy real-time strategy (RTS) computer game developed by Blizzard Entertainment and released for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows in 1995 and Mac OS in 1996 by Blizzard's parent, Davidson & Associates. A seq ...
'' and ''
Command & Conquer ''Command & Conquer'' (''C&C'') is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game franchise created and originally developed by Westwood Studios and currently owned by Electronic Arts. The first game was one of the earliest of the RTS genre, itself ba ...
''. A few reviewers noted tiny annoyances and that the game was predictable while others described the games imperfections as significant. The game has been criticised over its lack of diversity, clumsy
interface Interface or interfacing may refer to: Academic journals * ''Interface'' (journal), by the Electrochemical Society * '' Interface, Journal of Applied Linguistics'', now merged with ''ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics'' * '' Inter ...
and generic sounds. One review described the game as old-school, formulaic and lacking distinctive graphics. The humour has been characterized as caustic and witty. At least one reviewer suggested a game-speed toggle would have been a useful addition for players. John Lee reviewed the PC version of the game for ''
Next Generation Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to: Publications and literature * ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company * Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...
'', rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "A boisterous 3D realtime strategy melee, with action, robot management, and rugged terrain, but you've seen much of it elsewhere."


Ports

Kavcom Limited released ''Z: Steel Soldiers'' for the
Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...
in 2014 and
iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
in 2015.


See also

* List of strategy video games


Notes


References


External links

* {{The Bitmap Brothers 2001 video games Android (operating system) games The Bitmap Brothers games Eon Digital Entertainment games IOS games Multiplayer and single-player video games Real-time strategy video games SCi Games games Science fiction video games Video game sequels Video games about robots Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games set on fictional planets Windows games