''Battlezone'' is a
first-person shooter
A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre, video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a First person (video games), first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through t ...
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 ...
video game, developed and published by
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
. It was 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 ...
in 1998. Aside from the name and presence of
tank
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...
s, this game bears little resemblance to the original
arcade game
An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...
of
the same name. The game is a combination of a
tank simulation game, a first-person shooter and a real-time strategy game.
[Calvin Hubble. (06-05-2004)]
Battlezone Review
Game Revolution
Mandatory (formerly CraveOnline Media) is a lifestyle website based in Los Angeles with sales offices in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco. The site is owned by media company Evolve Media, LLC. Mandatory focuses its contents into the male ...
.
Two
expansion packs
An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion, is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game, collectible card game or miniature wargame. An expansion may introduce new rules or game mechanics th ...
were released in 1998, ''Battlegrounds'' and ''The Red Odyssey''. In 2000, a
Nintendo 64
The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...
port was released under the name ''Battlezone: Rise of the Black Dogs''. In 2016, a remastered version titled ''Battlezone 98 Redux'' was released developed by Big Boat Interactive and published by
Rebellion Developments
Rebellion Developments Limited is a British video game developer based in Oxford. Founded by Jason Kingsley (businessman), Jason and Chris Kingsley in December 1992, the company is best known for ''Sniper Elite'' and multiple games in the ''Lis ...
. A sequel, ''
Battlezone II: Combat Commander'', was released in 1999.
Gameplay
The primary resource in ''Battlezone'' is bio-metal scrap which is used to produce new units and construct new buildings. Building and directing units is done via interface either by selecting onscreen object with the mouse or by using number keys on the keyboard. Starting with a bio-metal recycler (the most basic construction unit), the player constructs vehicles to scavenge scraps of bio-metal, build base defenses, and construct new base vehicles capable of building more advanced structures and vehicles.
Players can acquire bio-metal scrap by either finding it or salvaging it from a destroyed enemy unit.
[ When a ship is destroyed, the pilot ejects and thus becomes vulnerable to being killed, but can escape by boarding any friendly vehicle.][
]
Multiplayer
''Battlezone'' has a 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 ...
feature that consists of three modes: Strategy, DeathMatch and Sniper. Strategy involves two or more players who compete in either as a player vs player, or playing in teams against one another, skirmishing for scrap collection and eventual map domination. Strategy offers the same type of control as in the single-player game. The Strategy game ends when the opposing force lives are reduced to zero. In DeathMatch two or more players battle until the opposing vehicle is destroyed. Once destroyed, the pilot is ejected and floats back to the ground with the user's vehicle being respawned for continued play. The game ends for each player as the player quit the game and only for the player quitting the game. Sniper game play consists of two or more players participating against each other in a "Deathmatch" style face off with their rifles. When a sniper is killed, he (depending on map) will spawn at his original spawn point, or another spawn point on the map.
Online gaming used to be available at Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
's servers through Anet, a peer-to-peer networking
Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network, forming a peer-to-peer network of nod ...
system which features a chat lobby and a list of games in progress. A player can select a game to join and then connect to the host's computer.
Plot
''Battlezone'' is set during the turn of the 1970s with an alternative history
Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...
plot, in which the Space Race
The Space Race (, ) was a 20th-century competition between the Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between t ...
is used to cover up the deployment of the United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
militaries into space. Both sides have used scraps of extraterrestrial "bio-metal", which have fallen to Earth as meteors, to build vehicles with amazing properties such as hover capability. Both nations deploy into space and are fighting across the Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
to control other deposits of the bio-metal. Gameplay is divided up into two campaigns; one following the American National Space Defense Force (NSDF), the other with the Soviet Cosmos Colonist Army (CCA, also referred to as the Communist Cosmonaut Army in early game manuals).
The American campaign starts on the Luna
Luna commonly refers to:
* Earth's Moon, named "Luna" in Latin, Spanish and other languages
* Luna (goddess)
In Sabine and ancient Roman religion and myth, Luna is the divine embodiment of the Moon (Latin ''Lūna'' ). She is often presented as t ...
, but the NSDF is forced off after the destruction of their main base. They relocate to Mars, but find the Soviets already there. Both sides locate alien artifacts, and the Americans also find a factory; the long-dead alien race that created the bio-metal is identified as the Cthonians, who inhabited the planet Icarus (now the asteroid belt) and visited Earth on several occasions, influencing Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
. The Americans learn of an ultimate weapon called the "Fury" and head to Venus to learn more about it. Another Cthonian relic is recovered, pointing to Jupiter's moon Io. The NSDF finds a third relic, but this is stolen by a scientist defecting to the Soviets. The player must steal a Soviet fighter craft and tap into the communications network, which reveals the CCA relocation to their main base on Saturn's moon Titan
Titan most often refers to:
* Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn
* Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology
Titan or Titans may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Fictional entities
Fictional locations
* Titan in fiction, fictiona ...
. The Americans clear nearby Europa
Europa may refer to:
Places
* Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace
* Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro
* Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development
* Europa Cliffs, Alexan ...
of CCA units to prevent early warning to those on Titan, but the main assault is annihilated, as the Soviets have begun to manufacture Fury vehicles. The Furies then turn on the Soviets; they are self-aware and programmed to destroy all life. Icarus was destroyed by the Cthonians to prevent the Furies from reaching Earth. The NSDF and CCA ally against the new threat, and after destroying the production factory on Titan, travel to the fictional moon of Achilles, orbiting Uranus. The Americans destroy the main Fury base, but this causes the moon's core
Core or cores may refer to:
Science and technology
* Core (anatomy), everything except the appendages
* Core (laboratory), a highly specialized shared research resource
* Core (manufacturing), used in casting and molding
* Core (optical fiber ...
to destabilise, and the player must destroy the Furies' evacuation vessel before it escapes, then escape themselves.
The Soviet campaign follows the same basic storyline, but from the CCA's perspective. Starting on Venus, the Soviets are hounded off the planet by an NSDF unit called the "Black Dogs". They travel to Io to capture one of the Fury relics, but after the Black Dogs destroy their main base, are forced to regroup and reestablish a foothold. Once this is achieved, the production of Fury units begins, and the CCA uses them to wipe out the Black Dogs in the final mission, just before the Furies turn on them. The Soviet campaign is the shorter of the two, as the NSDF missions were intended as the main game. However, the CCA missions are meant to be more difficult, and the player must manage the full technology tree
In strategy games, a technology, tech, or research tree is a hierarchical visual representation of the possible sequences of upgrades a player can unlock (most typically representing the research progress of a given faction). Because these tre ...
from the beginning, instead of being gradually introduced over the course of the campaign.
An add-on, called ''The Red Odyssey'', was later released with an American and a Chinese campaign. The American campaign follows an NSDF unit, also called the "Black Dogs", during scrap-gathering operations on Jupiter's moon Ganymede. The Americans, expecting boring garrison duty, are ambushed by Chinese tanks, which are capable of cloaking
Cloaking is a search engine optimization (SEO) technique in which the content presented to the search engine spider is different from that presented to the user's browser. This is done by delivering content based on the IP addresses or the ...
. After being mauled by the Chinese, the Americans reestablish themselves and discover that the Chinese are using a Stargate-like portal to travel between Earth and Ganymede, and to the planet Elysium, which is located in another planetary system
A planetary system is a set of gravity, gravitationally bound non-stellar Astronomical object, bodies in or out of orbit around a star or star system. Generally speaking, systems with one or more planets constitute a planetary system, although ...
. Control of the portals changes hands back and forth several times, but the campaign ends with the Americans in control, and the Chinese annihilated. The Chinese campaign starts earlier, with the first few missions focusing on stealing the Portal technology from the Soviets (who do not have their own campaign) and establishing their own. Later missions follow the American attempts to control Ganymede and Elysium.
Development and release
Producer Mike Arkin explained the motive behind the game's concept: "The original ''Battlezone'' was action only. Action alone doesn't cut it 17 years later. But when you combine action with other genres, you get wildly fun - and wildly successful - games. Action meets RPG
RPG may refer to:
Military
* Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon
**''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...
, you get '' Diablo''; action meets simulation
A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in ...
, you get ''MechWarrior 2
''MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat'' is a vehicle simulation game developed and published by Activision, released in 1995 as part of the '' MechWarrior'' series of video games in the ''BattleTech'' franchise. The game is set in 3057, and is pla ...
''; action meets adventure
An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...
, you get ''Tomb Raider
''Tomb Raider'', known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an Action-adventure game, action-adventure video game series created by British video game developer Core Design. The franchise i ...
''. We said, 'OK, there is no action meets strategy yet'". To solve the display issue which makes combining the action and strategy genres difficult, the development team created an interface which combined a first-person, in-the-field viewpoint with a 3D topological radar and transparent drop down menus which allow the player to monitor and control the battle situation at all times.[
The game's ]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 ...
was reused from '' Dark Reign: The Future of War''.[
''Battlezone'' had gone gold by March 5, 1998 and was released on March 11, 1998.][
]
Expansions
In 1998, Macmillan Publishing released ''Battlegrounds'', an authorized level pack for ''Battlezone'', after conducting a contest in which players submitted their own creations. The pack contains 45 Instant Action missions, and 52 multiplayer maps, provided with a new utility for launching and managing maps.
Also in 1999, Macmillan Publishing released the Team Evolve-made addon pack for ''Battlezone: The Red Odyssey''. This expansion contains a new single-player story arc pitting the Chinese Red Army forces against both their allies, the CCA, and their enemies the "Black Dogs". The "Black Dogs" were a roughed-up, beaten-up offshoot of the NSDF with the reputation of ending up with the toughest missions. The Chinese forces introduced both Portal technology that allowed travel outside the Solar System and a 'Cloak', which hid their ships while disabling weapons.
In 1999, a ''Battlezone'' Gold Pack was released which includes ''Battlezone'', two authorized add-on packs: ''The Red Odyssey'' and ''Battlegrounds'', and an official strategy guide
Strategy guides are instruction books that contain hints or complete solutions to specific video games. The line between strategy guides and video game walkthroughs is somewhat blurred, with the former often containing or being written around the ...
.
Nintendo 64 port
In 2000, Crave ported the game to the Nintendo 64
The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...
under the name ''Battlezone: Rise of the Black Dogs''. Compared to the PC version released a year earlier the game includes an additional Black Dog campaign distinct from that of ''The Red Odyssey'', but the multiplayer is very limited. The game features a standard deathmatch mode where up to four players combat each other and a number of computer-controlled bots, a race mode where the objective is to navigate from one beacon to another for a set number of laps, and a strategy mode in which players choose three computer-controlled bots to assist them and simply attempt to eliminate all other players.
End-of-support
Last patch for the PC version was 1.4 released in November 1998. In 2002 the multiplayer support ended and Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
shut down its servers but released the source code
In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer.
Since a computer, at base, only ...
of the multiplayer library
A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...
"Anet" under GNU Lesser Public License to the community.
''Battlezone 98 Redux''
In July 2013, Rebellion Developments
Rebellion Developments Limited is a British video game developer based in Oxford. Founded by Jason Kingsley (businessman), Jason and Chris Kingsley in December 1992, the company is best known for ''Sniper Elite'' and multiple games in the ''Lis ...
bought the rights to ''Battlezone'' from Atari
Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...
, and in 2016 Rebellion unveiled ''Battlezone 98 Redux'', a re-mastered version of the 1998 game. It was released on April 18 on the Steam
Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
platform and on June 8 on the GOG.com platform in that time. A remastered version of ''The Red Odyssey'' was later released in July, and the expansion was later bundled with the game for its release to the Apple App Store the next year.
Reception
The American market research firm PC Data
PC Data was an American market research and point of sale tracking firm founded in 1991 and based in Reston, Virginia. Its founder, Ann Stephens, had worked previously as the head researcher for the Software Publishers Association. Initially, th ...
reported that ''Battlezone'' sold 48,000 copies between March and November 1998. Sales in the United States totaled 65,716 copies during 1998, which accounted for $2.45 million in revenue. This number had risen 73,324 copies by April 1999, while global sales totaled 200,000 copies by June. Pandemic head Andrew Goldman said that the game "did not do as well as we would have liked at retail", which the company's Josh Resnick blamed on its branding, marketing and unusual design. Regardless of its commercial performance however, ''Battlezone'' was successful enough to warrant a sequel, mainly due to the OEM market. Resnick stated that ''Battlezone'' was bundled with multiple 3D cards; thus, the game reached over a million users overall.
Reception of ''Battlezone'' was overwhelmingly positive. The game scored 89 out of 100 on GameRankings
GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
.[Battlezone - PC](_blank)
GameRankings
GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
.
Most reviewers were impressed with the way ''Battlezone'' combined two genres: real time strategy and first-person shooter
A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre, video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a First person (video games), first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through t ...
. GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
said that "what really makes ''Battlezone'' so special is the way it blends the adrenaline rush of first-person action games with the strategy and resource management of ''Red Alert
Red Alert or red alert may refer to:
Alert states
* Red alert, a high alert state
* Red Alert, the "attack imminent" alert signal for the US civil defense siren
* Red alert state, the most serious alert state in the UK BIKINI state system
* Red ...
''".[Stephen Poole. (20-3-1998)]
Battlezone Review
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
. Reviewers were also impressed with the game's interface, calling it innovative and simple to use.[Ted Smith]
Battlezone PC Review.
Allgame
RhythmOne , a subsidiary of Nexxen, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel.
Blinkx was founded in 2004, went public on the Alternative Investment Market, ...
. Game Revolution
Mandatory (formerly CraveOnline Media) is a lifestyle website based in Los Angeles with sales offices in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco. The site is owned by media company Evolve Media, LLC. Mandatory focuses its contents into the male ...
praised graphics and addictive gameplay. Ted Smith from Allgame
RhythmOne , a subsidiary of Nexxen, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel.
Blinkx was founded in 2004, went public on the Alternative Investment Market, ...
was disappointed with introductory voiceovers, while Stephen Poole from GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
noted that "the AI for friendly units can be a little dicey and that Control can be a bit of a problem for mousers" but concluded that Ninety percent of the reason he mentioned any game flaws in his review is because that is his job not because they bothered him much when he was playing.
'' Next Generation'' reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "if ''Quake'' occupies 100% of a certain portion of the brain, and if ''Command & Conquer'' can occupy 100% of another portion of your brain, ''Battlezone'' succeeds in occupying 80% of both".
''Battlezone'' was nominated for GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
's 1998 Strategy Game of the Year award.
''Battlezone'' won ''Computer Gaming World
''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...
''s award for the best action game of 1998. The editors wrote that it "really broke new ground", and summarized: "The graphics were drop-dead gorgeous, the multiplayer game was a blast, and the game sported a beautifully designed interface that made commanding your forces an intuitive breeze". ''PC Gamer US
''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...
'' nominated ''Battlezone'' as 1998's best action game, best strategy game and overall game of the year, but it lost these three categories to ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six
''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six'' (often shortened to ''Rainbow Six'' or ''R6'') is a tactical shooter video game series by Red Storm Entertainment and Ubisoft, marketed under the '' Tom Clancy's'' banner of military-themed video games. Based on t ...
'', ''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 ...
'' and ''Half-Life Half-life is a mathematical and scientific description of exponential or gradual decay.
Half-life, half life or halflife may also refer to:
Film
* Half-Life (film), ''Half-Life'' (film), a 2008 independent film by Jennifer Phang
* ''Half Life: ...
'', respectively. The editors called ''Battlezone'' "a who-would-have-thought-it-possible melding of first-person action and real-time strategy that also boasted some of the year's best presentation and interface design".
In 1998, ''PC Gamer
''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...
'' declared it the 16th-best computer game ever released, and the editors called it "one of the most refreshing games of 1998 ..so much deeper than just a graphic reworking of its twenty year-old namesake".
In 1999, '' Next Generation'' listed ''Battlezone'' as number 38 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that "using a brilliant 3D map interface, the developers ..managed to seamlessly marry a great realtime strategy game with a hardcore action engine. The end result is one of the most compelling PC games ever released".
Sequel
Activision released a sequel late in December 1999, '' Battlezone II: Combat Commander'', which involved a war resulting from the incursion of a new faction known as the Scions. Members of the Black Dogs broke away and merged with the biometal, becoming Scions. ''Battlezone II'' introduced a split single-player campaign, allowing the player to switch sides at one point and join the enemy. The sequel received generally positive reviews, but notably less so than its predecessor.Battlezone II: Combat Commander - PC
GameRankings
GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
.
References
External links
*
*
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