“Scorched Earth, Rough Edges, And Congenital Stupidity” Review

“Scorched Earth, Rough Edges, And Congenital Stupidity”

Sometimes in America, the public simply does something abhorrent. The most

current example of this would be the massive support, at present time, of presidential

candidate George W. Bush (a man who has nothing to recommend him besides good

taste in cocaine). Two years ago, the example was the critically huddled masses’

response to Battlezone, one of the most

innovative and enjoyable action strategy games ever produced. Simply put, they

didn’t buy it, literally. Rave reviews, awards, and other accolades aside, Battlezone

was not a commercial success.

Still, knowing that they had a great game on their hands, Activision commissioned

a sequel. Sadly, through a combination of appeasing the public taste, failing

to fix Battlezone’s few problems, and a general state of being unfinished,

Battlezone 2 is less than it could have, and should have been.

For those

of you not familiar with Battlezone, it basically stuck together real

time strategy, Mech fighting games, an extremely slick interface, and flawless

presentation to create one of the best games of 1998. You walked, piloted a

hover-tank, or drove a Mech-like walker. You did this while building a base,

commanding troops, and getting medieval on your enemies.

The plot involved an alternate history in which the cold war took place in

space, the US and USSR secretly fighting over an alien metal that has accelerated

technology from 1960’s to Star Trek standards in the space of about 8 years.

The graphics, sound, control, and gameplay were purely first rate and it showed

off a style of gameplay that had never been seen before. In a word, it was great.

Battlezone 2 picks up years later. The Soviets and Americans have joined

to form the International Space Defense Force (ISDF) and a new, seemingly alien

enemy, the scions, threaten the Earth.

From the start of the game, it is apparent that a few things have changed

since the first game. Immediately, the game’s stunning graphics will confront

and amaze any player. Using a modified version of the Dark Engine (Activision’s

proprietary technology first featured in Heavy

Gear 2 and later in Interstate ’82), Battlezone

2 is stunning. The designers used the Dark Engine’s knack for landscape

rendering to create environments that are gritty, organic, fantastic, and that

feel totally real. Adept texturing, excellent modeling, weather rendering, and

some of the prettiest pyrotechnics since New Year’s Eve 2000 combine to create

a game in which, through pure visual flair, becomes totally hypnotic. It may

not feature every effect in the book, such as curved surfaces, and it requires

a beast of a machine to run well, but if you have that machine, Battlezone

2 will stun you and make you optimistic about the what the 21st century

will bring to your computer.

Beyond the visual flair, and the same high level of quality in audio and music,

Battlezone 2 is made, and broken, in its game design. At its core, Battlezone

2 sticks very close to the gameplay paradigm of Battlezone. However,

it also takes away a few key features, restricts strategic freedom, and fails

to fix some real annoying problems that plagued the other Battlezone.

In order

to appease the masses, the learning curve (which in the first game was not exactly…

nice) has been flattened. The designers at Pandemic Studios structured the first

few missions to gradually give you more responsibility, so as to ease into the

complex mechanisms of the full product. Not content, however, to stop there,

they decided to remove a number of the first game’s key strategic elements.

For example, in Battlezone, you had to use Scavenger units to pick up

scrap metal from destroyed craft in order to fuel you war effort. This made

combat more closely tied to production and forced you to carefully watch after

the vulnerable Scavengers. In Battlezone 2, although scrap metal may

still be recycled from the battlefield, it is primarily taken from mysterious

“scrap pools” (?), which allow for a steady, constant supply of metal. Granted,

it makes things easier, but also less interesting.

Simplification is not the only problem. Artificial intelligence, which was

passable at best in Battlezone, is utterly terrible in Battlezone

2. Although the enemies fight fairly well, the movement AI of the troops

under your command is atrocious. Even your constructor units have trouble arriving

at building destinations. This forces you into the unwanted role of wet-nurse

to you incompetent units, which is frustrating to say the least.

Also, although level design is unique, varied, and engaging, there is far

too much of a focus on scripting. There is really only one way to approach each

mission. You must accomplish A, to get to B, to do C. Although this can force

you into doing some interesting things, it works against the feeling of control

that a strategy/action hybrid is supposed to instill. Battlezone 2 is

subtitled Combat Commander, after all.

There are some other complaints. A few bugs, especially with the multiplayer

code, made it onto the CD. And, unlike in Battlezone, there is a great focus

on treaded units, which can be confusing to control and certainty not as smooth

as a hovercraft during a fight.

Still, it is Battlezone. Despite the flaws, the same gameplay

that made Battlezone so great is still at work here, and when you are

not being annoyed, you are usually overjoyed. The plot is well paced and voice

acting is good. The control is solid, the units and weapons are varied, the

graphics are extraordinary, and the interface is actually an improvement over

the already sublime. They added some additional ways to control your units though

a satellite view and gave you more control over base function. Overall, things

mostly feel right.

Take it for what it is; a good game that should have been great, a casualty

of appeasement to bad taste and rushed production. The zone is still hot, the

combat is still heavy, and the hours will still fly by unnoticed. Don’t expect

to be singing its praises in two year’s time, but you might be infatuated for

a month or two. Just one thing: if you’ve never played the first Battlezone,

hunt it down in a game bargain bin somewhere and give it a home. It deserved

better than to be thrown in with Extreme Paintbrawl, Rex Nebular and

the Cosmic Gender Bender, and Irritating Stick. Ouch.