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Battlezone
Page 2
Your tank is your home!
One of the things that I very liked about this title is that you can actually command everything from your Tank. For
example, on the left top corner of your screen you have several commands for your vehicles, turrets and more. Just select one or more and choose the command(s).
This is very handy because you don't have to switch from your tank to the others. It is all happening in your vehicle.
On the other hand, there are also many keyboard commands and it may take you a while before you know them all. Still, they are all very clear and especially user-friendly and that is what we like.
Configuring a joystick is more difficult then I thought. Not easy at all and you will need a lot of patience before everything works the way that you want it to be.
Your tank has usual 3 or 4 weapons that you can use anywhere. Missiles, mini-guns, mortars and thumpers (which causes a little earthquake) are also at your disposal.
There are quite a few different tanks and units that you can use and every vehicle acts different. When you want to leave your tank (voluntary or when it is destroyed) you can go on foot. Of course, on foot means moving slow and the gun that you are carrying does have limited firepower and range.
But the best has yet to come because you can also go into Sniper Mode. By doing so, your gun changes into a more sophisticated and powerful weapon where you will see a red dot that indicates the heat of an enemy pilot in its vehicle. If you can kill him, you can hijaak its vehicle.
 
Stunning graphics?
Graphics in Battlezone are simply stunning using a 3D-accelerated card that is capable of displaying Direct 3D. It don't uses Glide, still D3D can keep the graphic quality high as we are used in other games.
The translucent effect that is used in Activision's new Battletech game (which is even better then any Mechwarrior based game) is simply awesome. I bet my jaw was pretty wide open when I saw those graphics the first time I 'battlezoned'. I remember that words were coming out of it like: 'Ahhhh', 'Wow' 'Great' or something similar.
The graphics in general, like the different objects are brilliantly drawn. That counts also for Battlezone's terrain. It looks so real that you would think that they extract real images from other planets and textured it. I even read somewhere that Activision has based those on NASA's expeditions.
You don't have to look any further if you want to see some spectacular objects and terrains.
The different sound effects and music tracks are well combined with this game actions and strategy.
Every vehicle, weapon and other background sounds have all a clear and very realistic sound. The music itself is a bit ambient but its good.
Get a Multiplayer experience
Of course, almost every modern game has Multiplayer capabilities. With more people that are obtaining a high speed connection to the Internet (like myself, I am still on a 28k8 modem so ... I still wait for my cable that is going to arrive near 2000, I hope) playing online is more frequently done that it was some years ago. With faster connections, games now run at a decent speed that is enjoyable.
Battlezone offers different modes. First choose your mode. Either choose for strategy or deathmatch mode. Next, you can battle it out on a serial connection, via modem, LAN or by TCP/IP.
Beware though, the TCP/IP mode might look great if you have a connection to the Internet but it is definitely not the case here. It's in fact not a direct TCP/IP connection. If you still want to use this mode, you are forced to connect to one of Activision's own servers. The lag on it is so huge that it destroys the game play. Even it is not so stable as you might think it is.
Conclusion?
A renewed title that looks and plays excellent is just the less we can say about Activision's Battlezone.
It offers fast 3D-action that is unique in this type of game combined with a really good real time strategy feature.
The gameplay is excellent and so are the music tracks and the different sound effects.
This game offers more then just shoot on everything that moves and it is definitely greater then Heavy Gear or any Mechwarrior title. Go buy it because it is worth every $.
Trust us!
-Bjorn
Ratings
Manual:
80% |
Graphics:
92% |
Music & Sfx:
90% |
GamePlay:
92% |
|
This game scores
 
on our 5-point Rating System
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