istory is wrong. At least that is what the folks at Activision believe. Everyone was reading off the same page until 1952, but then a strange meteor ripped through the night sky and shattered all preconceived notions of life, limb and liberty.
Composed of an alien substance ultimately named Bio-metal, the unearthly rock was part metallic mineral, part sentient being. The possibilities it presented were larger than a Super Bowl victory, and both sides of the newly declared Cold War (i.e., the United States of America and the Soviet Union) immediately recognized its military potential. Hot war erupted, a war unknown to most earthlings because the battles were fought in space: on the moon, Venus, Mars, Pluto--wherever the cherished Bio-metal was found. Eventually the Russians were defeated and an uneasy peace restored to the solar system. It was a short-lived respite. The technology created to win the original war runs amuck and returns to haunt the victors.
Such is the story played out in Activision's action-strategy game Battlezone II. The sequel to the critically acclaimed Battlezone (itself based loosely on the classic Atari arcade game), the game plays much like the original. For those unfamiliar with this action-strategy genre, imagine a title that blends a first-person shooter and a real-time strategy game. Gamers harvest resources, erect buildings and manufacture armies, just as in a real-time strategy game. But not only do they control their armies from above, they also control them from within, blasting the enemy from inside, for instance, a Sabre hover tank or an Attila battle walker.
Gamers may harvest, erect and manufacture their way through 24 Battlezone II missions. Seventeen are playable from the human point of view and seven from the not-so-human perspective. Additionally, the game supports instant action and various multiplayer modes.
Go here, do this, shoot them
Battlezone II is a good game, make no mistake. Unfortunately for the legion of fans so eagerly awaiting this sequel, it's not a great game. The visuals are out of this world (pun intended). The deep purples and whites of Pluto are breathtaking, and the steamy jungles near the Cthonian ruins would do Tarzan proud. Not to be outdone, the units and weapons and their effects are spectacular; firefights often more closely resemble a good SF flick than a game.
Neither is the diversity of forces anything to sneeze at. Although Battlezone II can't boast the mountain of units supplied by real-time strategy games like Total Annihilation, it boasts some pretty exotic machines. The International Space Defense Force (a.k.a. the good guys) field not only hover tanks but rocket tanks, flying armored personnel carriers, bombers and battle walkers. On the flip side, the Scions (a.k.a. the bad guys, kind of) use tanks capable of morphing into powerful assault vehicles, blazing-fast hover scouts and long-range artillery units.
It's too bad, however, that many missions in which both the luscious visuals and exotic weaponry are employed are mundane at best, and infantile at worst. Battlezone II has its gems: sneaking by Scions, collecting power-ups and then running for base in an attempt to rescue a captured comrade is one of them. However, too many of the missions feel like scripted, lock-step affairs: go here, do this, shoot them. There's no room to create, explore or improvise. It's not until midway through the game that gamers get to build bases and devise their own plans of attack.
Scripted or not, Battlezone II is still a quality product. Its mix of action, strategy, gorgeous graphics and great units produce a game that most will enjoy.
