BattleZone 98 Redux

Battlezone is a classic. It had a great story, it has a good atmosphere, its command system is decent and the AI downright horrible, esp your own. But none of that matters. This remaster is done in the spirit of the original and while it can be argued that the same could be done in the freeware version, this offers high definition models and easy mod support (Steam Workshop capable on Steam in fact!) with just a few clicks of a button. This and Homeworld Remastered are in my humble opinion the best examples of games who earned that very title. In a few hours of playing, you will forget Battlezone never looked this good before because with your nostalgia googles, it always did. And you will have just as much fun.

Do read the EULA if you intend to make mods for the game. It stipulates that mod creators do not own their mods (see end of section LIMITED USE LICENSE and section OWNERSHIP), may not create binary patches, and puts strict creative limitations on what should be, and is, creative freedom. The EULA also limits the purpose other modding tools (created by modders) may be used towards. The game also requires GOG Galaxy to play multiplayer; while I'm OK with Galaxy as an optional tool, requiring it to access game content is a form of DRM. Even if you don't intend to create mods, do read the EULA. Now, for the game itself. The game was, at the time of its launch, creative, innovative and fun. The gameplay doesn't feel as new now, as many games launched since do the same thing, and better (e.g. Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising). The remaster doesn't do enough to improve the gameplay; most of the game plays as before, while moving and aiming feel slightly disorienting. Easy to get used to, but also easy to fix during the remastering process. Updating the visuals seems to have been a simple mechanical increase in resolution and vertices, with no current artistic direction. For me, the game looks uglier than the old Battlezone which, while pixelated, had a more cohesive artistic style. With all the faults of the remaster, old Battlezone is still there, and it still is fun to play. EULA, DRM: 0/5 Game otherwise: 3.5/5

Disclaimer: This is one of my favorite titles of all time. So I'm biased. I think I still have a t-shirt somewhere. :) I'll start with the bad. The AI is weak, as noted elsewhere. Not unusual for a game of this vintage. Just consider some babysitting to be part of the challenge. :) Also the control system is not as optimized as you'll find in most games these days. It's not too bad, but there are a lot of buttons used when giving orders and such. The graphics are from the wild-west days of 3d-card competition. So, they're certainly dated by today's standards but rocked at the time. The game was notoriously picky about driver versions and you could scour the net to find patches to make it work for your system, or let GOG do their magic and just fix it for you. :) On to the game. Very atmospheric! Alternate timeline story about how the space race really was about finding this incredibly useful alien bio-metal throughout the solar system and getting the technological edge over your cold-war opponent. Combat takes place either in your spacesuit or a vehicle. If you find yourself without a vehicle you can call for a ride or snipe and steal an enemy's, but one or two missions are designed to play on foot. In most missions you'll direct the building of an RTS style base, from a first-person perspective. (This was the first game I'd seen do that and I loved it.) Of course you'll need to guard your resource collectors, set up automated defenses, etc. Some missions are search and destroy, some are escorts, some are basically tower defense, but there are some other more unusual ones there too. Sometimes you're trying to be stealthy and sometimes it's a furball. I love the variety of missions and environments, from the barren lunar landscape to overcast Venus to red Mars to foggy Titan, icy Europa and more. And if you're seeking more challenge, you can also play as the Russians. Enjoy!

This right here is the hidden gem of hidden gems. Set in an alternate 1960s where the space race is just a cover for a cold war turned hot, the United States and Soviet Union secretly deploy massive armies into space in pursuit of an extra-terrestrial substance, bio-metal, that can be used to craft amazing and powerful weapons of war. The National Space Defense Force (NSDF) and Cosmos Colonist Army (CCA) do battle over control of the bio-metal throughout the solar system using hover tanks crafted from the precious material. Battlezone has some of the best sci-fi lore of any game- don't skip over the briefings and debriefings! Battlezone has always had interesting gameplay because of the way it blends RTS and FPS elements. You primarily play the game from the view of the cockpit of your hover tank: you can hunt down enemy craft yourself and blow them away, OR, you can deploy your recycler (main production unit) at a nearby geyser power source and being collecting bio-metal using scavengers in order to build a base, defensive structures, and wingmen to take into battle with you. If you build a comm tower, you can take a satellite view of the battlezone and command your wingmen in traditional RTS style, but you don't need to have a comm tower to effectively command all of your units (in fact, most often it is better to NOT take this approach). Battlezone 98 Redux (BZR) has received many improvements over the original game. These include highly improved terrain textures, models, lighting, menus, and more, and these alone make the game worth a purchase and play through. However, because BZR is built on the code of the 1998 release, some of the baggage from years ago has made its way into this game. The net code, though improved, still struggles from time to time, and having a good connection can be important to having an enjoyable online experience. (Overall this is has never been a problem for me, though.) The sound system also struggles mightily when there are many units in play or in a battle- it will eventually just choke and cut out completely until there are fewer units. The sound cutting out is a scenario that you're for the most part unlikely to encounter during regular gameplay, however. Keeping these small qualms in mind, the game is absolutely a steal at its current price, and will buy you hours and hours of fun in space. I SAID FUN IN SPACE! If any 90's game deserved a Redux, this was it. Especially if you never played the original (but even if you have!), this is a must buy. 10 Grizzlies out of 10.