Battlezone 2: A review

[Jabbapop]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp7Ztx7tguU

Hopefully soon we can generate enough youtube "rumbling" to spark up more interest and get more players! My only concern is availability. Even if we can spark that interest, where will it catch fire? It is very difficult to obtain a copy of the game at this present moment. Oh the lamentations!

[MrTwosheds]

Yes, I fear that a lack of legal distribution will be the death of many games.
There ought to be a Computer Game Historical Preservation Society, that original distributors can submit software to after its commercial life is over, and who also give or withhold their Approval from developers/licence holders/distributors who fail to see the value of public preservation. There must be millions of people who would like to see something like this set up. Copyright protection is only one side of the story, who protects the paying customers from obsolescence?

[Vassili]

Hey Jabba, welcome on this forum.
This is my talk about future videos i will do, who has inspired you?
Oh i'm shocked! You look's like a guy who live in Quebec! (or a squirrel (no offense))
But wait... Why do you do a strip tease?
Shame on you when you say the RTS part is too basic (and you continue by saying the game have some "quirk and jerks"?).
"Have fun" to you too .

[Jabbapop]

Haha thanks for watching. Part of the idea behind my reviews is to be a kind of goof. I spend hours researching innovative and effective techniques in game review. That strip tease wasn't a spur of the moment thing... In a way it's kind of symbolic. We tear down the barriers between ourselves and others (our audience?), and yet still we have difficulty grasping our very own opinions and ideas!

I probably should have clarified the whole "RTS FLOW" in the game, but I wanted to keep my video relatively short, something I have trouble doing. In a nutshell, the strategies seem to boil down, especially in MPI, to a few rote moves. In particular, build up base to get air defenses if playing against ISDF, and then push out.

I have been called squirrelly before. I need to bulk up on more fatty foods. :-X

[Vassili]

Strategy is not only manage scrap and build your base, each unit you produce can be managed, and you can do tactics with them, one by one or in goup, that do a lot of possibilities, for defend or attack.

[Red Spot]

RTS is somewhat flat in this game, which isnt really that big an issue imo. I believe the balance between FPS and RTS is more of an issue, since skill in the FPS field cant really be countered much by being better at the RTS element of the game (to some degree it can, but if you want to own the game you'd be better of training in the FPS part of the game).

Edit: With 'online co-op' I think you are reffering to MPI? If so, GSH did not introduce MPI, that was part of the 1.2 patch, not the PB's. Though GSH's effort did a lot for the gamemode.

[General BlackDragon]

Nice review.

[Feared_1]

[blue banana]

I think the comments say it all for me. Really short, and I dont think it explains enough to get the point across.

[NostalgicRCB]

Battlezone2 was not a great FPS or a good RTS. It did enough of both just right to invent a new concept altogether. The problem is it only attracted people that liked this unusual blend. After the first time playing Battlezone 2 online with friends I realized that "this was the future of gaming" but the rest of the world still has to catch up. The only thing that has got me this excited since was Planetside. The dooty series of shooters and even the arcade style gameplay of Battlefield just doesn't appeal to me.

Battlezone 2 is not a perfect game but the idea behind it was groundbreaking at the time. It also pushed graphical capabilities of my 450mhz cpu and 32mb video card to the max during that era. It was uncharted territory so its easier now to reflect on the game faults and shortcomings. Personally I wouldn't change a thing about Battlezone 2 but would love a proper sequel to be made. Who knows if Bionite will ever live up to its potential.

[Red Devil]

if the battlefield series implemented base building and resource gathering/management, and space travel/different planets/aliens, hovercraft, and walkers (they had those last two in battlefield 2142), it would be similar, but it just wouldn't be the same. they had emp in 2142 and have added it to the commander's weapons in bf4, but no magnet weapons, no beam weapons, no shields, etc. they added lock-on missiles recently, but they seem to lose lock easily.

about the only real improvements they have added are a persistent ranking system and 64-player maps/servers.

14..15 years later and big games are still playing catch-up...

[Commando]

As far as I know, bz2 has a 14 player limit, in dm. In strat it is 10. Not really that big compared unless you factor the ai units.

[Red Spot]

14..15 years later and big games are still playing catch-up...

In my book games have become more exciting on a visual level and drop the ball a lot when it comes to actual gameplay. Apparently that sells better and since these companies all make games to make money it isnt that strange.
In other words, I dont think big games are playing ketchup (& mayo), they just give the new generation of gamers what they apparently want.

[SUB-0]

I think that a decade ago when bz2 was released ...computers were smaller many factors contributed to it not taking off...I never even seen advertising for bz2 when it came out ....like they do for world of tanks or world of planes ,battlefield ...and so many others...for myself I fell on bz2 by purely by accident ..in the worlds smallest store about to go outa business ...there were like 5 games on the shelf ...I was really bored and said ''what the hey'' i'll try this one...I was holding a copy of bz2...just by chance...never heard or even seen anything about it b4 nor did I know if if was gona be a rip off or not....
If bz2 was lonched the same way as those big name brands today on TV and all the other medias ....we'd probably be 100 000 over night. computers are bigger internet connections are faster ect ect...and bz2 dosn't take much space on a computer like most game today.
i'm sure many people wouldn't be disappointed either compaired to a lot of rip off out their..
the community got smaller due to predation...over the last decade also ...some will say its the patches ect ect...their usually the ones with guilt on their conscience ...
one of the nice features that has to have been the most important and pivoting factors for me was the moddability of this game and the helpful community .
I spend hours sometimes just making files, maps , models ...and the reward was seeing the end result...and very educational for sure.

one way people can help is VOTE AT GOG.COM HELP KEEP BZ2 ALIVE http://www.sub-00.com/votebz2gogcom.htm there are at present 1531 votes can we beat it?
and you can still get copies at amoazon and eaby ...I see some all the time.

I don't know how long i'll be around the community ...its the nice people that are harder to find realy.

[Red Spot]

I think that a decade ago when bz2 was released ...computers were smaller many factors contributed to it not taking off...I never even seen advertising for bz2 when it came out ....like they do for world of tanks or world of planes ,battlefield ...and so many others...for myself I fell on bz2 by purely by accident

At the time of BZ2 & BZ releases they didnt make commercials for games, at least not over here. You had advertisements for the nintendo and stuff, but not for PC-games. Over here at least.
That said, I found BZ2 in a similair way as you did. I got it for fl5,- (about €2,20) which was about 2 weeks or so before 1.2 was released.

5 years later I bought a new disk, still sealed, for €45,- ...