Battlezone is a critically acclaimed remake (for Microsoft Windows) of an arcade game of the same name. It was released by Activision in 1998. Aside from the name and presence of tanks, this game bears little resemblance to the original. Activision remade it into a hybrid of a tank simulation game, a first-person shooter and a real-time strategy game. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 600 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (650 × 650 pixel, file size: 87 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)Battlezone Cover Art. ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates video games. ... Activision, Inc. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Activision, Inc. ... is the 71st day of the year (72nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... Video games are categorized into genres based on their gameplay. ... This article is about video games. ... A real-time strategy (RTS) video game is one that is distinctly not turn-based. ... In computer games and video games, single-player refers to the variant of a particular game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. ... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that applies and enforces ratings, advertising guidelines, and online privacy principles for computer and video games and other entertainment software in the United States and Canada (officially adopted by individual provinces 2004-2005). ... The USKs official logo. ... The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (or ELSPA) is an organisation set up in 1989 by British software publishers. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Windows redirects here. ... The CD-ROM (an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (ROM)) is a non-volatile optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio compact discs, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. ... This article is about the SI unit of frequency. ... “CPU” redirects here. ... ReBoot character, see Megabyte (ReBoot). ... “RAM” redirects here. ... A video card, also referred to as a graphics accelerator card, display adapter, graphics card, and numerous other terms, is an item of personal computer hardware whose function is to generate and output images to a display. ... Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. ... Typical hard drives of the mid-1990s. ... Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. ... Windows redirects here. ... Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... For articles with similar titles, see Battle zone (disambiguation). ... Activision, Inc. ... 1998 1998 in games 1997 in video gaming 1999 in video gaming Notable events of 1998 in video gaming. ... A screenshot from The Sims: Deluxe Edition. ... This article is about video games. ... A real-time strategy (RTS) video game is one that is distinctly not turn-based. ...

Overview

The game has two campaigns, the American campaign and the Russian campaign. The game takes place in an alternate version of the 1960s in which the United States and the Soviet Union use alien technology to wage a secret war across the solar system, fighting for control of the rare resource bio-metal. This article is about the Solar System. ...

The game starts in 1957 when a group of meteorites falls near the Bering Strait, which both the Americans and the Russians are able to recover. In these meteorites they find "bio-metal", and discover that with it they can build vehicles with amazing features, such as the ability to hover. Both the Soviets and Americans send forces to the Moon; the Apollo program is revealed to be a cover-up for the massive American military operation there. The American space military force is called the NSDF, for National Space Defense Force, and the Soviets' is named the CCA, for Cosmos Colonist Army (However, manuals for the earlier version of the game call the CCA the 'Communist Cosmonaut Army'). The Soviets force the Americans off the Moon by destroying the main American outpost there, called Eagle's Nest 1. The NSDF relocates to Mars, only to discover that the CCA is already there. An alien artifact is discovered there by both sides, presumably by the same race who created the bio-metal. A weapons factory built by this civilization is also found on Mars. It is revealed that the race in question called themselves the Cthonians, and lived on a planet called Icarus that occupied the orbit of what is now the asteroid belt. According to the game, Greek myths were based on visitations of Earth by the Cthonians. Worlds second largest Meteorite in Culiacan, Mexico A meteorite is a relatively small extra-terrestrial body that reaches the Earths surface. ... Satellite photo of the Bering Strait Photo across the Bering Strait Nautical chart of the Bering Strait The Bering Strait (Russian: ) is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Russia, the easternmost point (169°43 W) of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, the westernmost point (168°05... This article is about Earths moon. ... This article is about the series of human spaceflight missions. ... Adjectives: Martian Atmosphere Surface pressure: 0. ... Two bodies with a slight difference in mass orbiting around a common barycenter. ... For other uses, see Asteroid (disambiguation). ... Greek mythology comprises the collected legends of Greek gods and goddesses and ancient heroes and heroines, originally created and spread within an oral-poetic tradition. ... This article is about Earth as a planet. ...

The Americans learn that the Cthonians were divided into two warring parties who battled throughout the solar system. Each side apparently pursued an ultimate weapon that would destroy the other. To follow the trail of this weapon, called a Fury, the Americans travel to Venus. Another artifact from a Cthonian city is recovered, pointing the way to a weapons research facility built by the Cthonians on Io. When the Americans arrive at Io, they find a relic from the facility and begin to bring it back to their base. However, one of the tugs carrying the artifacts is piloted by a Soviet defector named Arkin, who steals the Fury relic and brings it to the Soviets. Enraged, the Americans conduct a secret operation on Europa to steal a Soviet fighter and tap into the Soviet communications network to discover the whereabouts of the Fury relic. It is found that the relic has been moved to the main CCA base on Saturn's moon Titan. Two Furies, from an ancient vase. ... Adjectives: Venusian or (rarely) Cytherean Atmosphere Surface pressure: 9. ... Atmosphere Surface pressure: trace Composition: 90% sulfur dioxide Io (eye-oe, IPA: , Greek Ῑώ) is the innermost of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter and, with a diameter of 3,642 kilometers, is the fourth largest moon in the Solar System. ... A defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. ... Apparent magnitude: 5. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 140 kPa Hydrogen >93% Helium >5% Methane 0. ... Titan (, from Ancient Greek Τῑτάν) or Saturn VI is the largest moon of Saturn and the only moon known to have a dense atmosphere. ...

Fight between two tanks

At this point, the stories of the American and Soviet campaigns diverge. In the American campaign: After eliminating the Soviet presence on Europa, the American forces reach Titan only to find that the advance force has been devastated. The Soviets were able to build the Furies and unleash them against the American units. However, it is quickly learned that the Furies seem to have a "mind" of their own, and the Soviets quickly lose control of them as the Furies destroy the main Soviet base and then escape. The Soviets unconditionally surrender to the Americans, and they pledge to work together to destroy the Furies. After fighting jointly to destroy a Fury production facility on Titan, the Furies escape to a fictional moon of Uranus called Achilles. The Americans destroy the Fury base on Achilles and find that the base had tapped the moon's molten planetary core for power; destroying it had set off a chain reaction that would shortly cause the moon to explode. The Americans leave a small force to destroy the Furies' transport, which may have escaped the destruction of the moon, however this isn't made totally clear in the game's ending. The ending shows a piece of Achilles, presumably containing some Fury relic, drifting across the solar system to reach Earth. Image File history File links Bzfight. ... Image File history File links Bzfight. ... For other uses, see Uranus (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Achilles (disambiguation). ... The planetary core consists of the innermost layer(s) of a planet. ...

In the Soviet campaign: The Soviets evacuate Venus after destroying an American Platoon and their base and proceed to Io and capture 1 of the 3 Fury Relics. They then take this technology to Titan to try to recreate the Furies.The Soviets reach Titan but find that the Black Dogs have destroyed their main base. They recover important units and re-establish a foothold there. Finally, they are able to build controllable Furies with which they overwhelm and annilhate the Black Dogs and the Americans and completely destroying their presence on Titan. These missions branch into the American campaign directly preceding "The Three Beacons", wherein the controllable Furies turn on their Soviet creators.

The American campaign is significantly longer and better orchestrated and is intended as the main game, with the Soviet missions serving as a more challenging diversion for those players who manage to beat the American game (although for advanced players, the Soviet campaign was easier to win due to jumping directly into the full technology tree.)

An add-on, called The Red Odyssey, was later released which featured a Chinese campaign contemporaneous with the events described above. It took place on Jupiter's moon Ganymede and a planet in another solar system (called Elysium, it was reached with a Cthonian interstellar travel device). This game is much harder than the original Battlezone, and the missions are only for very experienced players. The American campaign is much longer than the Chinese campaign (ala Battlezone) and there is no CCA campaign at all, even though they appear very often in the Chinese campaign, while all three factions never appear on-screen at the same time in any campaign. Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ... This article is about the natural satellite of Jupiter. ...

The Red Odyssey

In 1999 Battlezone went gold to perk gamer's attention and make a tribute to the new release of Battlezone II: Combat Commander. This Battlezone: Gold included the original Battlezone CD, manuals, and the Gold Disc Expansion pack, which introduced a new area to the Battlezone lore. Battlezone II: Combat Commander is a game released by Pandemic Studios as a sequel to Activisions Battlezone (computer game). ...

The Expansion pack The Red Odyssey features the Black Dog Squadron (an elite unit that the Russians ran in to in the original Battlezone) who, during a regular patrol on Ganymede discover that the Chinese are also participating in the space race, but not necessarily on the side of the Soviets (as revealed through the Chinese single-player missions).

Red Odyssey focuses on a new storyline with the Black Dogs, and delves in to more about the hunt for the artifacts across the Solar System.

Multiplayer Overview

NSDF Grizzly Tank

This game also has a unique multiplayer engine. The player may either partake in a deathmatch-type style of play, in which the tank they choose at the beginning of the mission will always appear again after they die. Or they may choose to play a strategy map where the player starts off with the key base building utility, the recycler, and must build a base and units in order to destroy the other player. Players may work with other players via the ally feature, or even trick the hapless victim into being their ally, only to turn on them when they least expect it. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1024 × 768 pixel, file size: 68 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)This is a screenshot from the 1998 game Battlezone. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1024 × 768 pixel, file size: 68 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)This is a screenshot from the 1998 game Battlezone. ... Online gaming redirects here. ...

Multiplayer Play Styles

There are many other styles of multiplayer playing, some more popular than others. The most popular within the small remaining community of players is bombing, where all players fly a large, slow, and deadly bomber that shoots very strong rockets at the opponent. Another popular style of game is MAGing, where certain tanks use a cannon called the Magnetic Acceleration Gun to completely annihilate the opposing tank. This weapon is generally used in pairs, and will destroy a tank in one shot if aimed correctly. Another type of play is the free for all, where all types of ships are welcome. These are the most versatile games with each type of ship having its own advantages. There are many other styles of play including: sniping, where you snipe enemy pilots only and Blank1 vs. Blank2 type games, where the blanks are two different kind of ships. These methods of play all fall into the first of the two Battlezone online gaming categories: Death Match (DM) and Strategy (Strat). The second category (Strat) involves two or more players who compete in teams or against one another for scrap and map domination. Strat gaming, unlike DM gaming, requires more patience and a greater degree of strategic planning and thought. On some larger maps a strat game can easily run past the three hour mark.

Playability on modern computers

Despite its age and use of the obsolete DirectX5 graphics interface, Battlezone can be played on PCs running Windows XP SP2 provided that the game is patched to version 1.4 and Data Execution Protection is disabled for this application.

The Sniping Community

The online sniping community was relatively small in comparison with more modern FPS (first person shooter) online games such as Counter Strike. Consisting of approximately 100 regular players on the activision server, most snipers were familiar with the majority of their sniping counterparts and this led to a strong community spirit in which inter-clan and individual rivalries were harvested and numerous unwritten codes of practice developed (eg. it was forbidden to shoot an opponent at the spawn point). As the sniping field of battle became more competitive, players developed new methods to gain advantages over an opponent. Techniques such as jump sniping (attributed to OGC Hitman aka Cyrus the Virus) and GAS (Gifted Ass Snipe - attributed to OGC Ace) becamse common place on the Stomp map.

Legacy

Activision released a sequel in 1999, Battlezone II: Combat Commander, which involved a war resulting from the incursion of a race of extraterrestrials known as the Scions. This article is about the year. ... Battlezone II: Combat Commander is a game released by Pandemic Studios as a sequel to Activisions Battlezone (computer game). ... Extraterrestrial life refers to forms of life that may exist and originate outside of the planet Earth. ...

The game was ported to other systems by Crave Entertainment. In 2000, Crave ported the game to the Nintendo 64 under the name Battlezone: Rise of the Black Dogs. Team Evolve made the addon pack for Battlezone, The Red Odyssey. In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed (e. ... Crave Entertainment was founded in 1997 by Nima Taghavi. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... The Nintendo 64 ), often abbreviated as N64, was Nintendos third home video game console for the international market. ...

External links

• Battlezone Strategy Forum
• Battlezone Club Online
• Battlezone Files