As you’re thrown into the mix with Battlezone II, forced to build up your base and defend yourself or die, an old adage continually pops into your mind… if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Why do we have Battlezone II then? My guess is that Activision and Pandemic wanted to generate a little more revenue from a product that realistically should have sold a lot more copies than it did. The original Battlezone blasted out to store shelves sporting beautiful graphics and a new twist on an old genre. You lead the USA in a 1960’s battle vs the Russians for world supremacy only to be forced to join them in the end to fight off an alien invasion. Unfortunately, although the game was a remarkable achievement for a number of reasons, it sold poorly and Activision was left wondering what went wrong. Battlezone II starts out where the first left off. Gone are the days of world in-fighting and the global order has taken charge - out to save Earth from the inevitable onslaught of this alien power. Good enough story, huh? Well, let’s take a closer look at the game…

Installation: Easy – no problems found here.

Gameplay
The interface for Battlezone II improves greatly upon the original. For instance, you now are able to select and give orders to units that are out of your line of sight (a much needed enhancement to Battlezone). The flow of the game from a control standpoint seams to go over much more smoothly, as well. However, given the substantial improvements over the original, I still felt overwhelmed by the number of options for each unit; and as the number of units grows, your options and the number of commands that you need to dish out to keep from being blown off the planet grow exponentially. There has to be a better way to be able to micromanage an army and not drive yourself nuts in the process.

One of the great things that Battlezone II has going for it is a decent story line for the single player campaigns – something that is almost unheard of nowadays. However, that is about the only thing that the single player campaigns have to boast about. The intro dialog is corny at best and the missions tend to have you simply follow a commander around and be led into precarious situations. In my mind, the best thing that the original Battlezone had going for it was the idea of crossing an action game with a real time strategy. In these campaigns Pandemic seems to have forgotten what got them here and just throws you out to the wolves (or aliens). In the missions that you end up being able to start up a base and try to defend it – your commanding officers suddenly send you away to fight in some remote location with only a limited number of people. This is all done as part of the great storyline and it makes sense in the end, but a sacrifice of gameplay for storyline is hardly a good idea – especially when you are trying to establish the gameplay of an original game that didn’t sell well in the first place.

The game does have an instant-play option, as well as multiplayer functionality, and this is where you will end up spending most of your time anyway. The gameplay options were somewhat lacking in different areas. For example, you have only a few different maps to choose from and no way of modifying the playability of any of them. However, you will find that both the multiplayer and instant-play are completely captivating and are even better than the original. Here is where the beauty of the sequel truly shines. With the game’s changes discussed above to the interface and the addition of killer graphics and sound, these modes of play score a bit hit. The best way to play this game, if you are new to Battlezone, is to play the single-player missions until you get the general feel of the game, and then dive into instant-play and multiplayer modes before you become frustrated from the weak campaigns.

Overall Gameplay Score: 7

Graphics
What can I say? The graphics are stunning. Beautiful and realistic in every detail is the only way to describe the planetscapes that you will encounter. From dirt and rock to ice and snow, five fully detailed and simply spectacular planets await you. The vehicles are impressive, detailed, and appear very realistic. The structures are equally impressive. If I had one thing that I had to complain about (because I hate to give out 10’s), it would be that some of the units seem to have faces on them. These are machines, and although I do not know what war machines of the future will look like, I doubt that buttons and grooves will be placed in a manner to make it appear that the vehicle has a face. You might as well stick the Chevron cars out there with a cannon mounted on top of their hoods. However, I only noticed this on a select few of the units and it really is not something that stands out.

Graphics Score: 9

Sound
Again Battlezone II shines. From the explosions of your opponents’ vehicles in the wake of a failed invasion, to the firing of your heat-seeking missiles and mortar cannons, the sound is spectacular. In a game like this where you are standing in the front lines of some terrific battles, the sound can make or break you and in Battlezone II, it only adds to the experience. 

Sound Score: 9

Concept
The mixing of a real-time strategy game and an action shooter was a real breakthrough; and with giants like Blizzard joining in (Warcraft III), I believe that we have truly found a new genre. However, this is Battlezone II and most of the credit here went to the original for taking the road less traveled by. On the other hand, you have to give credit to Pandemic and Activision for sticking with it – even when the first didn’t sell as well as it should have.

Concept Score: 7

Difficulty
You have your choice here. Get slowly killed by killer aliens who soak up resources and continually bombard you to death until you give up. Or, get quickly killed by killer aliens who soak up resources and continually bombard you to death until you give up. This game is very difficult and if you didn’t play the original Battlezone, then you will have even more of a challenge. The single-player missions are nothing, but instant-action is where it’s at, and the computer will take all that you can give – and then some.

Difficulty Score: 8

Multiplayer
Again, here is where the action is. If you have no modem or are unable to play the game multiplayer, you can get a similar feel from the instant action mode. This is far and away the best way to play the game for two reasons: the single-player campaigns leave too much to be desired, and the game itself is a blast! However, you still have the limitations of a somewhat weak interface with too many options to control.

Multiplayer Score: 7

Overall
A great idea for a sequel. Fix a few minor things on a previously great game, boost up the graphics and crank out the eye candy, add some powerful sound effects and let ‘er rip!

Overall Score: 8

Reviewer Recommendation: 
If you are looking for a fun game to play single player and you want to follow a great campaign story line – this is not the place for you. While the storyline is actually pretty good, the missions themselves tend to take you away from the game’s strong points. However, the graphics and sound are spectacular and if you want a good game to bang with your buddies or to just play a you-vs-cpu game every now and then, this game is a great one. Go out and buy it today.