The original concept for this game takes you back to "the good old days" of arcade gaming. Atari's "Battle Zone" was one of the few games at that time (early 80's) to use 3D graphics. Original Battle Zone used vector graphics (ala Asteroids.) Nearly 2 decades later, the game would make a comeback, and my, oh my, does time make a difference. The intro to the game gives you a little peak back in time as to what the game used to look like, then it pans away to show you a new highly detailed battlefield where the new game takes place.

Battle Zone is a very unique and refreshing twist to modern Real Time Strategy games. It has been described as "Quake 2 meets Red Alert", and I would have to agree. The action combat is very intense, and relies on your quick thinking and a fast trigger finger. The difference between this game and many others is that this "action" game has a counterpart, a highly detailed "strategy" section. Between combat, you are often constructing a base, like Red Alert or StarCraft, but you are doing it in a 3D cockpit of your tank. Admittedly, at first the amount of commands is a bit overwhelming, and requires a little memorization. After a few runs through the mission trainer, you will have the basics down in no time.

You get a bit of a rush when involved in large battle in this game. Like a typical Real Time Strategy game, you are not the primary focal point of your enemies attack, your base and mass of forces are. You can order your forces to attack the enemy, and you can join in at the tail of the convoy, watching all your forces roll through out the highly detailed landscape. This is about as realistic a feeling that you can get playing a video game. Defending your base is equally as thrilling. Hopefully, after you have set up turrets and ground forces, you can watch your strategic base design work in real time. Enemy forces will pour in from an unknown area, and your base lights up with gunfire. The feeling is very immerse to say the least. You can even eject from your vehicle if it is destroyed, and run on foot with a rifle to find another vehicle to use. Many unique features indeed.

The first system Battle Zone was tested on was a Pentium 233, with 32 megs of SD RAM, and an 8 meg Voodoo 2 card. As one may expect, it ran like a dream. I was surprised to see that a Pentium 133, with 64 megs of EDO RAM, and a Voodoo 1 cared ran the game almost as perfect as the first system! I would estimate the game to be running at 30 frames per second with the Pentium 133 system. The game will run without a 3Dfx accelerated card, but the frame rate will not be nearly as high, and may actually effect gameplay. With a 3Dfx card, I can guarantee a product that is so beautiful, it you must be see it to believe it. The game designers of Battle Zone have included a "soft suspension" on your vehicle, giving you the illusion of little gravity, and the result is awesome.

Perhaps the only game similar to Battle Zone would be "Uprising", from Cyclone Studios. Both games are more difficult than your typical strategy game, because of the memorization of keyboard commands, and the "2 games in 1", with action and strategy. Battle Zone has the best graphics seen to date for this style game, and even rivals most high end shooter games like "Quake 2". This game is highly recommended, and is a refreshing change of pace from typical "top down" strategy games.