Previous Next

The Ultra War is set on the New World, a planet dominated by two warring superpowers - namely the North and South. Forces are so evenly matched that however many people die, neither side comes any closer to victory or defeat. The latest hope for breaking this 'forever war' is the Mauler supertank, which can be sneaked over enemy lines in a Stealth Chopper for devastating surprise attacks.

There are fifteen missions which can be attempted in any order, with a secret final one when the rest have been completed. Although there's plenty of external views of the tank, the best view is from the cockpit. Keys, joystick or mouse can be used alone or in combination. The Mauler is capable of 90mph, and equipped with sophisticated radar (the colour of dots showing whether they're enemies, buildings, etc). There's also some add-on hardware: a Rear View Camera, Nightsight, Binoculars (up to 8x magnification) and a Homing Scanner, showing where a selected object is. These special views can be shown on the Mini-Screen in the centre of the control panel.

The basic Mauler is completely unarmed so before each mission you have to fill four weapons slots. To fire normal, unguided shells the basic (non-rotating) turret can be armed with sixty shells. Additionally, the turret can fire missiles. The Banshee Surface-to-Surface Missile comes in heatseeking and radar-guided types: the latter is more accurate but also bulkier, so less can be carried. The Phoenix Surface-to-Air missile is similar, but targeting is more complex where you must use the Mini-Screen to move the cursor into a lock-on. And the Dragonfly is completely remote controlled.

More simplistic is the K40 mortar: shells are thrown upwards and forwards to hit objects hiding behind hills, for example. The K90 is an improved version, with each mortar splitting into eight bombs mid-flight. But the most powerful weapon is the base-wrecking Sleeper Time Bomb!

The Mauler can also be equipped with defensive weapons such as flare and chaff launchers to decoy heatseeking and radar-guided missiles respectively. These can be set to launch when you press Fire, or once every minute (quickly exhausting supplies). More impressive is the SLAM laser - once activated, this fires automatically but can only take on one missile at a time. The SLAM is good for eighty shots. Rather less defensive is the amazing anti-armour Skeet weapon: fired from the rear this zooms over the battlefield until truck convoys. There's a satellite to find, a bridge to defend and at the end of each mission you must reach the pick-up point to be flown out by chopper. You then have the option of saving to disk, with successful missions adding to the range of available weapons.

What Battle Command lacks in realism it more than makes up for in playability, general polish and some outstanding vehicle graphics. Realtime have ignored the Amiga's limitations and gone over the top on the number of on-screen polygons with no noticeable speed loss.

The Stealth Chopper looks excellent, as do the A-10s but my personal favourite is the Apache, a great sight to see taking of when I started taking out its base.

Fancy graphical effects don't make up for a lack of 'driving' realism but they're impressive nonetheless. What got me excited about Battle Command was the considerable variety of mission styles and demands. There's only fifteen missions (plus one secret mission) but it's not all blasting as stealth and tactics are definitely needed.

Search-and-rescue missions involve (hopefully!) minimal contact with the enemy as you hunt for a satellite or a hostage, Escort Duty is literally that with the Mauler on attempting a direct assault in the Hostage mission is doomed to failure.

With the advent of tactics comes new, tougher and markedly different attack tanks with each successive mission, making for engrossing stuff. Roll on the Mission Disks.

Battle is a surprising sort of game considering Realtime's strategic reputation. Frequent, close-in tank combat resembles Battle Zone more than anything else, a little unrealistic considering the long range gunnery of modern tanks.

Team Yankee, let alone MicroProse's M-1, has a more realistic feel. As for actual strategy, there's none, the fifteen main missions are linked only by their offering bonus weapons like a typical coin-op.

Sim buffs will be a little disappointed, but everyone else will probably love it. The missions are packed with variety, ranging from simplistic blast-'em-ups to stealthy sneaking around to tricky puzzlers. Then there's the glorious range of whiz-bang weaponry - the remote control missiles are particularly good fun and vital for some missions. But the enemies are the real stars, a huge range of targets from fixed gun emplacements to attack jets. The complex way they behave is fascinating.

After the stunning helidrop, in-game graphics seem a little disappointing: lots of flat green plains and a dull Mauler tank. They grow on you, though, being extremely fast with the numerous enemy objects all packed with detail. The monochromatic nightsight is also good fun and adds to gameplay.

Battle Command isn't as stunning as Carrier was, but it's a lot more playable and well worth getting.

Presentation 92%
Great intro showing helidrop of Mauler, slick save/load/format disk options, informative pre-mission briefings, friendly control system. Zoom in/out, rotate external views.

Graphics 92%
As the intro makes clear, Realtime can move some incredibly complex objects around. Possibly the best 3D yet despite mediocre hills.

Sound 93%
Good title music, but in-game FX are truly brilliant with excellent detail.

Hookability 90%
First mission makes this as easy to get into as Battle Zone!

Lastability 91%
Sixteen missions aren't a vast amount these days, but they're all well designed and nicely varied. Plus, mission disks are planned.

Overall 90%
A playability-packed tactical/arcade stunner!