C&VG


Battlezone

Publisher: Atarisoft
Machine: Atari ST

 
Published in Computer & Video Games #83

Battlezone

This ancient first-person perspective vector graphic tank game first appeared in the arcades back in 1980. It's a very straightforward combat game in which the player guides a tank across an enemy battlefield. Other tanks appear one at a time, its whereabouts shown on the radar at the top of the screen, and proceeds to track down the player; it's kill or be killed. As the game progresses, fast super tanks apepar, along with homing missiles which zig-zag across the playing area in an attempt to crash into the tank.

Although Battlezone is a very faithful conversion of the original, its plodding, rather repetitive gameplay looks primitive by today's standards. I can't see it appealing to anyone but the most forgiving game players.