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It's pretty, but it lags

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 11 / 18
Date: January 03, 2000
Author: Amazon User

It's very pretty, but even with a P3 500mhz voodoo 3 the game loses frames. The tanks don't handle like they used to. The emphasis is on action. I wouldn't recomend it for strategy fans or action fans.

Battlezone 2

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 08, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This is great game for action gamers and the visuals are amazing. The first few missions really help you get used to the controls and interface. I like it better than the first and its considered a classic. I would recomend it to anyone who like action, it would be a stretch to call it a sim or stategy game.

requires high-end system

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: January 10, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Do not buy this game unless you have AT LEAST 350mz or more. The stated "minimum requirements" of 200mhz is nothing more than Activision's way of getting at your wallet. In one of the final levels of the game, a system of 200mhz will not even be capable of completing the mission. 350mz should get you through the game with all details off and resolution at the lowest.

I recommend you have a system of 450mhz or higher for satisfactory gaming. Anything less and some of the single player missions' low frame rates could get on your nerves.

If you have an AMD CPU (in the 300-400 range), you should probably stay away. The marketing folks over at Activision neglected to tell AMD owners up front that the game was optimized for Intel processors and that AMD chips may present buggy and slow games. You have to dig into the readme before you see that little surprise (so if you're going to try BZ2 anyway, make sure you get it from a place you can get a refund from).

Also, if you're looking for Internet play, make sure you have at least a cable modem or DSL connection. As with Heavy Gear 2, the claim that the game can play online satisfactorily on the required 28.8 connection is a woeful mistake.

The game itself is fun and definately above average. I would have given the game 5 stars if it had strong multiplayer support, but in this area, BZ2 is about average. So 4 stars for that. Still fun, decent sound and music, unique gameplay. 3 stars for the folks who are marketing the game.

if you're looking for a game with cooperative multiplayer support, where you and a buddy can take on the enemy AI together, look elsewhere. While most Real Time Strategy games support the feature, BZ2 left this out.

Be sure to check out the Pandemic website, message board, and BZ2 newsgroups for more customer reviews!

BZ 2 is the best of the best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: January 15, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This is one of the best games I have ever played! The graphics and gameplay are stunning, it makes you really feel like you are out there. The only bad thing about this game is that it has high system requrements. Other than that, it really tests your strategy skills and your accuracy. It would be a mistake not to get this game, just make sure your system can handle it.

It's actually a very cool game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: January 22, 2000
Author: Amazon User

In the newsgroups and on some game magazine I read reviews that criticize the game. The bottom line of these people is that the game, compared to the predecessor 'Battlezone' is cheesy. Well, I don't know about Battlezone I becuase I never played it. This game though, is still very good. It's based on a very cool idea: you are a soldier and you can drive anything, from powerful war machines to buidlings (turrets and factories and such). You don't actually drive a factory: you just get in and configure it the way you want. You also can get in a turret (and it's damn fun to blow a bug up with one of those big plasma turrets! ). If you built it (and you have to) you can get into the 'Relay station' which is a building that uplinks to a satellite and gives you a satellite view of the action and lets you play the game in a traditional (almost) RTS fashion. The game is sci-fi and definetly arcade-ish. Do not expect a sim or the ultimate RTS game from it. It's still a very cool idea to allow you to switch from an RTS view to a first person view: you send your troops to fight and then you get in your tank and go with them to fight and suffer the consequences of your strategical mistakes or enjoy blow enemies up in person! I reccomend it to any action or RTS player: it's a game to try out!

Fun and fast paced

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: January 30, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I noticed a previous reviewer said you really need a fast system to play BZ2. Well I am playing on a 300mhz pent2, 160 megs ram, Voodoo3 3000, and with a 40kbs internet connection speed and it is smooth as silk with every feature turned up and using 800X600 res. He must have alot of stuff running in the background. Well enough of that. The single player game has great graphics and good strategy gameplay. I find the storyline a bit weak though. The multiplayer portion needs some work. Ping times are extremely high and it is hard to get into a low(sub 400) ping room. They really need to fix that portion. While I am not quite as impressed as with the first, BZ2 is still a good game to keep you glued to your monitor for hours.

A shadow of the original

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: February 24, 2000
Author: Amazon User

To sum it up, this game was a major dissapointment. The interface was dumbed down to the point of being retarded compared to the original. The unit AI was a joke, unit would go through lava at times and destroy themselves to get to you. And as for originality, well why did they borrow units from Dark Reign? The assault tanks, the missile tank? Come on guys! The original game is in my opinion, the best game ever made (and never played to boot, sadly) but it was and is great even now. This games good points ie strafing AI, cool backgrounds and more involved unit design are not enough to make up for the bad points, ie high system requirements, poor, short storyline, dumb AI, etc. But what I consider the worst crime is that they took a very useful interface and ruined it. In the original you had to assign units to the F keys but now it is done for you, you can't take them off and you can't mix units on a key, you also can't build if they are all used up either. And you can no longer run your base from other ares like in the original. There is no defend command when you are away. I could go on but enough already. If you want to play the real BZ2 then get the Red odyssey expansion pack, it is well done. I played the original for 6 months straight, but this coaster was not even on my hard drive a week before it was gone. Good Hunting!

A much maligned game...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 21 / 22
Date: March 21, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Having played the original Battlezone, I can understand why players of the first game are so critical. The original was the very first of its kind, it successfully combined first-person shooters with real-time strategy.

The first problem I encountered was a poorly written manual - only one-third discusses how the vehicles and buildings actually work. Once you can figure out how to play the game, BZ2 is a blast.

What makes BZ2 better than BZ1?

- You can enter buildings like the Recycler and Factory, and alter weapons loadouts. This is useful if you want all your tanks to have SP-Stabbers, or your turrets to have Lasers, for instance.

- It's much easier to build Gun towers now. Instead of being near a power station, they must be adjacent to a relay bunker. You can also use the relay bunker's console to access a top-down view of the battlefield. This means you can 'hop' gradually towards an enemy base, building relay bunkers and gun towers as you go.

- The graphics are better than the original. Unfortunately they do require a very powerful computer. I have a Pentium II 266MHz, with 128Mb RAM, a 16MB Viper V770 videocard and a Monster Sound MX300 soundcard - and I have to play the game with all the graphics options turned off.

The disadvantages?

- Pandemic has re-written the original story. In the first game, it was the Russians that created the Furies, not the US.

- EXTREMELY poor AI. It's possible for your units to be destroyed by friendly fire. Perhaps Pandemic should've cut and pasted the AI routines from the first game. Advice for new players - NEVER put any of your vehicles in front of a gun tower!

- The bland music soundtrack. The original game's music was quiet and tense. It added an atmosphere of excitement to the game. The new game's music ocassionally excites, but most of the time doesn't.

In summary, I wish Pandemic had spent more time tightening the code. The AI routines are poor, and I feel more effort should've been put into making sure Battlezone 2 runs on low-end computers (like mine). Other than that, it's a very good game. But I don't believe it exceeds or meets the standards of the original game. Perhaps the third time will be the charm?

Refund, please!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 7
Date: April 05, 2000
Author: Amazon User

To be honest, when I first looked at Battlezone 2, I thought it would be pretty darn cool, I mean, with graphics like those, what can beat it? Everything. The first problem I encountered was the excruciatingly long installing period, which takes about as long as a brick moving 10 yards on it's own. When I finally woke up and saw the installing program had finished, I booted up what would be one of the worst gaming expiriences of my life. After the dull entrance cinematic, I was again forced to wait another half an hour to get past the frickin' main "menu" which takes you practically straight to the 1- player mode, then gives you 3 seconds to take a quick glance at the crucial controls. The boring cinematic will have you alreading pulling your hair with it's poor effort put into it's sound which will make you struggle to hear what the "commanders" are whispering to you. When you actually start playing, you'll first encounter a rushed, buggy feeling with your ship and poor brake engine(hope this thing has airbags). The mapping is pretty sorry itself. A huge map isn't all bad, but if the timed mission is held in only one hard-to-find location, you could get a little ticked off. The computer "animal enemy" AI misses every shot of the occaisonal fire from them, and they have a life meter so long you'll be wondering why you just didn't bring a can of radiation with you. Whether it's the lame storyline or the lousy controlls, Battlezone 2 is a real miss.

An amazing game held back

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: April 11, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game has/had the potential to be something amazing, but it falls short because of "issues". For anyone who has ever played a multiplayer Strategy game of this successfully will be instantly hooked because it is so unique and entertaining. Activision(the publisher) forced this game out the door and Pandemic(the developer) didn't have the chance to finish and polish the game like it so badly needed. It is a diamond in the rough right now, hopefully Pandemic can patch it up so the game can be like it was originally intended.

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