DESCRIPTION

In Battlezone, you take the role of a tank commander leading U.S. or Soviet forces to gain control of precious metal. The "Stars and Stripes" units under your control include NSDF scouts, three types of armored assault tanks, self-propelled turrets, heavy strike cruisers, APCs, howitzers, bombers, minelayers, reclamation and cargo units, bio-metal fabricators, construction facilities, and more. The "Red Brigade" forces feature similar units with differing properties and unique abilities.

In 1952, a meteor shower struck the Bering Strait. The celestial event was overshadowed by the conflict raging in Korea, yet United States and Russian scientists surreptitiously recovered and studied odd metals resulting from the impact. After testing by the National Space Defense Force (NSDF), a super-secret organization empowered by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the so-called "bio-metal" was found to be a product of alien sentient manufacture.

Because the "bio-metal" was determined to be the result of a cataclysmic explosion of an alien structure some 100 trillion kilometers distant, it was deduced that fragments had been captured by the gravitational pull of every sizable planet in the solar system. Accessible bodies such as Mars}, Venus and Jupiter's satellites Io and Europa, as well as Saturn's satellite Titan and the earth's Moon, became instant targets for mining the material in a race to win the Cold War between the Soviets and Americans.

In a secret deal, Arkin Industries was given the task of discovering exactly how the "memory-resilient" Bio-Metal 11 could be used for military weaponry systems. New and never before seen indestructible all-terrain vehicles and futuristic weapons could be manufactured easily if more of the material were available. Thus the race to retrieve usable quantities of the material was born.

Weaponry includes mortars, cannons, missiles, solar flares, mines, dampening field generators, snares and cameras; building types consist of power plants, silos, towers, barracks, depots and hangars. Four training missions are available to learn gameplay and 3D acceleration is offered but not mandatory. Game customization features include three skill levels (easy, medium and hard), automatic leveling, target positioning assistance and detail, object, shadow and cockpit settings, as well as multiplayer options (LAN, Internet, modem) with a wide choice of game options. ~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide