The question of the day is” What is Battlezone?” To make it very simple to answer this question Battlezone is very simply a 1980s first-person shooter arcade game that was released by the popular gaming producer and developer Atari. In this game, players are essentially required to operate their own functional tank and do what tanks are designed to do which is to destroy things (as well as protect the individual lucky enough to be housed inside of it).
Video of Battle Zone gameplay
History
While there is very little concrete information on the game it is possible to piece together bits and pieces on its origin. For starters, Battlezone was created using some of the same vector graphics as the popular arcade game Asteroids. 3 people in total were asked to help with the design of the game: Owen Rubin (Volcano duty), Roger Hector (designed the graphics for the enemy), Ed Rotberg (the person in charge of the main design of the game). That’s pretty much it – the history of Battlezone creation is very vague in that there isn’t really much detail to give for it.
The Cabinet
The original Battle Zone was housed in an upright, standard arcade game cabinet equipped with a periscope style viewfinder that players used to look at the game screen.
*an apparatus consisting of a tube attached to a set of mirrors or prisms, by which an observer (typically in a submerged submarine or behind a high obstacle) can see things that are otherwise out of sight.
If you wanted spectators to watch you play the game they had space on the side of the periscope they could use to watch the gameplay. As time went on Atari decided to remove the periscope viewfinder from the cabinet’s design. This allowed those who weren’t viewing the game ot see the side of the screen as well as made it a bit more comfortable for those who weren’t comfortable using the periscope to play comfortably.
Then, there was the cabaret cabinet which had an upwards angled screen but removed the periscope.
Gameplay
So, Battlezone has Wireframe graphics displayed on a white and black monitor. You enter the game on a flat surface with a backdrop made of mountainous terrain, a volcano, a moon, and various different geometric shapes such as blocks and pyramids. Players have various courses of action they can take during gameplay. For instance, if you want to hide you have the option of moving behind the solid onscreen objects – the ability to hide gives you a number of different options. You can use it to time your next move (such as timing your shots at enemy ships). Keep in mind that these objects are solid so your own ship can be blocked by them ( this is what makes them so useful as shields).
To give you a widened line of sight (and a realistic gameplay) the developers of the game gave you a radar view which allows you to see both the faster super tanks and the slower moving tanks in the game. You will also occasionally find a few UFOs and guided missiles that you can destroy for extra points. *These saucers do not appear on the radar nor do they shoot at you, the player.
The game was equipped with both right and left controls (joysticks) Each of these joysticks controlled one of the treads on the tank while one of the joysticks also had a button equipped that players could use to fire projectiles at their opponents.
To play this game online you can go here
https://my.ign.com/atari/battlezone
Fun Facts about Battlezone
- A version of Battlezone was created called the Bradley Trainer which was designed to train gunners in the U.S Army (more specifically, those on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle).
- Due to the 1st person 3D graphics (at least that age’s version of 3D) battle zone is sometimes called the first ever VR(virtual reality) video game.
- Rebellion Developments bought the rights to the Battlezone franchise in 2013 during Atari’s Bankruptcy
Conclusion
There you have it, the popular 1980’s game Battlezone’s History, gameplay, and even a few interesting facts. For more information check out the resources listed below. Also, if you have any question don’t forget to ask them – we’ll be happy to answer them.
Most of this information was taken from Wikipaydia
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