Reviewed by Peter Eley
Warzone 2100 ****
Eidos
PC
$99.95 G8+
Real-time strategy fans are eagerly awaiting the next instalments of two megatitles - Command and Conquer's Tiberian Sun and Total Annihilation's Kingdoms - this year.
But they will have to be very good to beat Warzone 2100, which has snuck in without any hype to freshen up what was looking a stale RTS terrain.
It's a futuristic title - the United States nuclear defence system malfunctions and launches a first strike against enemy cities, which retaliate in similar style.
The survivors combine to scour what's left of good old Earth to find what oil is around and salvage any remaining technology.
In this respect it's a Command and Conquer or Total Annihilation clone - mine resources and use them to build bigger weapons than the enemy. Drill and kill, if you like.
But resource gathering in Warzone is much simplified. All you have to do is find oil, build an oil rig and a power station and watch the black gold pour in.
This frees you up for the all-important business of building units and this is where Warzone really scores.
Rather than have a fixed number of tanks or missile launchers, Warzone lets you design your own units with bolt-on bits from your weapons factory.
The manual says there are 2200 possible unit combinations, but some of them come into the udders-on-a-bull category - not much use, really.
As you climb the technology tree, you gain access to better hardware, which is standard RTS fare. But you don't get stuck with useless old stuff as the game allows you to recycle it.
The graphics are excellent, as good as anything yet seen in a game of this type. Depending on your hardware, you can run under 3Dfx, Direct 3D-supported cards or software.
To my dismay, I found that my Cirrus Logic 3D card's drivers weren't compatible and had to run in software mode - yet even this is impressive, with finely detailed landscapes, dynamic shading and rich textures. Screen shots from 3Dfx systems are awesome.
Warzone is a good game, even very good. But I can't help but wonder if it isn't time to move on from RTS.
Certainly, Command and Conquer's Tiberian Sun and Total Annihilation's Kingdoms will have to be very good if they are to recapture the enthusiasm consumers showed for their earlier titles.
* An interesting note is the G8+ rating from Australia's Office of Film and Literature. Command and Conquer Red Alert rated MA15 and Total Annihilation Teen 13+ (US rating).
The general tone in all three games is militaristic and all involve a good deal of violence, although some dodgy video clips probably earned Red Alert its MA15.
Required: Pentium 166, 32Mb Ram, DirectX 6 (supplied), 8xCD-Rom, 2Mb video card. A Pentium 233, 4Mb 3D card and a 16xCD-Rom are recommended.
* Send your comments e-mail to peter_eley@herald.co.nz
* Games are given a star rating of one to five.
