Battlezone (1980 video game)


Battlezone is a first-person shooter tank combat arcade game from Atari, Inc. released in November 1980. The player controls a tank which is attacked by other tanks and missiles. The game is considered to be the "first big 3D success".

Gameplay

The game uses wireframe vector graphics on a black and white vector monitor. Gameplay is on a flat plane with a mountainous horizon featuring an erupting volcano, distant crescent moon, and various geometric solids like pyramids and blocks. The player can hide behind the solids or, once fired upon, maneuver in rapid turns to buy time with which to fire. The geometric solid obstacles are indestructible, and can block the movement of a player's tank. However, they are also useful as shields as they block enemy fire as well.
The player views the screen, which includes an overhead radar view, to find and destroy the rather slow tanks, or the faster-moving supertanks. Saucer-shaped UFOs and guided missiles occasionally appear for a bonus score. The saucers differ from the tanks in that they do not fire upon the player and do not appear on radar.
There is a game play modification at 100,000 points if the proper conditions are met. When executed properly the next appearing Supertank will not attack and will retreat. A tank icon will then appear at right on qualified high score listings.

Cabinet

Battlezone was housed in a standard upright arcade cabinet with a novel "periscope" viewfinder which the player used to view the game. The game action could also be viewed from the sides of the viewfinder for spectators to watch. A later, less common version of the cabinet removed the periscope to improve visibility to non-players and improve the ergonomics for players who could not reach the periscope. This modification also was welcomed by some operators, who felt that the small windows present in the "periscoped" version did not attract enough attention to the game when played.
A smaller version of the cabinet also existed with the screen angled upwards, and no periscope. A cocktail table version was tested as a prototype but not produced; it lacked the color overlays as the display would have to flip for opposing players.
The controls consisted of left and right joysticks, which could only be moved in the Y axis, each controlling the treads on that side of the player's tank. One joystick contained a button used to fire projectiles at enemy targets.

Development

Owen Rubin, who shared an office with Ed Rotberg, came up with the idea of making the volcano in the background erupt, and coded the animation for it.

Home ports

In the 1980s, Battlezone was ported to the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atari 2600, Commodore 64, VIC-20, IBM PC, ZX Spectrum, and later the Atari ST. The ZX Spectrum version was published by Quicksilva; the ports to non-Atari systems were from Atarisoft. The Atari 2600 version uses raster graphics instead of vectors and has a third person view where the tank is visible. The Atari ST port contains large parts of the original 6502 code which is emulated in real time.
An Atari 5200 port was scheduled for release in November 1983, but was cancelled. The Atari Lynx has the deluxe port Battlezone 2000 released in 1995. A Game Boy port was part of the 1996 Battlezone / Super Breakout combo.
In 2008, an updated version of Battlezone was released on Xbox Live Arcade. The game was developed by Stainless Games and published by Atari Inc. It features 1080i graphics, Dolby 5.1 audio and an online mode to play against 2 - 4 friends in Deathmatch and Capture the Flag modes, and incorporates Xbox Live Vision support.

Reception

Battlezone was well received, earning an Honorable Mention for "Best Commercial Arcade Game" in 1982 at the Third Annual Arkie Awards. It was runner-up, behind Pac-Man.

''The Bradley Trainer''

A version called The Bradley Trainer was designed for use by the U.S. Army as targeting training for gunners on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. It was commissioned by a consultant group of retired generals.
Approaching Atari in December 1980, some developers within Atari refused to work on the project because of its association with the Army, most notably original Battlezone programmer Ed Rotberg. Rotberg only joined after he was promised by management that he would never be asked to do anything with the military in the future. According to Rotberg, it took him three months of constant work to develop the prototype version of The Bradley Trainer. Only two were produced; one was delivered to the Army and is presumed lost, and the other is in the private collection of Scott Evans, who found it by a dumpster in the rear parking lot at Midway Games.
The gunner yoke was based on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle control and was later re-used in the popular Star Wars game. The Bradley Trainer differs dramatically from the original Battlezone as it features helicopters, missiles, and machine guns; furthermore, the actual tank does not move—the guns simply rotate.

Legacy

Because of its use of first-person pseudo 3D graphics combined with a "viewing goggle" that the player puts his or her face into, Battlezone is sometimes considered the first virtual reality arcade video game.