Battlezone 2 And Natural Selection
Go7
Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 2553Members
Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 2553Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Separated at birth?! haha, just kiddin</div> Hey all,
While I complain about NS very often, I really am blown away by it all.. it's amazing, addicting, and damn damn good. Lately, I've been comparing Natural Selection to Battlezone 2, one of my favorite games.
Background: The Battlezone games were both critically acclaimed, and BZ1 was considered by the press to be the first of its kind... to mix top-down RTS elements with FPS elements (although in a vehicle combat FPS type of game). Ratings for BZ1 were very high, for BZ2 less high, but still high. However, both games sold poorly, and few gamers have played it. I picked up BZ2 on the first day it came out, and soon I made a MOD for it called BattleStrat. It soon became the most popular MOD for the game, at least for the first 4 months I was around. I became frustrated with the game's limitations.. especially in the net code area, and stability. The game couldn't stomach more than 4 players, often. And the economy of the game was hard-coded SCREWY. Most BZ2 players are like me
in this regard.. they saw Battlezone as something with enormous potential, but due to things like that... it fell short of greatness.
The purpose of my post is to say that the NS team has done such an amazing job here, that with a few changes.. it could easily dwarf the efforts of Battlezone creators Pandemic Studios, who tried on two separate occassions.. and through 3+ years of work.. to do what NS has done better. <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='asrifle.gif'><!--endemo--> Great job <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> Also, Flayra in chat said he thought Battlezone rocked.. so i figured i'd post all this <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
finally.. Before i posted this, I went to the PlanetBattlezone forums, and posted on how NS could be made into a Battlezone3. And i invited all BZ2 players to come try NS, because I know they'd love it. The post is quoted below
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->NS came out a few days ago for HL, and it's really nice (as long as u play on a server with few players and with accurate economy). There are balance issues, of course, but the potential for a classic is all here.
Some people say it reminds them of BZ2, and i have to agree. For the Marines, there's a "commander" player.. who hops into a building.. and then is able to research upgrades, pass out weapons, health and ammo, place buildings/turrets, all from a top-down RTS view, just like BZ2. It's humans vs aliens, too. Also similar, is that there are resource "nodes" scattered throughout the map that must have a Resource tower built on top to extract resources from it. It's just like BZ2 in this regard, except that the more you have.. the faster you bring in money (instead of having a longer "resource bar".
When I play this game, it's not much of a stretch of the imagination to say that if the NS team released their MOD to other MOD makers... you could easily make a Battlezone 3 with this. Simply switch all the player models to vehicles (so that the players ARE the vehicles), and make wide open space maps.. and you'd essentially have BZ3. Add to the mix the built-in voice chat of HL, too.
The biggest difference would be that the Aliens "evolve" and "gestate" into better vehicles/weaponry. Also, Aliens dont' have a commander.. and their resources are individually achieved (Alien resource income is metted out to everyone at the same time, but each player decides what he wants to do with the money).
On a decent server, you can have a good 14 player game going, with minimal lag. Also, the biggest lag inducer in this game is the amount of turrets and defense towers built everywhere. But in a Battlezone environment, there should be
less of those around. So less lag.
So anyway, if you own HL, give this game a shot. It's worth your time. I was about to say that Pandemic Studios should consider buying some sort of rights to NS from the NS team.. and create a BZ2 spin off from it. I really do believe this game has the essentials to become the Battlezone we all dream of
(But of course, the graphics engine is less suitable to vehicle combat than Battlezone2's... so it would be weird to see the gameplay better, but the graphics not. Still, I wouldn't mind hovertank fighting
in a flat rectangular room... the action/strategy elements would make up for it)<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Related URLs:
<a href='http://www.planetbattlezone.com' target='_blank'>http://www.planetbattlezone.com</a>
my mod site: <a href='http://balder.prohosting.com/jerryku/roboto' target='_blank'>http://balder.prohosting.com/jerryku/roboto</a>
While I complain about NS very often, I really am blown away by it all.. it's amazing, addicting, and damn damn good. Lately, I've been comparing Natural Selection to Battlezone 2, one of my favorite games.
Background: The Battlezone games were both critically acclaimed, and BZ1 was considered by the press to be the first of its kind... to mix top-down RTS elements with FPS elements (although in a vehicle combat FPS type of game). Ratings for BZ1 were very high, for BZ2 less high, but still high. However, both games sold poorly, and few gamers have played it. I picked up BZ2 on the first day it came out, and soon I made a MOD for it called BattleStrat. It soon became the most popular MOD for the game, at least for the first 4 months I was around. I became frustrated with the game's limitations.. especially in the net code area, and stability. The game couldn't stomach more than 4 players, often. And the economy of the game was hard-coded SCREWY. Most BZ2 players are like me
in this regard.. they saw Battlezone as something with enormous potential, but due to things like that... it fell short of greatness.
The purpose of my post is to say that the NS team has done such an amazing job here, that with a few changes.. it could easily dwarf the efforts of Battlezone creators Pandemic Studios, who tried on two separate occassions.. and through 3+ years of work.. to do what NS has done better. <!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='asrifle.gif'><!--endemo--> Great job <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> Also, Flayra in chat said he thought Battlezone rocked.. so i figured i'd post all this <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
finally.. Before i posted this, I went to the PlanetBattlezone forums, and posted on how NS could be made into a Battlezone3. And i invited all BZ2 players to come try NS, because I know they'd love it. The post is quoted below
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->NS came out a few days ago for HL, and it's really nice (as long as u play on a server with few players and with accurate economy). There are balance issues, of course, but the potential for a classic is all here.
Some people say it reminds them of BZ2, and i have to agree. For the Marines, there's a "commander" player.. who hops into a building.. and then is able to research upgrades, pass out weapons, health and ammo, place buildings/turrets, all from a top-down RTS view, just like BZ2. It's humans vs aliens, too. Also similar, is that there are resource "nodes" scattered throughout the map that must have a Resource tower built on top to extract resources from it. It's just like BZ2 in this regard, except that the more you have.. the faster you bring in money (instead of having a longer "resource bar".
When I play this game, it's not much of a stretch of the imagination to say that if the NS team released their MOD to other MOD makers... you could easily make a Battlezone 3 with this. Simply switch all the player models to vehicles (so that the players ARE the vehicles), and make wide open space maps.. and you'd essentially have BZ3. Add to the mix the built-in voice chat of HL, too.
The biggest difference would be that the Aliens "evolve" and "gestate" into better vehicles/weaponry. Also, Aliens dont' have a commander.. and their resources are individually achieved (Alien resource income is metted out to everyone at the same time, but each player decides what he wants to do with the money).
On a decent server, you can have a good 14 player game going, with minimal lag. Also, the biggest lag inducer in this game is the amount of turrets and defense towers built everywhere. But in a Battlezone environment, there should be
less of those around. So less lag.
So anyway, if you own HL, give this game a shot. It's worth your time. I was about to say that Pandemic Studios should consider buying some sort of rights to NS from the NS team.. and create a BZ2 spin off from it. I really do believe this game has the essentials to become the Battlezone we all dream of
(But of course, the graphics engine is less suitable to vehicle combat than Battlezone2's... so it would be weird to see the gameplay better, but the graphics not. Still, I wouldn't mind hovertank fighting
in a flat rectangular room... the action/strategy elements would make up for it)<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Related URLs:
<a href='http://www.planetbattlezone.com' target='_blank'>http://www.planetbattlezone.com</a>
my mod site: <a href='http://balder.prohosting.com/jerryku/roboto' target='_blank'>http://balder.prohosting.com/jerryku/roboto</a>
Comments