Battlezone II: Combat Commander Remaster Set to Deploy on Steam & GOG in 2018

[Chino]

After Rebellion 's TIGA Award-nominated remaster of Battlezone (1998), many fans of the pioneering FPS-RTS hybrid asked for its acclaimed sequel, Battlezone II: Combat Commander, to receive the same treatment. Developed by Big Boat Interactive and published by Rebellion, BATTLEZONE COMBAT COMMANDER remasters Battlezone II with slick new visuals, mod support for the game's two-decade old modding scene, cross-play online multiplayer between GOG & Steam for up to 14 players, achievements, cloud saves (only on Steam) and more.

A mysterious alien force threatens humanity itself. In this galaxy-wide war, you are in command of the resistance. Leading from the front, you take to the battlefield in thrilling first-person combat, piloting futuristic, customizable war machines including hover-tanks, colossal mech walkers, lightning-fast mortar-bikes and more. But you don't just fight from the front - you are in total command! A gripping single player campaign will test your mettle as you learn to plot strategy, construct bases, form your armies, deploy defenses and call in airstrikes. Achieving victory is no mean feat in this remarkable blend of classic real-time strategy and first-person action. To save humanity, you must prove yourself a true combat commander!

BATTLEZONE COMBAT COMMANDER is coming to Steam & GOG.com in 2018.

Ahead of launch, fans can sign up for a chance to be a part of the game's closed beta at rebellion.com/bzcc

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[RejZoR]

I remember playing Battlezone 2 demo. Pretty cool stuff.

 

[Kursah]

I've been really enjoying Battlezone 98 Redux, I played the original BZ quite a bit back in the day and the Redux let me relive that with a little bit of modernization. Highly recommend it!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/301650/Battlezone_98_Redux/

And now this is announced, I'm almost hesitant because it is too good to be true, but BZ98 Redux has really been a lotta fun and a great overall experience. This will be one of those games I get on release day, period.

Going to have to start a fresh campaign tonight!

Edit:

Here's the Steam and GOG pages so you can get yourself on the notification for release if you're interested:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/624970/Battlezone_Combat_Commander/

https://www.gog.com/game/battlezone_combat_commander

 

[EntropyZ]

I used to play a LOT of Battlezone II, it's one of my all timers. The unofficial patch adds a lot to it, it was still maintained by a few ex-pandemic employees. It has new units and better AI.

Mods are pretty nice, when you get around them. Some of the campaign missions can get really frustrating because of ally ship AI not shooting enemies when in line of sight.

I really liked being able to control units but it was clunky even when you used a relay. Most of the time as a commander you're more useful being in the field fighting because the original game's AI was braindead. Your ships would wait until it got shot first before retaliating and then it takes seconds before allies turn and start attacking the same target and even then most of the allies will be blocking line of sight to the target so they end up not shooting at all and spinning around like in that song, also a problem where you can't tell a unit to guard properly, they'll just not move or worse, get blocked by the building the unit is guarding and not retaliate or you can't tell it not to move until a target is in firing range, kind of like a hold position order from other RTS. Long story short, the AI is a mess, I wish there was a co-op mode to the campaign.

I've had equal amounts of fun in both single and multi player, both have their pros and cons, but single-player needs some polish.

So, a remaster? Hmm, i'll take it! Just so I can blast around in my Warrior w/ ISDF weapons. Or Mauler rush. I used to rage at the AI all the time for doing that.

Hopefully the engine can still be modded as much as the original or even better, but I'm not too keen on the remaster simply being the same game + a DirectX 9 renderer + new models and textures. It does say it will have mod support. So, yay.

My fondest memory is the sad music playing over the defeat screen. That picture is burned into my retinas since childhood. I love that screen so much and I don't know why. I just start imagining that it was really me there on the field as a sniper and I get shot down by a craft.

Come to think of it, I'd hate if there was no inclusion of that screen, but I'm just being nitpicky.