Have you always dreamed of driving a big tank? This is what Battlezone offers you with its futuristic machines!
This virtual reality game released in October on PlayStation VR therefore places us in command of a war machine. The handling is extremely simple and based mainly on the use of triggers: the right one allows to shoot, the left one activates the engine boosters. The top left button activates a special ability and the right button activates a reload. Finally, with square, we change the weapons used, going from single target missiles to missiles with multiple acquisition. When you run out of shells, it is always possible to fall back on the blaster, a not very powerful but infinite weapon. Here is a 360 ° video to discover the interior of the cockpit:
The important indicators are in the middle of the screen, the ammo count is at the bottom right of the main window, with the loaded ammo ready to fire at the top (there is a fairly long reload time) and in the lower part the stock. In the middle, it is a map indicating the position in red of the enemies in relation to its own position. It is best seen here in this screenshot:
The screens on the left allow you to see the state of the tank but this is not very useful in itself because, when we take damage, there are visual effects on our cabin (it just confirms if things are going wrong or very badly). To the right is information about goals and tips, translated into spanish in my version. These screens also serve as subtitles for voices that have remained entirely in English.
The enemies are varied, there are other tanks, of course, being of different types: light, medium and heavy. They are more or less fast, carrying more or less firepower and opposing more or less resistance. For my part, I opted for a medium tank, ensuring good general efficiency on the ground, which allows me to be quite versatile and to get out of it against other tanks while having enough speed to hope to catch up with the light tanks. There are also drones, small aerial vehicles that despite their size have good firepower. They are especially not very practical to shoot down due to their speed and the angle of fire required to shoot them down. Finally, there are fixed buildings such as bases or towers. Immobile, they are easy to shoot from a distance and fortunately. Because you really have to stay away and play with the scenery to avoid their deadly shots.
The combat environment is futuristic, entirely based on hexagons, against a backdrop of rhythmic music. Quickly, carried by the lights and the musical atmosphere, I forget the real world, immersed in this universe which seems straight out of TRON. The colors are flashy, while remaining consistent from card to card with dominances each time. In the distance, flares burn high in the sky or lava falls from volcanoes.
To complete this riot of effects, tanks leave trails of light behind them and slain enemies explode in sprays of strange many-sided pixels. It might seem too much for the eyes, but it is not because besides that, the graphics are rather simple. It works well, everything is fluid and well managed by the PS4 virtual reality headset. The big advantage is above all the absence of too small details, it avoids having the attention to draw on unimportant elements (which would take more graphics computing resources) and to be entirely focused on the war raging in the arena.
However, the decor is not just a beautiful empty shell of the background, it must be taken into account in the strategy. As tanks do not fly and can only climb via ramps, various devices allow the action to be channeled to hot spots: escarpments, access ramps, walls, recesses ... In addition, some maps require protection or on the contrary to attack (hack) points, which inevitably leads to a concentration of actions in a limited area.
On the content side, the game offers an offline mode and an online mode. The first is a procedurally generated campaign, which takes us forward through different levels via a map, where the hex is again picked up. Each square, the hexagon, offers a battle or more rarely a parts supplier to better customize its tank (weapons, special abilities ...). The difficulty of the enemies gradually increases, until the final confrontation with the boss-tank which everyone is afraid of! The campaign can be started in multiple modes (easy, normal and hard) and multiple lengths. Knowing that it is possible to play in cooperation with 4 players by switching to online mode. And what would a fighting game be without the ability to hit other players?
By way of conclusion, here is a video which sums up perfectly what Battlezone is, a game definitely difficult to describe in words as the visual is so important. You will see tanks from every angle, and even very close and many fights. Around 2:30, you will have a good overview of the countryside with the map I was talking about. From 3:30, a visualization of the possibilities of personalization. Everything else will certainly complement your impressions:
I am still quite a beginner in the virtual reality niche. I tested the space games from CCP Games (Gunjack and EVE Online) and more recently Selfie Tennis or the small games supplied with the PS4 VR. As a result, I still have little perspective on the possibilities of headphones and the market offer unlike more classic games. However, I had a very good impression on this Battlezone, the gameplay is excellent, the graphics and the musical atmosphere perfectly match the immersion and the action is there.
For the faint of heart, not being in space removes a potential uneasiness effect although the tank goes really fast. So I don't recommend sessions that are much longer than an hour. But precisely, the format of multiplayer or solo matches, very short, around ten minutes in general, allows you to do a few before coming back to reality. If you have the PS4 headset, I recommend this title without hesitation. Namely that it is planned to be released on PC as well, on Oculus at least (see perhaps on the HTC Vive since Steam is listed in the platforms) but there is no date.
