0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - BattleTanx Global Assault
BattleTanx Global Assault is a 1st
and 3rd person post apocalyptic action shooter developed and
published by The 3DO Company for the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation, with The 3DO
Company publishing both console versions of the game.
The game released first on the Nintendo 64 in
North America on the 31st of August 1999, with a North American
release on the Playstation delayed until the following February with the game
releasing on 29th of February. A European release of the game for
the N64 coming in April of 2000 with the European Playstation release coming a
couple of months later on the 30th of June.
Global Assault is the sequel to the original
BattleTanx from 1999, as you would expect from any sequel the game features
many new weapons for your mechanised mayhem, in addition the game features new
vehicles and powers that were not available in the original game.
One major addition to the game is the inclusion
of destructible environments which includes real world monuments of the old
world for you to destroy including the Eiffel Tower and the Capitol Building.
The game offers a variety of modes for you to unleash this destruction on.
With a single player and 2 player campaign mode
as well as other multiplayer modes, which includes, Battlelord mode, Frenzy
mode, Hold 'Em mode, Family mode, and Tank Wars mode, as well as a deathmatch
mode.
The single player campaign mode initially only
has a few tanks available for you to purchase, this is done by using Tank Bucks
the currency that is used in the post apocalyptic world, these tank bucks are
used to buy a tank for the next level of the 18 mission campaign.
Campaign missions run along the same lines as
the original BattleTanx with missions like rescuing specific targets,
destroying all the enemies on the map, or crossing bridges successfully,
additional missions such as killing specific enemies as well as environmental
missions while certain structure need destroy as well as convoy escort
missions.
Tank bucks can be earned by collecting the various
power ups that are strewn around the battlefield, or for every 10000 points you
earn you will receive 10 tank bucks As you progress through the campaign you
will unlock additional tanks for you to use in the campaigns missions, be
careful how you spend your tank bucks however, should your run out It will be
game over for out hero of the story Griffin.
When in combat your tanks can be manoeuvred by
using either the D-Pad or left analogue stick, the right analogue stick will
allow the player to strafe out of the way of incoming projectiles, L2 and R2
also work for strafing.
When you have your enemy in your sights the X
button or L1 is used to fire your main gun, the game also allows you access to
special weapons, using the Square button will fire these weapons. The circle
button allows you to scroll backwards through your currently available special
weapons, while triangle allows you to scroll through forwards.
Five years after the X-2 virus brought on a
global apocalypse in which 99.99% of the females on Earth were wiped out, the
resulting conflicts ended in Nuclear War wiping on the majority of the human
race. The few that survived formed gangs who control their own little corner of
the wasteland where women are treated as commodities
Griffin Slade was successful in rescuing his
wife from the clutches of several of these gangs across America. The pair
headed west towards San Francisco along with their new baby boy Brandon, here
they stayed. Along with many allies they picked up on their way to the west
coast.
Unknown to Griffin, the QueenLord Cassandra has
set a plan into motion, she orders her forces to kidnap Griffin and Madison’s
son and kill everyone else, the ensuing fight sees Griffin’s forces hold back
the invaders, however the tables are soon turned when Cassandra mind controls
Griffin’s army and turns them against him.
Critically the game was not too well received
with a couple of above average review scores for the game, they quickly drop
into the average and below average range. As usual though we will start with
the best of them which comes from Power Unlimited.
The Dutch publication scoring the game at a 62,
the review calling the game fun in it’s self, but they found the Playstation
port not a 100% success, they praised the mechanics of driving the various
tanks around, but overall the review found that things could have been
improved.
German publication Mega Fun were the next
highest scoring review with a 61 rating, The review found the gameplay to be
much too simple, as a result they found the game got pretty dull pretty
quickly, with so little effort needed when shooting an enemies.
A small drop in review scores from here with
GameSpot scoring the game at an average 55 rating. The reviewer find that the
developers had tried to keep the game as close to the original N64 release,
rather than develop this port to play to the Playstations strengths. They
concluded by saying if your are really into playing this game, you would be
better off renting the N64 version of the game.
Back to Germany for the next review which comes
from Video Games, who scored the game at a 54. The review also commenting on
the N64 version, which they called quite fun. With the Playstation version
unable to convince, with the addition of the poorer graphics and sluggish
controls.
They continued by saying, with the control
issues noticeable in all modes even the multiplayer mode, the game as a result
is the game failing to inspire. The review concluded by saying, Too bad because
with a bit more attention to detail this could have been quite an interesting
game.
We next see another drop in review score this
time down to a below average 45 from IGN, who simply put it that this game
shouldn’t have even been on the Playstation. They continued by saying, If 3DO
can get their butts into gear and step up to the next gen power of the PS2, we
might actually see an enjoyable game from them on the Playstation, other than
Army Men Air Attack.
The review concluded by saying, Had the control
and sound effects been addressed early on, we could have seen a game that
offered a handful of guys a great blow-em-up party game, that was a blast,
instead we get this dud.
PSX Extreme are out penultimate review with a
score of just 42, the reviewer for this publication did not get their hopes up
for this game, commenting that on it being a 3DO title. They continued by
giving consumer advice on 3DO games.
They had the following to say. I have said it
before and I'll say it again, if anything is developed or published by 3DO to
today, watch what you buy, the company has now given itself the worst
reputation in the video gaming industry. The review concluded by saying,
BattleTanx is not worth a purchase, rental, even a second of eye contact. The
game gives nothing that will keep someone coming back.
For the lowest review score received for this
game we head over to France and Jeuxvideo.com who scored the game at poor 35.
While the reviewer did praise the game modes on offer, they found everything
else to be a miss, concluding with a game to book at your worst enemy.
This is the part of 0
to Z where is visit four online retailers and see what the availability of the
title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this
title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com,
eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very
location specific, but from a podcast I listen to, I’ve heard they have a huge
stock of older games, Ebay has now been dropped unless the game is unavailable
at other retailers.
So lets get down to
business with Gamedude, who will give you $4 if you are looking to trade in
your copy of BattleTanx Global Assault. If on
the other hand you are in the market for a copy of the game, you will be
looking at an outlay of $9.
Moving over to
Retrogames.co.uk we find that don’t stock or even list this title, so we will
quickly head over to eStarland.com. Where we find they don’t either have the
game in stock or list the game, with the exception of the N64 version.
Lastly we have
Amazon.com where we find a plentiful supply of the game available, with a very
good condition copy available for $5.77, this copy however does not state if it
is complete. For the cheapest complete copy we find an acceptable condition but
complete copy for $6.98. Another good condition copy is available for $6.99 but
again this one does not state anything about the completeness of the copy.
This is another game
that is suffering with disc only syndrome with multiple copies being like this
or missing other components. We do find a like new copy available for $13.98
though, the following very good condition copy says it included original box
and manual but nothing about the covers, this copy comes with free shipping for its $13.99 price.
Another very good
condition copy, this one has had the disc professionally refurbished and comes
complete with case, manual and covers can be picked up for $18.80. Another very
good condition copy is the last of the reasonably priced copies, this comes
complete as well and can be picked up for $23.99.
If you are on the
market for a new copy of the game, you will find them much harder to find, with
currently just 2 new copies of the game available. The first which is by far the
most competitively priced coming in at $44.48 once you have added in the
shipping costs. The final new copy which is shipped by Amazon is considerably
more expensive, even with the free shipping coming in at $79.95.
Written by
P J Gibbon
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