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I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Battle Zone was the grand daddy of First Person Shooter! Sure, it wasn't exactly like Doom or Counter Strike, but it was a shooter, and it was set in the first person. Oh, and it's pretty damn old, too.

The Lynx version of Battle Zone really isn't much of an update, but it does recreate the fun of the arcade game, while reengineering the control scheme. This upgrade alone is worth the price of admission. Finally you will be able to play Battle Zone without fighting the controls more than the enemy.

For anybody old enough to remember the original Battle Zone, the arcade game was the equivalent of entering a submarine. No, really! You had to step up to a pair of goggles and the navigate around with two joysticks, and two buttons. Sure you could get used to it. Sure, it might not even bother you after one or two plays. But after you're done playing this game on the Lynx you'll wonder how you ever got by with the two joysticks. This game plays flawlessly.

The graphics recreate the vector graphics used in the original game. The sounds are dead on. And frankly, this game is just plain fun. The only complaint I really have with this game is the over all repetition of the levels. Each level has you doing just about the same thing non stop. This gets a little old, but the game offers enough of a challenge to keep your interests for quite awhile.

Battle Zone 2000 is recommended without a question. If you are a fan of first person shooters and you want a Lynx game, this is your match! Now, go and enjoy it.

In a continuing trend of reincarnating its back catalog of classic titles for its newer systems, Atari brings us Battlezone 2000 for the portable Lynx machine. This is a modernized version of one of Atari's most popular vector graphic coin-op games, and this update is done quite well for the most part.

As in the original, this game has you piloting an armored tank in a hostile war zone. Each stage requires the combatant to accomplish specific tasks to move on to the next stage. This is a departure from the original Battlezone in that it's mission-based rather than merely trying to survive as long as you can. Some of the notable enhancements in Battlezone 2000 include new weapons, power-ups, weapons customization and the ability to ComLynx with friends (up to four-player cooperative or competitive).

Battlezone 2000 Pic 2
BZ2000 doesn't stray too far from the original version's formula, however. The stunning and sharp vector graphics of Battlezone are recreated respectively via the use of green wire-frame graphics. All of the familiar foes you've dealt with in the past are back yet again, from the tanks to cruise missiles to the UFO's. On-field obstacles are also present, providing you with a temporary haven amidst the chaos surrounding you.

Without the killer vector graphics and the dual joystick control that was found in its classic predecessor, Lynx Battlezone loses some of the charm and playability that we've come to love in the original. Battlezone wasn't a particularly deep game to begin with, and the same thing can be said of the Lynx update. The mission-based scenario of each level does provide a new strategy element to the game, but with the repetitive gameplay and lack of variety in the enemies (and their AI), each stage feels the same after a few plays.

By far the coolest element of Battlezone 2000 lies in its ability to be linked-up by up to four players total. If you manage to round up four Lynxes, four copies of Battlezone 2000 and three ComLynx cables, prepared for some non-stop fun. You can either play as one force, or everyone can choose to go his or her own way and duke it out amongst each other. Chances are slim, however, that you'll encounter this type of situation where you manage to round up the necessary systems, games and cables for this to happen.

Overall, it appears as if Atari took the middle ground in this update. It's neither an exact port nor is there enough unique new frills to consider this as an overhaul. A few more enemies and different terrains would have gone a long way toward shaking this game's reputation as a "half-ass" update. Not bad, but could've been better.


Title Battlezone 2000
Publisher Atari
System Atari Lynx
Graphics 6
Sound 6
Gameplay 6
Overall 6
Reviewer Keita Iida