History VideoGame / Battlezone

* ''VideoGame/{{Battlezone|2006}}'', another remake of the arcade game for the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable PSP]] developed by Paradigm and released in 2006, a competitive VehicularCombat shooter mostly centered around local multiplayer.
* ''VideoGame/{{Battlezone|2016}}'', a third remake of the arcade game by Creator/{{Rebellion}}, with a focus on virtual reality. It was released initially for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/OculusRift, and later ported to Windows [=PCs=], UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch.

* ''VideoGame/{{Battlezone|2016}}'', a third remake of the arcade game by Creator/{{Rebellion}}, with a focus on virtual reality. It was released initially for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/ADOculusRift, and later ported to Windows [=PCs=], UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch.

* ''VideoGame/{{Battlezone|2006}}'', another remake for the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable PSP]] developed by Paradigm and released in 2006, a competitive VehicularCombat shooter mostly centered around local multiplayer.
* ''VideoGame/{{Battlezone|2016}}'', a third remake for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/ADOculusRift developed by Creator/{{Rebellion}}, this one a reimaging of [[RevisitingTheRoots the first game]] developed exclusivity for virtual reality.

[[redirect:{{Battlezone}}]]

Three video games that share a name and a bit of history:
* [[VideoGame/{{Battlezone1980}} The original arcade game]] developed in 1980, and the first popular game to feature 3D graphics.
* [[VideoGame/{{Battlezone1998}} A 1998 game]] developed by {{Activision}} based upon the original game, but also largely incorporating FPS and RTS elements. Also spawned a sequel.
* [[VideoGame/{{Battlezone2006}} a 2006]] {{PSP}} "remake" developed by Paradigm and released in 2006, a competitive VehicularCombat shooter mostly centered around local multiplayer.
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Two mostly-unrelated video games that share a name and a bit of history:

* [[VideoGame/{{Battlezone1998}} a 2006]] {{PSP}} "remake" developed by Paradigm and released in 2006, a competitive VehicularCombat shooter mostly centered around local multiplayer.

There is also a {{PSP}} "remake" developed by Paradigm and released in 2006. The thin plot involves a NATO-mandated competition between different nations. It's a competitive VehicularCombat shooter mostly centered around local multiplayer.

'''The PSP game features:'''

* BloodSport: Of the "Competition that has replaced war" variety.
* HoverTank
* VehicularCombat
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arcade-atari-battlezone.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[TotallyRadical Neato Graphics!]]]]

Two mostly-unrelated video games that share a name and a bit of history.

''Battlezone'', released in 1980, the first popular video game to feature 3D graphics, was a technological breakthrough [[TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames at a time]] when simple 2D games like ''SpaceInvaders'' were the norm. The player controls a tank, in first-person perspective, on a mechanized battlefield against enemy forces equipped with tanks and guided missiles. It is the direct ancestor of every FirstPersonShooter, and the US Army even commissioned a customized variant to train its tank troops. Surviving consoles of the game are still very popular with collectors today.

--> "Let them have their ticker tape parades, their 'space races,' and their commemorative packets of dehydrated ice cream. While Von Braun takes credit for his Redstone bottle rockets, I am finalizing plans for an inter-planetary fleet that could plant an American flag on every rock and pebble in this solar system by the end of the next decade. I will be watching the sunrise from atop [[TheRedPlanet the Olympus Mons]] long before NASA takes their first steps on the moon." -Dr. Wilhelm Arkin's response to the offer of a position at NASA.

The ''[[SimilarlyNamedWorks other]]'' ''Battlezone'', released by {{Activision}} in 1998, is set up as a revival of the earlier games. It is a hybrid vehicle combat, {{FPS}}, and {{RTS}}. [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy The Space Race was a lie.]] After a meteor shower hits the Arctic circle in 1952, American and Soviet scientists simultaneously discover an [[{{Phlebotinum}} amazing new metallic compound]] capable of being molded into [[RidiculouslyFastConstruction vehicles and equipment at fantastic speeds]] and possessed of unique organic properties. Just as quickly, both sides begin to think about how this new material could further their efforts in the ColdWar. The US forms the [[FunWithAcronyms National Space Defense Force]]. The Soviet Union in turn forms the [[FunWithAcronyms Cosmo Colonist Army.]] Both nations [[{{Masquerade}} sneak their armies into space under the guise of the "Space Race".]]

[[AlternateHistory Thus begins a new, hidden chapter]] of the ColdWar, the one too brutal to televise. The player's character, American tank pilot and battlefield commander [[TheHero Grizzly One]], attempts to lead his forces to victory against the Soviets whilst unraveling the mysteries of the bio-metal his superiors command him to kill in order to obtain.

An expansion was released later that same year, developed by TeamEvolve, dubbed ''The Red Odyssey''. It takes place largely on Ganymede and [[GaidenGame is contemporaneous with]] the events on the other Galilean moons of the original game. The NSDF's Black Dogs, a RagTagBunchOfMisfits who get all the worst missions, have been assigned to Ganymede, a relative backwater in the scope of the conflict going on. Suddenly, a new enemy in Red China attacks, sparking a conflict that eventually takes the player to a distant planet called "Elysium". The CCA are also tangentially involved.

An N64 port also exists: ''Battlezone: Rise of the Black Dogs'', the only narration is in the opening of the American campaign and the plot is hard to glean, all communications besides the pre-recorded responses to orders are sent via squint-o-vision text messages in the corner of the screen. It added a third campaign staring the Black Dogs squadron. They use modified American equipment, and the bomber pilot is a Hippy.

A sequel developed by Pandemic Studios and set in the 1990s of this alternate history followed later. It was less well-received for abandoning the highly original ColdWar plot in favor of a more standard UN vs. Aliens setup, though it had its fair share of twists. The player this time is John Cooke, a private in the new [[FunWithAcronyms International Space Defense Force]], [[{{Masquerade}} ostensibly intended]] to safeguard humankind from extrasolar threats. Cue the arrival of a mysterious alien foe, The Scions. A first-person shooter/real-time strategy game experience similar to the original ensues.

A fan made expansion dubbed "Forgotten Enemies" takes place after [[spoiler: The Scion ending]], in which forces of the [[spoiler: Hadean Crown]] actually have survived and are not what humanity expected. Later, the ''Fleshstorm'' mods (1 and 2) were released, taking place after ''Forgotten Enemies''. The mods introduces two new playable races:[[HordeOfAlienLocusts The Swarm]], and the [[TheRemnant Phaer Ran]].

The mods, all the patches, maps, and so on, are available on [[http://www.bzscrap.org/downloads/ BZScrap]]

Finally, there was a {{PSP}} "remake" developed by Paradigm and released in 2006. The thin plot involves a NATO-mandated competition between different nations. It's a competitive VehicularCombat shooter mostly centered around local multiplayer.

'''1980 version provides examples of:'''
* EverythingTryingToKillYou
* FirstPersonShooter
* PublicDomainSoundtrack: The ''1812 Overture'' would play if you achieved the high score.
* UrbanLegendOfZelda: A couple of them about being able to get closer to the mountains / volcano in the background, plus one about a mothership showing up if you shot enough [=UFOs=].
* UrExample
* VectorGame

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'''1998 version provides examples of:'''
* AbnormalAmmo: All of your weapons utilize the same pool of ammunition, courtesy of NanoMachines. What they actually ''fire'' varies greatly, from bog-standard [[MoreDakka bullets and cannon shells]] [[FrickinLaserBeams to lasers and microwave beams.]]
* ACommanderIsYou
* AllThereInTheManual: A considerable amount of BackStory information can be found in the manual, [[FramingDevice framed as the field operations manual for the NSDF.]] There are many letters, from and to then-President DwightDEisenhower, [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure General George Collins,]] and other commanders, scientists and such. [[TechnoBabble There are also analysis of potential planets to visit, in-depth technical specifications on NSDF weapons and vehicles,]] plus "field intelligence" on CCA ones, including their ReportingNames.
* AncientAstronauts: The alien ships and structures are all named after Greek gods, and it is outright stated that the race which created them, the Cthonians, [[spoiler: visited and did experiments on the Greeks in the ancient world.]]
* AndIMustScream: Arguably, [[spoiler:the Furies themselves, being living tissue fused directly into the hulls of bio-metal war machines. Though whether they are sentient is not really clear, as their favorite pastime seems to be [[UnstoppableRage blind rage and destruction.]] They also may be a rather twisted example of TheUndead.]]
* BackStory: Any exposition about the Chthonians.
* [[spoiler: BolivianArmyEnding: Grizzly One wishes the best to those who find a fallen meteor...]]
* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: [[spoiler: The NSDF and CCA destroy the Furies, but at the cost of the technology they fought the war over. The Cthonians, meanwhile, sacrificed their entire species to destroy them.]]
* CharacterCustomization: Each vehicle has a number of modular weapon hardpoints. You can upgrade from the weapons you begin a level with by ordering an Armory to build you new ones.
* ColdWar: Gone hot in secret, with the US [[FunWithAcronyms NSDF]] versus the Soviet Union's [[FunWithAcronyms CCA]].
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: NSDF vehicles and buildings tend to be black with white and blue detailing, while CCA ones are red-on-white.
* CosmeticallyDifferentSides: NSDF and CCA units are roughly equivalent to each other. NSDF units on the whole are faster, CCA ones better armored.
* CoversAlwaysLie: The cover for the 1998 game features a tank that doesn't exist in the game which has red flaming exhaust and an independently aimed turret - neither of which are in the first game.
* DeathFromAbove: Various mortar weapons can be equipped on vehicles that can use them. Each side also has a mobile, deployable artillery unit: The NSDF "Longbow" and the CCA "Cannoneer". At least two missions require you to ascend plateaus to take out artillery units.
** Given a conveniently placed nearby cliff, it's often possible to drop directly into an enemy base, bypassing perimeter defenses. This is even a mission objective in one Venus level in the NSDF campaign.
** The Armory has no direct-damage weapons, but nonetheless has one of the nastiest attacks in the game: the [[MeaningfulName Day Wrecker]] bomb, which you can order it to catapult to a location of your choosing, as with any PowerUp.
* DifficultySpike: After the Furies are introduced, losing your tank changes from a minor inconvenience into a death sentence.
* DyingAlone: Grizzly One's deepest fear.
* EarthShatteringKaboom: Happens in the BackStory to Icarus, the Cthonian homeworld, which once occupied an orbit between Mars and Jupiter. [[spoiler: Occurs again at the end of the game on Achilles, a moon of Uranus that curiously resembled Earth, in a tragic case of HistoryRepeats.]]
* EliteMooks: The Black Dogs, an elite, hardened NSDF squadron fought in the Soviet campaign. Their vehicles are armed with more powerful weapons then their base NSDF counterparts. Then of course, there are [[spoiler: the Furies.]]
* [[spoiler: EnemyMine: All but decimated by the Furies, the surviving forces of the NSDF and CCA must team up to stand against them. It is now better to be Red then dead.]]
* EnemyDetectingRadar: Every vehicle is equipped with this, and also gives off a signature that can be detected by everybody else. [[HomingProjectile The Comet Cruise missile uses this to track targets.]] The RED-Field Generator, or [[FunWithAcronyms Radar Echo Dampening Field Generator,]] can fool said missile as it completely masks the radar signature of the vehicle using it.
* TheFaceless: No character's face is ever shown, with one exception; at the end of the final Europa level, you get a closeup of a dead CCA soldier, [[{{Squick}} his faceplate shattered]] [[BodyHorror and his face frozen.]]
* FirstPersonShooter: Your perspective in-game, whether operating a tank or on-foot with a rifle and sniper scope.
* ForbiddenZone: During the scrap-gathering mission on Titan, it's possible to come across [[spoiler: the remains of a Hadean prison complex, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Tartarus.]] Inspecting it reveals that it was used by [[MadScientist Nexus V]] to [[PlayingWithSyringes conduct experiments]] [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel on Olympian prisoners.]]]] Your CO analyzes the situation and advises you to ''[[SealedEvilInACan stay the hell away.]]''
* FrickinLaserBeams: The Blast Cannon and the Flash Cannon ([[InSeriesNickname Also known as the Hot Foot]]), though the latter is actually [[DisintegratorRay a microwave beam.]]
* FunWithAcronyms: Hoo boy. Just look through the rest of this page, they're ''everywhere.''
* FreewareGames: BattleZone 1 and the Red Odyssey are available for free at http://www.battlezone1.net/home/index.html
* GenreBusting
* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: At first, this was because Eisenhower wished to keep at least ''one project'' a secret from the Soviets. Included in his memo is the mention that the NSDF would report to no-one, not even him, and that future administrations would have no knowledge of the organization. This {{Masquerade}} would eventually be broken by events leading up to the sequel.
* GundamJack: You can steal enemy vehicles by sniping out the pilot. You can then enter the vehicle yourself, or [[HumanCannonball catapult a friendly pilot]] all the way from your base to take it over.
* HandWave: Quite a few, among them the concept of Equal Damage Distribution, or [[FunWithAcronyms EDD,]] armor plating, which serves to handwave the lack of location-based damage in the game. However, the fact that the tanks [[HoverTank hover]] is never even handwaved.
* HeyItsThatVoice: SteveBlum as the excitable Corporal Buzz, as well as the pilots of NSDF "Bobcat" Light Tanks, and General Romeski, your commanding officer in the Soviet campaign.
* HistoricalInJoke: The famous photo of Neil Armstrong on the moon was taken by General Collins, commander of the NSDF moon base located scant meters from Neil's landing site. NSA thought it was a major mistake to release the picture.
* HistoryRepeats: A particularly poignant case. Grizzly One, [[TheHero the protagonist]], speaks this trope verbatim in the introduction and his thoughts echo the concept throughout the story. In the end, he was completely right. And it wouldn't be the last time, either.
* HoverTank: All of the in-game vehicles save the mechs, one of the more obvious benefits of Cthnonian technology.
* HomingProjectile: Several kinds. The ILS ([[FunWithAcronyms Image Locking Shadower]]) missile locks onto the visual signature of a target but can be spoofed by the Phantom VIR device or simply ducking behind cover. The "TAG Cannon" fires a homing tag, followed by a swarm of missiles. The "Thermal Hornet" tracks heat signatures but can be diverted by "Solar Flare" mines. The "Comet" Cruise Missile locks onto radar signatures but can be shaken off by the RED-Field Generator. There's also the slow-moving, massively damaging missiles used by [[spoiler: the Furies]], which cannot be fooled but [[ShootTheBullet can be destroyed in-flight.]]
* HumongousMecha: The NSDF "Sasquatch" and CCA "Golem" walker units, courtesy of Cthonian war tech.
* InNameOnly: It has almost nothing in common with the earlier game, except one shot in the intro that shows a vector-based radar screen on the panel of a hovertank. Then again, the earlier game didn't have a ''plot''.
* ItCanThink: It's never made clear of [[spoiler: the Furies]] have any semblance of free thought. If they do, it makes their unflinching sadism [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel that much more unsettling.]]
* LandMineGoesClick: In addition to various specialist mine types, there are standard proximity mines. These have the ability to distinguish friend from foe and will not harm friendly units. Used en-masse by NSDF "Unabomber" and CCA "Molotov" minelayers.
* LightningGun: [[spoiler: Fury saucers and tanks]] are armed with these. Their mines also function as such, zapping nearby enemies as opposed to detonating.
* LethalJokeWeapon: the hard-to find Rave Gun, available in the tutorial mission, slots in for a cannon. It's extremely lethal, and uses minimal ammo. When fired, it plays techno music and shoots balls of flashing multicolored light.
* {{Masquerade}}: The opening text and cinematics tell the story of the US cover-up. NASA is a front, and the Apollo landing is used to hide the launches of the military bio-metal expeditions. The most brilliant shot in the whole game is right at the beginning; a camera rotates around Apollo 11, to show an entire army base on the other side.
* [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist Losing Your Tank Is A Slap On The Wrist]]: Losing a tank is never that big a deal; it's not that hard to blast a CCA pilot and hijack his tank. Averted once [[spoiler: the Furies]] appear; you can't hijack them and the tremendous blast radius of their missiles will most likely kill anyone on foot.
* LostTechnology: The whole reason the Americans and Soviets are fighting it out on other planets in the first place.
* {{Narrator}}: Grizzly One himself, who speaks in the introduction and over the loading screen for each mission. His tone and mood are always dour, and he often laments his situation and that of his comrades who get left to die in the dust on hostile, distant planets. [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold He also regrets that no one on Earth will ever know who he was or why he did what he did.]]
* MacrossMissileMassacre: The TAG ([[FunWithAcronyms Automated Targeting Gun]]) Cannon, standard on the CCA "Stoli" Light Tank (which occasionally makes them DemonicSpiders). It first tires a harmless "Tag" projectile. If this makes contact with a valid target, the weapon then fires a storm of seeking missiles.
* MagneticWeapons: The "MAG Cannon", or [[FunWithAcronyms Magnetic Acceleration Gun.]] It fires a [[ChargedAttack Charged]] magnetic blast. Depending on how long the weapon is charged, it can fire a string of weaker projectiles, a shorter burst of larger ones, or a single very large blast.
** There's also defensively-oriented MagneticWeapons in the M-Curtain and MITS mines. The M-Curtain, or Magnetic Curtain, deploys a mine that projects a magnetic field around it, reflecting all incoming projectiles. A clever pilot may park his tank within the field, firing out of the field without fear of counterfire. The MITS ([[FunWithAcronyms Magnetic Inversion Tethering Snare]]) Mine just does the opposite, pulling all projectiles inward towards it.
* MobileFactory: The Recycler, Factory, and Armory.
* NeglectfulPrecursors: The Chthonians, though considering what happened to them, it probably could not be helped.
* NintendoHard: The Red Odyssey expansion pack, ''especially'' the Chinese campaign.
* NoCanonForTheWicked: Notably, [[AvertedTrope averted.]] The CCA campaign [[GaidenGame is contemporaneous]] with the events of the NSDF one, taking place between the Soviets escaping Mars to Venus with the [[spoiler: Cthonian Flight Log Database]] and [[spoiler: Furies turning against them on Titan.]] It's unknown if the Chinese campaign in Red Odyssey is canon (or indeed the Black Dog one), as it is not touched on in the sequel.
* PhlebotinumRebel: The Furies.
* {{Precursors}}: The Chthonians, SufficientlyAdvancedAliens whom created the [[{{Unobtainium}} Bio-metal.]] [[spoiler: A Cthonian MadScientist named Nexus V attempted to TakeOverTheWorld, deposing the ruling [[TheKingdom Olympian Council]] and enslaving ancient humanity. A superweapon one-up war ensued, with Nexus topping all by creating [[SealedEvilInACan The Furies]] ([[PoweredByAForsakenChild out of humans]], by the way), who [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters turned on him]] and forced the Olympians to deploy a DoomsDayDevice that [[EarthShatteringKaboom destroyed their homeworld]] [[{{Gotterdammerung}} and their entire race along with the Furies]] but [[HeroicSacrifice spared humankind.]]]]
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The protagonist of the main story, referred to as Grizzly One. The same for the character of the Soviet "[[HarderThanHard expert difficulty]]" campaign, called simply "comrade".
* [[spoiler: PyrrhicVictory: The remnants of the NSDF and CCA succeed in defeating the Furies, but [[BolivianArmyEnding likely at the cost of their own lives.]]]]
* RealTimeStrategy: The player can command any other units he has built either from his perspective or the satellite view.
* ReportingNames: All of the CCA vehicles have these, given to them by the NSDF analysts. Their actual designations are never revealed.
* [[spoiler: SealedEvilInACan: The Furies, not-so-mindlessly violent [[LivingWeapon living weapons.]]]]
* TankGoodness: Most of the tanks can [[HoverTank hover]], strafe and jump around. Several bear a closer resemblance to aircraft then tanks. [[AllThereInTheManual The manual mentions that the NSDF Razor's design was derived from the P-47 Thunderbolt]], while the CCA fighter shares it's [[ReportingNames Reporting Name]] with the real life Su-27, "Flanker."
* TheMole: [[spoiler: NSDF scientist Arkin]], who was working for the Soviets all along and steals a Cthonian relic when he returns to them. Sort of TruthInTelevision, what with the Manhattan project and all.
* TheRedPlanet: A major locale of the game, and the site of TheReveal concerning the existence of the Chthonians.
* SentryGun: The NSDF "Badger" and CCA "Pak" mobile, deployable turrets, as well has hardened gun towers built by each side's constructors.
* ShockwaveStomp: The "Thumper" special weapon sends a seismic pulse through the ground in front of your tank, damaging structures and upending enemy vehicles. [[AllThereInTheManual The manual mentions that the]] [[LampshadeHanging NSDF eggheads aren't quite sure how it works.]]
* ShownTheirWork: [[HandWave Hand Waves]] due to alien tech aside, the manual details how the NSDF intended to support it's various field bases, including power concerns and oxygen supplies. For example, plans are laid out for an irrigation system on Io, to prevent bases from getting buried in sulfur dust. This is just common sense stuff though, see YouFailPhysicsForever below for the work they ''don't'' show.
* SpiritualSuccessor: ''{{Sacrifice}}'', and ''BrutalLegend'' further down the line.
* StandardStatusEffects: The "Sandbag" non-locking missile inflicts "Slow" on targets by way of sticking any target hit with a magnetic anchoring device.
* StuffBlowingUp: Frequently. Everything that can be destroyed, blows up in a suitably graphic fashion, leaving behind bits of scrap for later scavenging. Many of the weapons are designed with this in mind, specifically the aptly-named [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Rocket Bomb]]: A Hornet heat-seeking missile with the "heat-seeking" part taken out and [[BuffySpeak extra boom]] added in. Standard issue on the NSDF "Thunderbolt" and CCA "Grendel" bombers.
* {{Unobtainium}}: The Bio-Metal, which is used to build all vehicles, buildings, and weapons in the game. It has the ability to remember shapes it has previously assumed, which is what allowed US and Soviet scientists to recreate Cthnonian-styled vehicles and weapons in the first place. It is commonly found as bits of scrap in great fields anywhere the Cthonians have been, and can also be salvaged from destroyed enemy units. Also a MineralMacGuffin - they don't refer to the events of this game as "The Bio-Metal Wars" in the sequel for nothing. Serves as a PlotCoupon in some missions.
* TakeYourTime: No matter how urgent the mission briefing sounds, there are only two timed missions.
* TimedMission: Subverted: an early Mars NSDF mission tasks you with attacking a CCA base, but the time limit barely gives you enough time to assemble a base that can run itself. However, just when it seems time is going to run out, an MIA squad attacks the CCA base to buy you time, which ends the timer. [[spoiler: Played straight in the Europa mission where you must intercept a transmission, and in the final mission: if you can't get off Achilles in time, you will be left behind.]]
* TropeMaker[=/=]TropeCodifier: Of {{RTS}} games played from the POV of a central 'general' instead of an 'all-knowing eye in the sky', which would be used in later games such as ''Sacrifice'' and ''BrutalLegend'', and also through the possession mode in ''DungeonKeeper''.
* UnstoppableRage: [[spoiler: The Furies,]] due to an "aggression factor" designed into the type of Bio-Metal they are built of. They are so driven by raw hate that they will abandon whatever they are doing to chase down an enemy. This can prove a weakness: Your superiors advise baiting them into traps.
* UnusableEnemyEquipment: [[AvertedTrope Completely averted.]] Any enemy vehicle can be hijacked. [[spoiler: The Furies play this straight... except in the last mission of the Soviet campaign, where the basic saucer Fury is not only buildable, but ''pilotable.'']]
* WeakTurretGun: The NSDF Badger turret and the equivalent CCA Pak, which can hover around and then anchor themselves in the ground virtually anywhere to fire. They are mostly intended to provide point defense in conjunction with your tanks until you can build the much stronger static defenses. However, they ''can'' be equipped with better guns, thanks to the game's modular weapon system...
* XRayVision: The [[FunWithAcronyms SITE (Sensory Image Terrain Exposing)]] Camera allows you to see through terrain features to visually locate enemy targets beyond them. Bonus points for explicitly being an "X-Ray device".
* YouFailPhysicsForever: The mobile structures have to be set up on steam geysers for power. The Moon is geologically dead and has no ([[ScienceMarchesOn liquid]]) water, and Europa is an iceball, yet they are still easy to find. Tanks handle the same on planets like Venus (Earth-like gravity, dense atmosphere) and planetoids like the Moon (0.2g, airless).

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'''Battlezone II features:'''

''Note that a number of the tropes from the first game also apply here.''

* AbnormalAmmo: ISDF ammuntion is mostly bullets, cannon shells and missiles with the occasional EnergyWeapon, but Scion weaponry runs the gamut from plasma cannons to lightning guns and razor-sharp quill launchers. All this with the same shared ammo system from the first game.
* AliensAreBastards: And want to kill us all, or so General Armand Braddock would have you believe. [[spoiler: [[InvertedTrope They actually just want to bring the enlightened Cthonian culture back to humanity.]]]]
* AllThereInTheManual: The manual for this game uses a similar FramingDevice to the first, this time as the ISDF's field manual. It contains profiles on the major characters and some letters, among them a transcript from the black box of Major Manson's Wolverine tank concerning a [[ContinuityNod a battle on Titan against the Furies,]] which would seem to indicate he (and possibly others) survived the Bio-Metal Wars.
* AlternateHistory: Set several decades after the Bio-Metal Wars depicted in the first game, it's now TheNineties. Biometal is public knowledge, and the ISDF (the merged CCA and NSDF forces from the first game) is a known, public military force.
* ArtificialStupidity: The pathfinding. Unless you build nothing infront of (or anywhere near) your factory and recycler, your scavengers will ''always'' decide to ram into them to get scrap 100 meters away on the other side of the building. Said scavengers will also get stuck on each other when trying to get scrap between them, or gleefully plow into a deadly lake when trying to grab scrap near the shore.
* AwesomeButImpractical: The Pulse-Stabber cannon, which is basically a variant of the standard AT-Stabber. When you fire the Pulse-Stabber, it shoots a cannon shell that pulses out bursts of radiation, damaging everything that passes near the shell, even if the shell doesn't actually hit them. However, it starts pulsing ''immediately'' after you shoot it, meaning that it'll damage you if you fire while moving forward. Largely useless (but awesome) in the standard game, it becomes far more useful in the ''Fleshstorm'' mod, to kill the hordes of weak Swarm units.
* BaseOnWheels: The ISDF Recycler and Scion Matriarch roll to their deployment site and unfold into a giant factory.
* BigBad: Scion Padishah Frank Burns. [[spoiler: Or so your character is made to think. Braddock is the real monster.]]
* BubblegloopSwamp: Planet Mire.
* CrewOfOne
* DarkWorld: The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin aptly-named Dark Planet]], though not so much in the sense of this trope as being a planet that is really, really dark, but unnaturally so, with a permanent planet-wide electrical storm. It ''does'' [[AlienGeometries feature unnaturally geometric terrain]] and a sense that something is just... [[EldritchLocation wrong, about the place.]] [[spoiler: Though the planet's origin is never made clear, what is apparent is that it is ripe to be terraformed into a clone of the Scion's adopted homeworld, Core.]]
* DeadManSwitch: [[spoiler: Braddock]] has one in ''Forgotten Enemies''. Three years after his death, a series of nukes are launched from a hidden base on Charon towards the Dark Planet.
* DefectorFromDecadence: [[spoiler:[[{{Lzherusskie}} Yelena Shabayev, your commanding officer.]] After disappearing on Bane in a DropShip crash and [[NeverFoundTheBody being presumed dead]], she later reappears on Rend as a Scion, urging you not to side with the power-hungry Braddock. Major Manson is this as well, who forms an ISDF splinter-group of Earth-Government loyalists against Braddock, who at that point plans to return to Earth in force and institute a military dictatorship.]]
* DirtyCoward: Major Wyndt-Essex in ''Forgotten Enemies''. She sends Corber (the protagonist) to do all the dirty work. When the EDF comes under heavy attack, she flees in the Recycler to a teleporter, laying mines behind her so that ''nobody'' can follower her.
* DoomsDayDevice: What the ISDF believe the massive machines found on Rend, Mire and Bane to be. [[spoiler: They're not. They're part of a [[{{Terraform}} terraformation]] system intended to transform the Dark Planet into a new Core, as the old one is somehow "dying" and [[KeystoneArmy taking the Scions with it in droves.]]]]
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Braddock's address to his troops on Titan, [[AllThereInTheManual found in the manual,]] has suspiciously similar language to WarOnTerror rhetoric, though this game is older then such.
* EmergencyTransformation: [[spoiler: The Scions, apparently.]]
* EnemyMine: The Hadean Crown Prince Thanatos in ''Forgotten Enemies'' allies with the EDF against the Imperial Hadeans once he discovers the [[spoiler: Cerberi]]
* TheEngineer: The Constructor/Builder units, and the Service Truck/Healer units. The Constructor/Builder sets up all the base equipment, and the Service Truck/Healer repairs base assets and vehicles.
* EscortMission: At one point on [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Bane]] you must guide a damaged [[BaseOnWheels Recycler]] across a frozen lake. The Recycler's operator informs you that his sensor system is fried, but if you shoot out all the thinner ice patches, thus creating a path, he radios you that he can make the trip on his own. Doesn't make his [[ArtificialStupidity pathfinding]] any better though. HilarityEnsues as you sit watching him bumble around.
** You can just shoot the ice along the path, then it'll find it's way to the Geyser on it's own...
** The ''Fleshstorm 2'' mod has two escort missions in a row. In one, you have to escort 3 unarmed transports through some canyons; not too bad. The second mission has you escorting a Recycler through a planet that is ''on fire''. You have a single Service Truck, Scout, and Assault Tank to help you. The entire mission is a balancing act between repairing each of your vehicles with the Truck, and pushing ahead to wipe out resistance - if you push too far ahead or take too much damage, you can't make it back to the repair truck before dying. The best part? If you eject, ''you die''.
* EternalEngine: Planet Facility in ''Forgotten Enemies''. The atmosphere is a sickly green from poisonous gas, all the liquid on the planet is full of toxins, and almost the entire surface is covered in canals, factories, cranes, exhaust stacks, and storage silos. The ring that wraps around the planet is made of orbital factories and ships.
* {{Expy}}: The Swarm in the ''Fleshstorm'' mod are basically the Tyranids from {{Warhammer 40000}}, but bigger.
* [[spoiler: EverybodysDeadDave: The bad ending, where you side with Braddock. Every other named character is dead, and you return to earth a "hero". [[WasItReallyWorthIt But was it worth it?]] In this ending, humanity never gets to know what the Scions were really trying to accomplish.]]
* EverythingIsTryingToKillYou: Planet Miasma in ''Forgotten Enemies''. Even the ''plants'' are trying to kill you.
* FacelessGoons: The Scion pilots; nothing is visible behind the yellow-blue tinfoil hat... thing on their head. ISDF pilots on the other hand, have a face visible behind their visor.
* ForeShadowing: Long before you gain any insight into the Scion's true nature you can hear personal messages sent between Frank Burns and Braddock, almost as if they were [[TheRival old rivals]]...
** [[AllThereInTheManual If you read the manual,]] Shabayev's [[spoiler: DefectorFromDecadence moment is [[ForeShadowing Foreshadowed]] by]] her psychiatric evaluation's note of her having an "[[LampshadeHanging overdeveloped sense of justice.]]"
* FragileSpeedster: The ISDF Mortar Bike, ISDF Scout, and Scion Drone.
* FunWithAcronyms: ISDF, short for International Space Defense Force, and the AAN, for Alliance of Awakened Nations.
* GameBreakingBug: The version of ''Forgotten Enemies'' designed to run on Battlezone II 1.3 PB6v2 is thoroughly broken. Plot ships won't spawn, cutscenes will break, and some missions are simply unwinnable. The BZ2 1.2 version is stable.
* GameMod: Many.
** The ''Forgotten Enemies'' mod adds a whole new campaign longer than the original game's, and adds two new playable races.
** The ''Fleshstorm'' and ''Fleshstorm 2'' mods add 3 new races (2 of which are playable), and both have a NintendoHard campaign.
* GeneralRipper: Braddock, [[spoiler: Ex-MadScientist turned would-be dictator. This guy is such a JerkAss that siding with the Scions against him leads to the game's ''good'' ending.]]
* GundamJack: You can use the pilot's sniper rifle to kill pilots inside their vehicle, as long as it's not too heavily armored.
* HumongousMecha: The ISDF Attila LM walker, which has two giant lasers cannons under the cockpit and two smaller lasers. The Scion's [[SpiderTank Spider-Walker]] is more of a MiniMecha by comparison.
* JerkAss: Major Wyndt-Essex in ''Forgotten Enemies''.
* LargeHam: Braddock.
** Most mods have LargeHam mission control and units. ''Fleshstorm 2'''s first two missions has a guy yelling at you in a fake Russian accent, and the Phaer Ran units are all Large Hams (ANOTHER FALLS TO THE PHAER RAN!)
* LethalLavaLand: Planet Rend.
** Miasma in ''Forgotten Enemies''
* LightningBruiser: The ISDF Sabre and the Scion Warrior. The best armor for any of the hover units, good speed, great firepower, good maneuverability.
* LightningGun: The Scion's Arc cannon. Shoots 5 quick lightning pulses with great range and accuracy, at the cost of low ammo capacity and low fire rate.
* LongRunner: Despite the game coming out in ''1999'', updates ''still'' come out, adding new graphical capabilities (like dynamic shadows), DX9 support, fixing the netcode, and so on.
* {{Masquerade}}: The first game's Masquerade is broken, Earth knows all about Bio-Metal, though the details of the Bio-Metal Wars as depicted in the first game are still the subject of WikiLeaks-style guerrilla journalism. [[spoiler: [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold nobody remembers Grizzly One, though.]] Instead we have Braddock's personal Masquerade in attempting to hide the true identity of the Scions and cloaking his own operations on Pluto and the Dark Planet from the eyes of the AAN.]]
** The intro brilliantly {{lampshades}} this: the Voyager 2 approaches the Dark Planet, starts to scan the surface and finds [[spoiler:Braddock's base]] which launches a missile at the probe. Said probe then switches into "battle mode", retracting it's antennas and jettisoning the big comm dish in favor of dual plasma cannons and the ISDF|AAN logo. Wonder how the ISDF managed to pack THAT into a little space probe without anyone noticing...
* MultipleEndings: Two, depending on whether you [[spoiler: transport the wounded Scion leader to [[FateWorseThanDeath Braddock,]] or return him to the Scions and join their cause.]]
* TheMole: In the BackStory. Shabayev was an FSB ([[RussiansWithRustingRockets The successor to the]] KGB) agent who had infiltrated the highest levels of the CIA. When she was uncovered, she was recommended for ISDF recruitment instead of punishment.
* {{Narrator}}: In the tradition of the first game, loading screens feature narration by the player character, in this case one John Cooke. He describes himself as having once been a simple farm boy, gazing up at the stars, always dreaming of one day visiting them. Now that he finally has, he finds that the universe [[CrapsackWorld is far crueler]] then he could have ever imagined.
* NintendoHard: The missions on Miasma in ''Forgotten Enemies'', and ''all'' of the ''Fleshstorm'' mods.
** In both of the Fleshstorm mods, the player spends most of the game fighting the Swarm, which are a biological race of PlanetLooters. Unlike every other race, Swarm vehicles do ''not'' drop scrap when destroyed, and Swarm units are exceptionally cheap to build, while also being fairly durable - leading to constant spam attacks in almost every mission. The Swarm doesn't even need to use scrap or biometal pools - they can build their own extractors anywhere on the map.
* NotPlayingFairWithResources: The AI has a "scrap cheat" which gives them a small amount of resources every minute, but they still need to gather resources to get any decent units. Later patches allow the player to disable it for the AI, or give themselves a scrap cheat.
* [[spoiler: NewEraSpeech: Padishah Frank Burns. [[SubvertedTrope subverted]], as Burns is no longer considered a villain at this point, he delivers this speech in the good ending.]]
* OhCrap: At one point in some Cthonian ruins on Bane, you discover a small transmission unit. Almost immediately, Braddock orders the area bombed back to the Stone Age, giving you scant minutes to evacuate the area. [[spoiler: You later find out why: the transmitter in question bore [[ContinuityNod the insignia of the Black Dog squadron.]]]]
* PhlebotinumRebel: [[spoiler: The Scions turn out to be this, [[SecretProjectRefugeeFamily having escaped Braddock's attempt to create super soldiers]].]]
* PlanetLooters: The Swarm in the ''Fleshstorm'' mod.
* PlayingWithSyringes: In case you're wondering why [[spoiler: Braddock is such a {{Jerkass}},]] here's what went down. [[spoiler: Braddock was the former commander of the [[ContinuityNod NSDF's Black Dog squadron.]] He attempted to create [[SuperSoldier Super Soldiers]] using them and the Bio-Metal, without the knowledge of his AAN superiors. The Black Dogs, led by Frank Burns, [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters rebelled against him for his deceit and what he did to them,]] fleeing into the depths of space. [[{{Masquerade}} Braddock could not pursue without attracting attention, so he built a bases on Pluto and eventually the Dark Planet, preparing for their inevitable return.]]]]
* PlutoIsExpendable: [[AvertedTrope Averted.]] Pluto is the first planet that appears in the game and was the site of the ISDF's [[MeaningfulName Cerberus]] base, ostensibly intended to keep watch for any alien incursions into the Solar System.
* PowerCrystal: Three, which act as power sources for the Scions' "Alchemator" devices.
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: The EDF battalion you command in ''Forgotten Enemies''.
* {{Retcon}}: If the "ISDF: A Secret History" letter in the manual is to be believed, this game performed a rather major retcon on the events of the first game. UnreliableNarrator may be at work here, as the only guy who knows for sure is [[spoiler: Braddock.]] Instead of the [[spoiler: Soviets recreating a Cthonian superweapon in the Furies, they were instead created from the Black Dogs by Braddock back on Earth, and he formed the ISDF from the NSDF and CCA to fight them, rather then a union of necessity forged on Titan when the Soviet Furies rebelled.]]
* SergeantRock: Major Manson.
* ShortRangeShotgun: The ISDF Pummel gun. The top range is 50 meters (out-ranged by ''everything'' in the game, save for the Scion Quill and Fang), and the effective range is about a fifth of that.
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Planet Bane. [[RuleOfThree Noticing a pattern yet?]]
* SpiderTank: The Scions have a ''three-legged'' one that shoots [[AbnormalAmmo razor-sharp quills]].
* StealthBasedMission: At one point you must navigate the swamps and jungles of Mire on foot, avoiding Scion patrols, to reach an ISDF base. You ''could'' [[GundamJack snipe a Scion vehicle]] and use that to make the journey faster, but you'll likely end up [[LightningGun just getting fried by the Lightning Towers.]]
* StockScream: A few Scion units reuse voice clips from the first game, albeit with the Scions' VoiceOfTheLegion-ish filter. [[spoiler: This may actually be [[JustifiedTrope justified,]] considering the Scions were once the NSDF's Black Dog squadron.]]
** Oddly enough, most of the Scion voices are the [[spoiler: CCA/Russians]] voices from ''Battlezone'' with the filter added, and the radio static removed.
* [[spoiler: TimedMission: The escape from Core after you have destroyed its main reactor, the final mission of the "bad" path.]]
* TheFaceless: Despite the large amount of character interaction this game has, especially when compared to the first game, you never see what anyone looks like behind their helmets.
** You can actually see the face of one of the characters, [[spoiler: On the mission where you need to retrieve Padasha Burns from the crashed carrier, you can hop out of your tank and look at his chariot thing, with Burns sitting in it.]]
* TheFederation: The AAN, an UN-ish organization intended to help fairly distribute bio-metal amongst developing nations.
* TheReveal: Many, mostly concerning the Scions, Braddock's dark past and everything that happened as a result. [[spoiler: Near the end of the game, either Braddock or Burns will tell you everything you didn't already know or figure out.]]
* TruceZone: Later in the game, Ambassador Kossieh of the AAN attempts to broker a human-Scion truce on Rend. The player and a detachment of ISDF troops wait around in a Scion base while Frank Burns boards a DropShip to meet with Kossieh on a Carrier in low orbit. [[spoiler: Until the DropShip explodes in the Carrier, sending it plummeting to the surface. You later learn that [[MoralEventHorizon Braddock rigged the DropShip, both to off Burns AND Kossieh]] [[FalseFlagOperation and to make it look like a Scion attack,]] reinforcing Braddock's position and [[TakeOverTheWorld bringing him one step closer to his goal.]]]]
* UniversalDriversLicense: You can pilot almost every unit in the game. This includes ''morphing alien tanks''.
** Except the tugs, construction units, and artillery. Apparently, a floating tow truck baffles Lt. Cooke.
* [[spoiler: WasOnceAMan: The Scions. Later on, Yelena Shabayev and optionally, the player character. [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] somewhat in that they have come to enjoy being what they are.]]
* WeaponisedLandmark: Kind of. An early cinematic sees the Voyager 2 probe picking up a threat in space. It retracts its antennas and transforms into missile-armed "battlemode".
* WingMan: Lt. Shultz in ''Forgotten Enemies'' will sometimes go on missions with you to act as your wingman and help with enemies.
* YouFailPhysicsForever: The ISDF blast-laser's assault variant goes BANG! when you fire it. Maybe one could give this a pass (real-life pulsed lasers also go BANG! as the channel of air they pass through rapidly heats up and expands, producing blast waves. Same thing happens in the target, a tiny portion of it instantly and brutally vaporizes, sending destructive shockwaves throughout it), but it does on planets with no known atmosphere.
** SpaceIsNoisy.

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[[caption-width:400:[[TotallyRadical Neato Graphics!]]]]