History VideoGame / Battlezone1998

->''Not to be confused with the various other video games named'' VideoGame/{{Battlezone}}

* StandardStatusEffects: The "Sandbag" non-locking missile inflicts "Slow" on targets by way of sticking any target hit with a magnetic anchoring device.

* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy: [[spoiler:Achilles]] with its Earth-like appearance, while its gravity and atmosphere can be justified by it being Earth-sized when compared to Uranus but it's still far from the Goldilocks zone of the Sun which would otherwise render it an iceball despite its molten core. That and, unless it had a very specific orbit, the whole planet would be shaded by Uranus if it went behind it in its orbit.

* CrewOfOne
* CuteMachines: The ISDF "Service Truck" looks like a portly robot wearing a top hat.

* ShoutOut: In the UpdatedReRelease, the AI picks a random taunt from a bevy of pop-culture references, such as [[Film/TheTwoTowers Open war is upon you, wether you'd risk it or not"]] and [[Film/{{Aliens}} "What the hell are we supposed to use, man? Harsh language?"]]

* ShoutOut: In the UpdatedReRelease, the AI picks a random taunt from a bevy of pop-culture references, such as [[Film/TheTwoTowers Open war is upon you, wether you'd risk it or not"]] and [["Film/{{Aliens}} "What the hell are we supposed to use, man? Harsh language?"]]

* WeaponisedLandmark: Kind of. An early cinematic sees the Voyager 2 probe picking up a threat in space. It retracts its antennas and transforms into laser-armed "battlemode".

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath:
** Completing the Europa missions for the NSDF shows a screen of a bloated CCA soldier half-buried in the snow with his faceplate shattered. Dying during the Soviet campaign will show a picture of your character's skeleton in a heavily damaged spacesuit.
** In 2, the Game Over screen shows a liquified ISDF soldier oozing out of his suit.

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Completing the Europa missions for the NSDF shows a screen of a bloated CCA soldier half-buried in the snow with his faceplate shattered. Dying during the Soviet campaign will show a picture of your character's skeleton in a heavily damaged spacesuit.

* CrippingOverspecialization: Some of the units in the game are specialized for a specific role a bit too much for their own good, especially when customized with additional weapons.

* ConvectionSchmonvection: Averted, [[ArtisticLicensePhysics though it brings up another issue entirely]] - The lava on Io will damage your tank as you hover over it, but heat convection requires a medium - and Io has only a trace atmosphere. It could be argued that the heat is ''radiating'' off of the lava but your equipment would have to be radiation proof already to survive being so close to Jupiter and it's also implied your units and structures can survive the 872 °F ambient temperature on Venus.

* 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 Radar Echo Dampening Field Generator, can fool said missile as it completely masks the radar signature of the vehicle using it. The sequel gives every unit radar-specific stats; blip rate, detection radar, and inherent stealth. Turrets, for example, cannot be detected through terrain, and scout units have a huge radar range with a fast blip rate, while assault vehicles radar barely extends to their weapons range.

* HomingProjectile: Several kinds. The ILS (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 WASP (Wicked-Ass Super Projectile) missiles used by [[spoiler: the Furies]], which cannot be fooled but [[ShootTheBullet can be destroyed in-flight]] as they hover off the ground. [[VideoGame/{{Battlezone1980}} Sound familiar?]]

* 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]] to [[FrickinLaserBeams lasers and microwave beams.]]

* FrickinLaserBeams: The Blast Cannon and the Flash Cannon ([[InSeriesNickname Also known as the Hot Foot]]), though the latter is actually [[DisintegratorRay a microwave beam.]]

* SequelDifficultyDrop: ''Combat Commander'' is a much less brutal game than ''1998'' was; you have a limitless source (though limited storage) of biometal from the biometal pools, units as a whole have a ''lot'' more health, and your own units are much more competent and [[ArtificialStupidity less likely to run you over]] than they were in the first game.

* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Europa, Ganymede and Titan all have surface compositions of water ice. Europa being the most pure while Ganymede and Titan have a mixed surface of ice and rock.

* LudicrousGibs: Astronauts will explode in a shower of gibs when shot or run over. The only time they have a proper death animation is when they're shot with a sniper rifle while outside of a tank.

** 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.

* 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. NASA thought it was a major mistake to release the picture.

* ChargedAttack: The MAG (Magnetic Accelerator Gun) Cannon has different attacks depending on how long you charge it. The Combat variant sprays the projectiles in a shotgun spread with longer charges making the spray tighter and a full charge unleashing a barrage of powerful projectiles. The Assault variant works like it does in the first game with short charges producing streams of small projectiles and longer charges firing less but more bigger projectiles. Unlike in the first game, the weapon will continue to consume ammo at full charge.

* GroundWave: This game has two forms of this, first being the Thumper special weapon that dumps a large amount of your {{Hover Tank}}s nano-ammunition into the ground, causing a travelling lump of terrain that upends and spins vehicles caught in the path and it's particularly effective at spinning walkers around, leaving them unable to target you until they land. The Day Wrecker bomb launched by the Supply Launch Facility (Armory) also causes a short, circular wave in the terrain when it detonates.

* IndustrialWorld: In the ''Forgotten Enemies'' mod, the planet Facility is covered almost entirely in machinery, with huge cranes, fuel tanks, and heat sinks dotting the surface. The atmosphere is tainted green, and the only exposed land is brown, lifeless rock.
* 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''. That said, the Furies and their weapons are heavily based on the original's saucers.

* AllGravityIsTheSame: It doesn't matter if you're on the Moon, Venus, Mars, Titan or wherever, everything acts as if they are subjected to the same amount of gravity across all satellites and planets. This is even more blatant in the sequel where you start the game on Pluto, a dwarf with a surface gravity of ''0.62 m/s'' and the intro shows Major Manson walking and running as if it were 9.807 m/s.

* AllGravityIsTheSame: It doesn't matter if you're on the Moon, Venus, Mars, Titan or wherever, everything acts as if they are subjected to the same amount of gravity across all satellites and planets. This is even more blatant in the sequel where you start the game on Pluto, a dwarf with a surface gravity of ''0.62 m/s
'' and the intro shows Major Manson walking and running as if it were 9.807 m/s.

* AllGravityIsTheSame: It doesn't if you're on the Moon, Venus, Mars, Titan or wherever, everything acts as if they are subjected to the same amount of gravity across all satellites and planets. This is even more blatant in the sequel where you start the game on Pluto, a dwarf with a surface gravity of ''0.62 m/s
'' and the intro shows Major Manson walking and running as if it were 9.807 m/s
.

* ArtificialStupidity: Scavengers are infamous for running the player over when on foot. Units will sometimes get stuck in buildings, or taking meandering paths for no apparent reason. The pathfinding AI was improved in the 2011 1.5 patch, though Scavengers still sometimes try to scale sheer cliffs to grab scrap. Tank AI is often suicidally single-minded, focusing on the first thing that damages them to the exclusion of everything else. Gun Towers are easy to fool, once they spot you, they will target you while you're still in range even if you're hiding behind a hill, allowing other units to destroy it('s power source) easily.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Braddock's address to his troops on Titan, [[AllThereInTheManual found in the manual,]] has suspiciously similar language to WarOnTerror rhetoric, though the game is older than such.