BZFlag, short for "Battle Zone Capture the Flag", is a multiplayer tank combat game, inspired by Atari's classic 1980 arcade game Battlezone (1980).
Players are spawned into a large battlefield in the control of a simplistic tank - essentially a slow, mobile box which can turn, move forward, and move backward (no strafing). Your one and only weapon is a fixed cannon that fires a large projectile in the direction you are facing, and takes a long time to reload. (If you're lucky, the server might allow you to fire more than one shot at a time). Any single hit on your tank will destroy it.
To add variety to the gameplay, the game also randomly places power-up flags called "superflags", which can give your tank a power to mess with your opponents. All superflags look identical, so there is no way of knowing which power you will get until you have picked it up (unless you've already picked up the superflag which gives you the Identify power). There is also an option to enable 'bad' superflags, which do something bad to tanks which pick them up.
The player is also equipped with a radar map, to tell them the positions of other tanks - this is often vital, as the tank's view will often be obstructed by tall obstacles. The battlefield is generally very large, and just like in real tank warfare, battles can take place over very long distances.
The first version of BZFlag was released in 1992, and accumulated a fanbase as more and more features were added over the years. The 3D graphics are deliberately simple, which is part of its charm; the main focus is on the gameplay and providing a fun, balanced tank battle for up to dozens of players at once.
You can download the game here.
'BZFlag'' provides examples of:
- Denial of Diagonal Attack: Deliberately invoked. Tanks cannot fire in any direction other than dead ahead, and cannot look up or down. The only way to make a diagonal attack is to have the Guided Missile power (which will allow shots to lock on to things that aren't in the same horizontal plane) or use the Ricochet power to bounce a shot off an angled surface (which is extremely unlikely to hit anyone).
- Dressing as the Enemy: The Masquerade power gives your tank the team color of the opposing team. The radar will still show your true color however, and firing your cannon will give you away (as tank shots are color-coded).
- Energy Ball: Tank shots have the appearance of a glowing ball of energy.
- Glass Cannon: Every tank is capable of destroying any opponent in a single hit, but also only able to withstand one hit itself.
- Hitscan: The Laser weapon can kill instantly, but takes a long time to recharge.
- Homing Projectile: The Guided Missile superflag gives you these. God help you if your opponent has one and has also managed to get on top of a building; they'll happily rain homing missiles down on you while you can do nothing to hit them.
- Hostage Spirit-Link: More of a Team Spirit Link, but if you shoot a teammate, you will hear a donkey bray and immediately explode.
- Interface Screw: Many of the bad superflags do this.
- Blindness completely blanks your view. You can't see anything and have to rely on your radar to tell you what's nearby (and if an opponent has a stealth power, you're in trouble...)
- Colorblindness makes all tanks appear the same color on the radar, preventing you from distinguishing teammates from opponents.
- Jamming disables your radar.
- Reverse Controls reverses your tank's driving controls.
- Wide angle increases your field of view, causing a disorienting fish-eye effect.
- Several of the bad superflags also disable parts of your tank controls (for example, preventing you from turning left), but this could be a screw on the tank itself rather than the interface.
- Intangible Man: The Oscillation Overthruster power allows your tank to drive through solid objects. While inside a solid object, normal shots can't hit you, but someone with the Super Bullet power can.
- Invisibility: The Cloaking power makes your tank completely invisible to the eye, although you can still be seen on the radar.
- Jump Physics: Unlike in many first-person games, tanks are completely unable to alter their momentum whilst in the air. This isn't a problem most of the time, as tanks are generally on the ground, but it becomes relevant when falling, or if your tank gains the Jumping power, or if the server has granted tanks the ability to jump.
- The Wings powerup specifically does give you the ability to change your direction in the air.
- One-Hit-Point Wonder: Every tank is one.
- Power Up Let Down: The Useless superflag (technically a 'good' superflag, but does absolutely nothing)
- Poison Mushroom: The bad superflags, which do something detrimental to your tank. (Fortunately, these can be disabled in the server options).
- Rocket-Tag Gameplay: Tanks are destroyed in one hit, can easily take out other tanks. Rapid death is only somewhat slowed because most weapons are slow projectiles that could be dodged.
