Review by Stuart Christie

Name:         Z
by:           Bitmap Brothers
Publisher:    Warner Interactive
Format:       CD-Rom
Available:    Now

Requires:

O/S:          Dos 5.0+ or Windows 95
Processor:    486-DX2/66+
RAM:          8Mb+
Graphics:     SVGA
CD-Rom:       X2
Soundcard:    All major cards supported

Tested on:

O/S:          Windows 95
Processor:    Intel P133
RAM:          32Mb
Graphics:     Diamond Stealth 3d 2000 2mb
CD-ROM:       Aztec 6 speed
Soundcard:    Soundblaster Pro
Controls:     Keyboard/mouse

Z (Zed)

Z is a fairly unique game, a cross between an out and out wargame and arcade action. After looking at the box first impressions are that it is of a similar ilk to Dune2, Warcraft and Command & Conquer, but once played you soon find this is not the case. Gameplay is fast, decisions need to be instant, and therefore play is wildly different!

At this point in a review I would normally give a brief run down on the game plot, but with Z this is a little difficult because it hasn`t really got one! In line with the game play it wades straight into the action with just the occasional humorous cut scene.

From the intro we gather that the game revolves around a race of robots who are carrying out a sort of planet-hopping war amongst themselves, not for any gain but because they have been programmed to do so, or maybe they just enjoy it? Anyway, why this is and who built them in the first place is not entered into, but then who cares anyway? We buy a game to play a game, not read a second rate novel first!

The game involves controlling a small army of various types of robots and vehicles with the object of defending your own base fort, while at the same time attacking your enemy's. Play takes place on a large rectangular map which is viewed from above and scrolls around using the mouse. Each map is divided into various irregular shaped zones. These zones are worth resource points, which speed up your forts production of replacements. Most Zones also have a building which, when you capture the zone also falls under your control. Capturing the zones is easy, each contains a flag which when touched by a unit, changes the relevant zone to the units side. The real problem is keeping them!

In every game the objective is to destroy the enemy fort. You start the game around your own fort with just a few units. You then have to capture and defend territory, building your forces until you are strong enough to assault your enemy. The problem is that the opposition is trying to do exactly the same thing, so, sooner than you would like, you run across each other and the real fun starts.

Since the speed at which you can create replacements is governed by the number of zones you control, and the facilities they contain; you have to move fast, and this means spreading your forces very thin. The trick is to send the best units to where you think there will be the most trouble, and then reinforce them as soon as possible without leaving yourself open to sneak attack. Most of the early scenarios are won or lost in the first two minutes!

The game has several different types of robots with varying statistics - faster, smarter, more aggressive, better armed; the stronger units taking proportionally longer to produce. Various vehicles are also available - from jeeps to rocket launchers and static guns. The nice thing about these being that robots actually drive them, so a robot's statistics affect the vehicle's performance. If you are very lucky you can also kill the driver and capture an enemy vehicle!

All units and their relevant strengths and weaknesses are well tried and thought out, so that no one unit should be good enough to win you the game - something that cannot be said for a lot of games!

Within territories several installation types can be found, each with their own rating governing the class of unit it can produce. For instance a basic Robot factory can only produce the ordinary robot or grunt, whereas another might be capable of producing the more nasty types :-) Buildings can be attacked and repaired, but once they are destroyed cannot be replaced, so a strong tank factory for instance tends to come in for a lot of attention!

Levels tend to be fast, very intense, and though the difficulty starts off quite easy, the going rapidly gets harder. I found that after the third level I had to play at least every scenario twice so that I could learn from my mistakes!

The graphics for this game are Standard Bitmap Bros type of stuff - Rocks for instance, could have been ripped straight out of Chaos Engine - which was written originally for the Amiga. Nothing the matter with them, just not great, and with a rather delapidated metallic look (again a Bitmap bros trademark).

The game runs in two modes: VGA and SVGA. SVGA is harder on the eyes but lets you see a larger area of the map on the screen at one time. I upgraded my PC part-way through this review, and found SVGA a bit slow on my 486-100 16mb so you have been warned. VGA is fine and lets you see more of the robot's antics, smoking fags, playing cards etc, when not under orders - just don't play against someone in SVGA because it does give an advantage.

On to one of the best features of the game!

You can link up to four PCs together and play against each other on a network, or two folks can play through a modem. Four player must be a real riot, if very short!

This is a very intense game. I found myself playing a level, then going on to play another slower paced game for a while before coming back to it. Compared to the other games I mentioned above, it is very simple, has less unit and building types, and less variety in the gameplay - So why does it play Better??? There has to be a lesson there for all you games designer type folks!

Now on to the bad news - Welcome to bug city!

Playing the game I have had several system crashes.

The sound worked fine on my 486 but since upgrading to a pentium it starts okay, goes totally wonkey halfway through a level, comes back for the cut scenes and then goes off again! I am not the only person who has this problem, it is apparently rather common and since a Soundblaster Pro is not exactly an unusual soundcard this is a pretty serious fault! Lets hope the usual patch disk arrives soon! [Ed`s note: no probs here on a P100 with SB-AWE32]

The robot route-finding routines are what you might describe as suspect - if you don't watch them they can take very weird routes to reach their direction. The problem seems to be that they cannot simply head directly towards the point you select, they have to avoid buildings and rocks for example, and follow roads which will speed their progress up. Okay this is very complicated but then so are a lot of things! You would think that after over three years of development they would have managed to sort that one out!

All things considered, Z is a good game, which I would definitely recommend. Incidently, if you do buy the game try playing it on Christmas day - I have heard that there is a little treat in store for you :-)

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Rating: 8/10 (Recommended)
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(9/10 if you ignore the bugs)