Battlezone (1980 video game)

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:For Template:Infobox video game Battlezone is a 1980 first-person shooter tank combat video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for arcades; in Japan, it was distributed by Sega and Taito. The player controls a tank which is attacked by other tanks and missiles. Using a small radar scanner along with the terrain window, the player can locate enemies and obstacles around them in the barren landscape. Its innovative use of 3D graphics made it a huge hit, with approximately 15,000 cabinets sold.

With its use of three-dimensional vector graphics, the game is considered to be the first true 3D arcade game that has a first-person perspective,Template:Sfn the "first big 3D success" in the video game industry,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the first successful first-person shooter video game in particular. This made it a milestone for first-person shooter games.Template:Sfn

The game was primarily designed by Ed Rotberg, who was mainly inspired by the top-down shooter game Tank (1974). The system was based on vector hardware designed by Wendi AllenTemplate:Refn which was introduced in Lunar Lander and saw success with Asteroids. The 3D hardware which drove the program saw use in future games, including Red Baron (1981).Template:Sfn Battlezone is considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time.

Gameplay

Two joysticks control the player's tank.

The game uses wireframe vector graphics displayed on a black and white vector monitor. A colored overlay tints the display green for the bottom Template:Frac where the action takes place, and red for the top Template:Frac where the score and radar screen are displayed.Template:Sfn

The player drives a tank using two joysticks, one controlling the right tread and the other the left. By moving the joysticks relative to each other, the tank can move forward or reverse (both moved in the same direction), turn on the spot to the left or right (one forward, one back) or move and turn at a slower rate (one forward or backward, one neutral). The right-side stick also has a fire button on top, which shoots the player's gun in the direction the tank is currently facing.Template:Sfn

Gameplay takes place on a flat plane with a mountainous horizon featuring an erupting volcano, a distant crescent moon, and various geometric solids (in vector outline) like pyramids and blocks. The geometric solid obstacles are indestructible and can obstruct the movement of a player's tank while also blocking shots and can be used as shields. The action surrounds the player in all directions, including off-screen locations, forcing the player to locate the enemy using the radar display at the top of the screen.Template:Sfn

There are three types of enemy craft that appear during play, one at a time. At the start of a game, the enemy is dominated by slow tanks that are not particularly difficult to hit even when moving. As the game continues, missiles begin to appear in place of the enemy tanks; these move much faster and are more difficult to hit. Finally, the much faster supertanks appear at higher levels, which are not only harder to hit, but also attack more aggressively.

Periodically saucer-shaped UFOs will appear while making a distinctive sound to announce their presence; these do not show up on the radar and do not attack the user, but can be shot for bonus points. This is the only object that may appear while other enemies are already present.

There is a gameplay modification at 100,000 points if the proper conditions are met. When executed properly, the next appearing supertank will not attack, but will instead retreat. A tank icon will then appear at right on qualified high score listings.

Cabinet

Battlezone uses 3D vector graphics viewed through a "periscope".

Battlezone is housed in an upright full-sized arcade cabinet with a "periscope" viewfinder. The viewfinder restricted the player's view so that the display appeared to be naturally limited to resemble a scope.Template:Sfn The game action can also be viewed from the sides of the viewfinder for spectators to watch. The game's periscope viewfinder is similar to earlier submarine shooting arcade games, notably Midway's arcade video game Sea Wolf (1976) and Sega's electro-mechanical game Periscope (1966).<ref name="Wolf2012">Template:Cite book</ref> A later version of the cabinet removed the periscope and raised the monitor to a more normal position to improve visibility to non-players and improve ergonomics for players who could not reach the periscope.<ref name= Lendino/> A smaller, "cabaret" version of the cabinet has the screen angled upwards and no periscope.Template:Sfn

The large controller handles were adapted from earlier gear-shift controllers used on racing games, modified with a new stick shape that has internal ribs to make them stronger and adding rubber centering bellows. The right stick has a raised and LED illuminated fire button on top, and the controls were completed with a similar LED illuminated start button on the cabinet. There were two speakers, one each above and below the 19-inch monitor.<ref name= Lendino >Template:Cite book</ref>

Development

With the success of the Cinematronics vector graphics games, Atari's Grass Valley engineering labs decided to build their own version of a vector display system known as "QuadraScan" that offered a resolution of 1024 x 768.Template:Sfn Once it was up and running, they delivered the prototype unit to Atari headquarters where it was given to Wendi Allen and Rick Moncrief to develop it into a unit suitable for arcade video game use.Template:Sfn Allen decided to reimplement the driver system using analog electronics instead of digital, simplifying it and lowering its cost.Template:Sfn

While working on the system, Allen suggested they use it to implement a version of Lunar Lander. While Allen worked on the driver hardware and Moncrief on the display system, Rich Moore wrote the software for the game.Template:Sfn Lunar Lander was released in August 1979, Atari's first vector game, but was not a great success with only 4,830 units manufactured.Template:Sfn

Another team at Atari consisting of Lyle Rains, Ed Logg, and Steve Callfee was working on a raster graphics game called Planet Grab. When they saw Lunar Lander, they asked about using the same system for their game, and the result was Asteroids. Released in November 1979, it went on to be Atari's most successful game, with 55,000 units sold.Template:Sfn

With the system now proving a huge success in the arcades, Morgan Hoff organized a brainstorming session at Atari to consider additional uses for the hardware. Around the same time, Atari had also been experimenting with early 3D displays using a custom math circuit known simply as the "Math Box", developed by Jed Margolin and Mike Albaugh and comprising a specialized 16-bit Arithmetic logic unit (ALU) including four AMD Am2901 4-bit bit-slice ALUs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>. The idea of using the math box with the vector hardware seemed like a winner, and the idea of a tank game was raised at the meeting, although Hoff could not remember exactly who introduced the idea.Template:Sfn

The game's design was led by Ed Rotberg. He cited Atari's top-down arcade shooter game Tank (1974) as the primary inspiration behind Battlezone, essentially a 3D version of that game. While Battlezone also has similarities to a first-person tank simulation for the PLATO system, Panther, Rotberg said he had never played that game before, but had heard of it; he stated that it "may have inspired whoever originally suggested the idea at the brainstorming meeting where it was proposed, but I seriously doubt it".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Owen Rubin, who shared an office with Ed Rotberg, had the idea of making the volcano in the background erupt, and coded the animation for it.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Ports

In the 1980s, Battlezone was ported to the Apple II, Atari 2600, Commodore 64, VIC-20, IBM PC compatibles, ZX Spectrum, and later the Atari 8-bit computers and Atari ST. The ports to non-Atari systems were from Atarisoft. The ZX Spectrum version was published by Quicksilva.

The Atari 8-bit version was released on cartridge in 1987 in the styling of the then-new Atari XEGS.<ref name=mania>Template:Cite web</ref> An Atari 5200 port was scheduled for release in November 1983, but was cancelled.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Atari 2600 version uses raster graphics instead of vectors and has a third person view where the tank is visible.

The Atari ST port contains large parts of the original 6502 code which is emulated.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Reception

Battlezone was released in November 1980 and was a hit. Although not as successful as Asteroids, Battlezone eventually produced another 15,000 sales for Atari.Template:Sfn

Battlezone was well received, earning an Honorable Mention for "Best Commercial Arcade Game" in 1982 at the Third Annual Arkie Awards. It was runner-up, behind Pac-Man.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp David and Sandy Small called it "addictive" and mentioned the Battlezone Tunnel Vision, which makes the players drive strangely during rush hour.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In a more recent review, Eurogamer stated that "Atari's designers came up with some incredibly inventive and interesting games before their decline. Battlezone is one of the finer examples" and rated it 8 out of 10.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Fox gives it a 4 out of 5 rating in The Video Games Guide, although he admits this might perturb some readers.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1996, GamesMaster ranked the arcade version 97th on their "Top 100 Games of All Time".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Computer and Video Games magazine awarded the Spectrum version of Battlezone 30 out of 40 points, praising its technical achievements such as the implementation of hidden line removal. The reviewer compared the game to 3D Tank Duel, a similar game by Realtime Games Software, opining that the latter was marginally superior to the official port.<ref name="cvg">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The Bradley Trainer

A standard enemy tank in the player's sights in The Bradley Trainer

A version called The Bradley Trainer (also known as Army Battlezone or Military Battlezone) was designed for use by the U.S. Army as targeting training for gunners on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was commissioned by a consultant group of retired generals.<ref name="NGen26">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Approaching Atari in December 1980, some developers within Atari refused to work on the project because of its association with the Army,<ref name="electricescape">Template:Cite web</ref> most notably original Battlezone programmer Ed Rotberg.<ref name="halcyon">Template:Cite book</ref> Rotberg only joined the project after he was promised by management that he would never be asked to do anything with the military in the future.<ref name="stevenkent">Template:Cite book</ref> According to Rotberg, it took him three months of constant work to develop the prototype version of The Bradley Trainer.<ref name="NGen26" /> Only two were produced; one was delivered to the Army and is presumed lost, and the other is in the private collection of Scott Evans,<ref name="atarigames">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="maws">Template:Cite web</ref> who found it by a dumpster in the rear parking lot at Midway Games.

The gunner yoke was based on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle control and was later re-used in the popular Star Wars game.<ref name="stevenkent" /> The Bradley Trainer differs dramatically from the original Battlezone as it features helicopters, missiles, and machine guns; furthermore, the actual tank does not move, but the guns simply rotate.

Legacy

Due to its use of first-person pseudo 3D graphics combined with a "viewing goggle" that the player puts his or her face into, Battlezone is sometimes considered the first virtual reality arcade video game.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Clones and inspired games

See also

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Notes

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References

Citations

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Bibliography

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