1980 tank combat game Battlezone was one of the first titles to really make use of early virtual reality hardware, allowing players to use a periscope display system to track and fire at enemy vehicles.
Some thirty-five years later, UK studio Rebellion, best know for the Sniper Elite series, has announced that it is developing a reboot, which will capitalise on the recent resurgence of VR tech. The team has been showing it off on the E3 showroom floor using Sony’s Project Morpheus, and the game’s been confirmed for PC and PS4.
”When the original Battlezone came out in 1980 - long before we were developing games - Chris and I were among the many who made up its loyal arcade following,” said Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley. ”When we acquired the Battlezone rights two years ago we almost had to pinch ourselves! It really was a dream come true, so it’s our aim to deliver the same revolutionary thrill of the original for a whole new generation. We want to use VR to truly capture the imagination of today’s gamers, just as the original Battlezone captured ours.”
I wonder if they’ll have some kind of slow-motion kill-cam which shows you shooting a tank’s metal testicles off in punishing detail. Probably not. kudos to Rebellion for retaining a mock wire-frame art style that hearkens back to the original, and not opting for a boring realist approach.
Battlezone, which combines the ”instant adrenaline of the arcade with a deeper tactical challenge”, doesn’t have a release schedule just yet. It’s also not clear if the game will be exclusive to the Morpheus, or widely available on the three million or so other virtual headsets set to drop in the next year or two.
