Sure, there are a ton of great new games available for both macOS and iOS, but sometimes it pays to revisit the classics. That’s what users get with Battlezone 98 Redux, a remastered version of one of the best sci-fi strategy first-person shooter games of all time.
This was hot stuff back in the halcyon days of 1998, back when the iMac G3 was the hottest computer going. And now that it’s landed on both Mac and iPad, it remains pretty darn good!
A blast from the past
For those who have never played it before, Battlezone 98 is a brilliant blend of first-person action and real-time strategy that was only previously available on (boo hiss!) Windows PC.
Boasting the kind of nutso setting that doesn’t make much sense when you stop and think about it, but is a ton of fun as a gaming scenario, it’s set in an alternative Cold War 1960s, in which the “space race” has spilled over to become an all-out hot war between the U.S. and Soviet Russia as they battle over mysterious alien bio-metal.
You control a range of heavy assault tanks, strike cruisers, APCs, and the like, and get enough weaponry at your disposal to wipe your enemy off the face of whichever planet you find it on.
There’s a ton of stuff to enjoy here — even if the “remastered” graphics still look like something that wouldn’t have been out of place in the early years of the new millennium. You get a massive 48 missions set across 8 planetary environments, competitive online multiplayer for 2-8 players, and — for Mac users only — the “Red Odyssey” expansion.
If you remember this from 1998, you’ll have a lot of fun. If you weren’t even born when the original came out (by my count, that’s anyone 18 and under) you’ll still have a blast playing it. Literally.
Source: iTunes
