Can't believe Gamespot only gave this one a 6.6. Don't believe it!

User Rating: 9.6 | Battlezone II: Combat Commander PC
I have to admit I played this one before I went back to play the original, and I was hooked from minute one. I came from a FPS background and had never played command-and-conquer titles. It wasn't for a lack of wanting to, they just seemed so damned intimidating. Battlezone II was the perfect mix of FPS and C&C. The opening missions totally familiarized the player with the interface, and the purpose of each building or unit was revealed bit by bit, until the player had learned all of them. The graphics were, and I believe still are, killer.

I have read some reviews calling the bright orange coloring of the US units "cartoony." I disagree. They're industrial. In the town I grew up in, the local manufacturing company (before it closed in the '80s) had trademarked its orange generators, trucks, and large equipment. I totally bought the coloring in this game.

Besides the coloring of the units, the other graphics are stellar -- the vector-type graphics being filled in with real colors during construction is a particularly cool effect. The explosions are bright and flashy, and the environments (now that systems today can turn up all the eye-candy) are nothing short of beautiful.

Once you finish the game, there is a whole new game waiting -- IA (Instant Action). Build a base with defenses and then eventually go conquer enemy bases. This was my favorite part of the game, and it's alway's good for an hour or two.

Because the game STILL has a thriving online community, there are plenty of mods, a complete fan-built game-length mission pack, and just released in Aug 2006 was a fantastic v1.3 beta patch that fixes issues in the game, makes the AI a little harder, spices up the graphics even further, and also includes a massive mix of new maps. It's a must have. I still go back to this game every couple years and marvel at just how much fun it has provided... This game is a classic. Try it out before reading the negative reviews and see for yourself. You can get it at Half.com for around $5-10 these days. It's well worth it.