Battlezone Gold Edition
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Battlezone Gold Edition Media
Critic Reviews for Battlezone Gold Edition
A fun, if slightly limited, retro reboot, that works very well as an arcade shooter even without the novelty of VR.
An old school arcadey shooter with a great style, Battlezone is addictive, accessible fun
If you’re looking for an old-school game with modern charm or are interested in a nostalgia-fueled journey, Battlezone Gold Edition is the right game to play.
It's taken a good six months for Battlezone Gold Edition to make its way to Nintendo Switch, but those months have been well worth it. The result is a port that uses the console's gyro controls to recreate the movement of a VR headset, and one that does so without making too many concessions in terms of overall performance. While it's still frustrating Switch owners have to wait so long for ports such as this, Battlezone Gold Edition could be the precedent that proves VR-orientated titles could lead a happy second life in semi-handheld form.
Rebellion has done a splendid job with reigniting the Battlezone franchise, and if the Gold Edition is anything to go by, then there is a great foundation upon which to build. The main crux of the game is to complete a lengthy campaign by traversing across the gameboard and completing a series of different battlezones to knock out the AI Core, who is controlling all the robotic enemies. The story just serves as a cheesy context for which Battlezone is set - but the fun gameplay and the added Nemesis difficulty does make this campaign a worthy enough experience to keep replaying for many mixed results.
While a bit short on the replayability side, and with visuals that look good, but not as good as they would do so with the use of a VR headset, Battlezone: Gold Edition is a fun tank arena shooter, with a surprisingly strong strategic mindset. Just be sure to enjoy this with a bunch of other players, as solo play might get way too boring, way too soon.
Battlezone Gold Edition is a great game that's easy to pick up and play; one that I'll certainly find myself dipping into little but often. It has some minor gameplay issues and imbalances, but they're quite easily overlooked when you're having a blast. And that's what's most important, surely?
This is an experience built for VR and while it would certainly be possible to adapt simple elements like the HUD to a standard display, the work simply hasn't been done. If you can get used to the weird VR workaround in place, Battlezone is still a fun game, especially with friends online. However, the fact remains that this is a merely okay version of a really fun game. Enough of its core fun shines through to make it enjoyable, but a better experience awaits if you happen to own a Playstation VR.
