If you remember the early eighties, then you remember how video games were big in stand-up arcades, and you remember Battlezone with its vector graphics (visuals characterized by thin lines). Considering this game was played by looking into a viewer, it makes sense that this game would be put to Virtual Reality (VR). This is all the news that is known about Rebellion's Battlezone VR for the Oculus and PlayStation VR.
This Battlezone game will be available for the Oculus Rift and the PlayStation VR headsets. Yesterday, at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2016 Sony finally unveiled the release date and price for their PlayStation VR. You can read more about that here, but it costs about $399 (with a $60 PlayStation camera) and should be available in October.
Geeky Gadgets talked to Jason Kingsley, the creative director and co-founder of the Rebellion game development studio who is responsible for bringing the new Battlezone game to life. There is a video below of the gameplay, and it begins with the old-school graphics and reveals a world that is definitely more in detail then the vector graphics. In fact, the action feels a lot like Tron, if the game based on the movie had focused more on the tanks that were in that film. The worlds of Battlezone sure do look a heck of a lot more colorful compared with Tron and its first iteration.
Yes, there are a lot of worlds to explore in Battlezone, as PlayStation Blog discusses a night-time arena, glowing industrial environments, windswept ice wastes, and lots of neon. Also, there is a terrifically redesigned cockpit.
Some might note on the trailer below that it has "endless gameplay". This is because it has procedurally generated levels. This means that as the player goes through the single player campaign, it will change every time.
Not only that, it would appear that there is more of a story element to this version of Battlezone. The official website talks about The Rotberg Corporation, which is this industrial complex that is "all that remains of the neon wastelands of Earth". Then humanity is enslaved, on the edge of extinction, with you being mankind's last hero taking control of the Cobra, the most powerful vehicle ever built. It looks like Rebellion took the time to create a backstory for this version of Battlezone.
As for an actual release date for Battlezone, it doesn't look like there is anything specific, but this game will be one of the first games available for the PlayStation VR, which will be available in October. The Rebellion website says that the game will first be available on the PlayStation VR, which means it should come to Oculus after that. Strangely enough, the Oculus Rift will actually be released first.
