Herzog Zwei

"I'm a plane-mech commander thing!"

If you ask a seasoned gamer about Herzog Zwei, he probably won't have much to say. Even though this is an excellent game, and boasts perhaps one of the most enjoyable two player modes I've ever experienced, it was horribly underrated and perhaps even misunderstood in it's day.

Graphics:
The graphics, all things considered, are delightful. If you consider today's graphical technology the graphics seem rusty. But at the time, in the VERY primitive days of Sega and the other big 16-bit consoles, this game had splendid graphics. They are crisp, clean and colorful. The sprites, except the motorcycles and infantry, are great. The battlefields, though a bit odd, are well defined and easy to look at.

The title menu sucks.

Sound:
The sound is killer. There isn't much else to say. Play the game long enough and you'll be humming Herzog Zwei tunes aloud. The effects are solid and I can't find anything to complain about. The gunshot coming from the mech you control is a beep, but everything else is spot on. One of the coolest things about the sound is that you can hear distant battles as a rumble, instead of a pronounced explosion.

Gameplay:
The basic theme of this game is to destroy the enemies base. Herzog Zwei is, perhaps, the grandfather of all real time strategy games. You play as a Mech/Plane with the ability to transform to either. You're main duty is to command you're troops and defeat the enemy. The primary job you'll be doing is building troops who each have a specific job, and ferrying them around the battlefield.

Past that, you really have to break it down into to sections. 1 player mode and 2 player mode. Playing alone, the game lacks. It offers a challenge at first, and the difficulty curve is as good as the rest, but you'll eventually learn a trick or two that makes defeating the computer all too easy. In two player mode, the game truly shines. I can't go into great detail, but you can spend hours playing two player mode, not noticing the time pass, battling for control of a single sub-base. Two player mode kicks ***, bottom line.

Story:
Hmmm... no story. None at all. Nope, nothing. All the same, there doesn't need to be one with a game like this.

Replay Value:
Personally, I don't see much of a replay value for 1 player mode. Maybe if you want to keep you're skills up to par... However, playing with a buddy never takes years to get old. Literally.

Overall:
Herzog Zwei is a very solid game, but does suffer from some rough edges. It was given horrible reviews and ratings when it first game out, but maybe that's because at the time the RTS genre didn't exist. The game pioneered a genre and influenced games for years to come. All geniuses are misunderstood. Although the game lacks a story, and the one player mode is shabby, if you have a buddy to play with, this game will surely be a favorite of RTS fans.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/18/03, Updated 07/18/03