Armor Battle

"Is it better than Combat for the 2600? Depends on how realistic you like your army games."

Atari's Combat, while being a fun game, can't be considered a true tank combat simulation game. This game, however attempts to give you a taste of what it's like to really fight with a huge, destructive army vehicle. Compare both of the games if you have access to them and see what I mean.

Story: N/A
No story is provided, but it's actually fun to make up your own as you go along.

Gameplay: 8
When you get to the main menu, you can select how many players there are and how many rounds you and a friend (or you and the CPU) will go for. After selecting your choices, the battle begins. Each side has two tanks. You can switch which one you are controlling on the fly. Your tank can go in reverse as well as forward. If you fire, your tank will move slightly backward and might also turn slightly from the recoil of the blast. You will also be unable to shoot again for a second or so. This means you can't shoot three straight shots at the enemy and destroy a tank just like that (it always takes three shots for a tank to go down). Strategy is a MUST when you play this game. Can you shoot at the tank that isn't being controlled? Yes, but that means *your* spare tank is also vulnerable. Plus, the enemy might suddenly switch control to the spare tank and fire at you.

One of the coolest things about this game is that each battle map is different. The system randomly generates new obstacles, roads, etc. for every single round you play. Speaking of battle zone obstacles, they add to the depth of the game in spades. Your tank moves fastest on a road. You can go through bushes, but that will slow you down to a crawl. Trees and other things you can't shoot through provide valuable cover. It's never the same battle twice!

The only thing that hurts this game is the fact that all you have is tanks to control, unlike Atari's Combat which lets you use jets and such.

Graphics: 8
Pretty darn good for an Intellivision game. The scenery and tanks are all quite well detailed and colored. The tanks are also way bigger than the tanks in Combat for the 2600. Animation on the tanks could have been slightly better, though.

Sound/Music: 5
No music. Sound effects are just fine and sound as realistic as the Intellivision's noise sound channel can make them. The effects actually add to the suspense factor of the game. For instance, the sound of a tank moving isn't *too* loud, so it clashes with the otherwise silent battle zone, giving you a ''no man's land'' kind of feeling.

Control: 10
Nice and responsive. It takes quite a long time to turn your tank, but that adds to the realism of the game. I mean, a huge destruction machine like a tank isn't gonna have the agility of a jungle cat, now is it? :)

Replay Value: 4
The fact that the system randomly generates battle scenes means that this can be played for quite a while due to the fact that with the changing of the map comes the possible changing of battle strategies, but doing the same old thing over and over again will eventually make you thirst for something else.

Bottom Line?
This game is fun because of the way it tries to be as realistic as possible. It's not a ''Combat killer'' IMO, but it offers quite a bit of gameplay aspects that Combat does not have. This tank battle simulation game is a good addition to any Intellivision library, which is why I give it an 8.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/10/01, Updated 10/10/01