First and foremost, Battlezone II is strikingly beautiful. The multitude of colors and textures used on vehicles and in the environment is just impressive. All the units are easily identifiable and feature some decent animation. Weapon effects are all unique and the explosions are nice and full. While this visual performance is something to take notice of, the same could be said for the rather close line of fog that surrounds the player. I suspect the line of fog is Pandemic's way of keeping the framerate steady, but it is just so close sometimes it makes the visual presentation rough around the edges.

Battlezone II incorporates Real-Time Strategy and First Person Shooter play systems to create an immersive battle environment. The thing to remember is the way this game is played, is totally up to the person playing it. For the most part, the game takes place in FPS mode, but some situations do demand a much faster method of commanding the units scattered throughout the barren landscape. The single-player game's scripting enforces the idea of cooperative use of the two play styles constantly during the game.

I will be the first to admit that mission scripting is key to most RTS and FPS titles, but sometimes it seems like Battlezone II leads the player around by a leash. During the first missions the player simply follows orders and watches things happen. This is less pronounced during later missions since the player gains more control of the situation, but it is still the case in some situations. It seems like they really wanted the story to be focused on, so they built this scripting that leads the player from plot point to plot point. Sadly, I can't really say the story is anything extremely special. It's the standard space opera, with political intrigue.

What the scripting limits is the game's potential. The ability to hotswap vehicles in FPS mode, and command them to back you up, pick you up, attack, or defend keeps the units under your control at all times. When the precise control of an Real Time Strategy interface is required, it is always available at the nearest command center. A person can even jump into a gun turret while repelling a base assault to do some serious damage. Even without a vehicle the commanding infantry unit (the player) can be outfitted with bazookas and rockets to do some damage.

Pandemic also included an Instant Action mode where a person can really can get into what makes this game so great. The maps included are diverse but each map has only one side you can play as, which is admittedly sort of annoying. The number of available maps is rather small, if a person plays Instant Action enough, they might start to tire of strategies that they perfected. Multiplayer makes up for this by giving the player the ability to test their strategies against players abroad.

The Artificial Intelligence is an odd duck. When playing as ISDF, a person is overwhelmed with waves of Scion scavengers and scouts. The AI isnt especially crafty in the use of these units, it usually just sends rather large groups of them. On the opposite side of the coin, as a Scion things cost more to produce. This leads me to wonder how the AI is able to amass such large forces in the same time it takes me to produce maybe 3 scouts and 2 Scavengers. While the AI presents a challenge, it does so in some of the more frustrating ways.

Control methods are easy to get used to after about an hours play. Most of the unit references are carried out by keystrokes in the F# row and the space bar. With a little bit of practice a person can whip out multiple commands to units in the middle of the battle. This method of command still doesn't beat the precise control only given directly through the communication center. Sometimes it is best to develop a gameplan before you go into battle.

While the music is not that rousing, it is above average in quality. If there was a Space Genre of music, this would fit into that category. It is sort of a mix of New Age and a little bit of Rock. For the most part pretty solid and consistent. Weapon effects are all pretty good. There is nothing more satisfying than hearing a heavy cannon unleashing its heavy payload on a target in the distance. Admittedly the explosions are a little generic sounding.