Review: BZFlag 3D Tank Game 165
GonzoJohn writes "LinuxOrbit.com reviews the 3D Tank game BZFlag. 'Have you ever been walking down the street, minding your own business, and suddenly look down to find something you hadn't expected? It might be money, it might be a decoder ring, it could be anything. But the almost universal reaction is pleasurable. 'That's a nice surprise,' you think as you stoop and pocket whatever good fortune has dropped in your path. The same thing can happen in the strangest places. For example, a recent post on our message boards inquired, 'What's your favorite flag in bzflag?'. Not being familiar with the game, I had to ask "What's bzflag?' Little did I know that such an innocent inquiry would result in an almost indecent obsession with a very cool game.'"
Website with more info (Score:4, Informative)
Re:what sort of a name is bzflag? (Score:3, Informative)
"At this point the game resembled bz by Chris Fouts. This is no surprise because both games are based on the old Atari arcade game BattleZone. In fact, BZFlag was called bz back then because no one in the PCG knew of the existence of Chris Fouts' bz. Yes, that's right, BZFlag was written with no knowledge of bz. The two games share no code and were designed and written independently. They owe their similarities to their BattleZone heritage"
Now, I'm not saying that it's a great name, but at least there's a reason for it being what it is...
slashdotted (Score:3, Informative)
BZFlag: 3D Tank Shoot 'Em Up That Deserves Attention Part 1
Published by LinuxOrbit.com: April 4, 2002
by John Gowin, LinuxOrbit Editor-in-chief
Have you ever been walking down the street, minding your own business, and suddenly look down to find something you hadn't expected? It might be money, it might be a decoder ring, it could be anything. But the almost universal reaction is pleasurable.
"That's a nice surprise" you think as you stoop and pocket whatever good fortune has dropped in your path.
The same thing can happen in the strangest places. For example, a recent post on our message boards inquired
"What's your favorite flag in bzflag?".
Not being familiar with the game, I had to ask "What's bzflag?"
Little did I know that such an innocent inquiry would result in an almost indecent obsession with a very cool game.
What is BZFlag?
BZFlag is a 3D multi-player tank battle game. You can fight other tanks by yourself as a Rogue (some game servers don't support Rogues) or join a team based on your tank color (Red, Green, Blue, Purple). The object of course is to kill other tank opponents by shooting them, a fairly straightforward scenario for a first-person shoot 'em up type of game.
The "flag" in the title of BZFlag refers to the white flags found scattered across the battlefield in the game. To pick up a flag, you merely have to run over it with your tank. Each flag grants the owner of the flag special abilities within the game. That's where some of the strategy of game comes in. Certain flags bestow powerful gifts to the bearer while other flags are designed to specifically combat the bearer of another flag. Not all flags grant a bonus either. Some of the flags hamper a player for a fixed amount of time before they automatically are released. Because the flags are indistinguishable to all players, it is chance that determines whether you pick up a flag that will make you powerful or shackle you with a burden.
In order to excel at the game, it pays to know your flags. Here's a quick rundown of the flags available in the game, with a description of what they do, what they're best used for and what they're helpful against.
First the "good" flags:
High Speed
Boosts your speed by 50%. Good for overall use. Can escape Guided Missiles if used to drive perpendicular to the missile path.
Quick Turn
Boosts turn rate by 50%. Good for close combat but no major advantage for combating other flags.
Oscillation Overthruster
Enables tank to go through buildings. You cannot back up in or into a building, nor can you shoot while sealed inside a building. You must be completely inside a building to be protected from normal shots. Vulnerable to Shockwave, Super Bullet and Steamroller in close quarters. Good for ambush attacks, but your tank always returns to ground level since you sink through any obstacle or building you jump on.
Rapid Fire
Increases shot speed and decreases range and reload delay. Good flag for overall combat, no major bonus against other flags.
Machine Gun
Increases shot speed and dramatically decreases range and reload delay. Good only for close combat. Real close.
Guided Missile
Arguably the most coveted flag in the game, Guided Missile enables shots to guide themselves when locked on an opponent by right-clicking your mouse on an opponent in your view window. The missile can be re-targeted at any time during its flight (with the right mouse button). This allows the player some control over the missile's steering. Vulnerable to the Stealth flag since missiles can't be locked on.
Laser
Gives your tank a laser cannon, with effectively infinite speed and range. Just point and shoot. Laser reload time is doubled from normal weapon. One downside is that you have a decent chance of killing yourself from extended reflections of the laser due to its infinite range. Great for long distance kills, but likely you will eventually become your own victim. Used carefully, very powerful. Good against Guided Missile thanks to its extended range.
Ricochet
Causes shots to reflect off walls. Many servers have ricochet enable for the entire battlefield, so this flag does nothing on these types of servers. On non-ricochet servers, you can practice your billiards skills by shooting around corners off border walls.
Super Bullet
Enables shots to go through buildings. Kills Oscillation Overthruster carriers inside of buildings as well as "zoned" Phantom Zone users. Great for unsuspecting opponents on the other side of a building or wall.
Stealth
Tank becomes invisible on radar but is still visible out-the-window. Prevents Guided Missile from locking on the carrier of the flag. Great overall use, especially against opponents not facing you.
Cloaking
Tank becomes invisible out-the-window but is still visible on radar. Good for hectic battle due to invisibility, but Guided Missile can still lock on you. Jumping while using this flag is more effective.
Invisible Bullet
Radar of opponents can't see your shots, so it's an excellent flag for all around battle and for those not facing you.
Tiny
Your tank becomes much smaller and harder to hit. Good for head to head battle due to reduced size.
Narrow
With this flag, your tank becomes paper thin. It's very hard (but not impossible) to hit a "Narrow" tank from the front or back. However, the tank is as long as usual so hitting it from the side has normal difficulty. Good for head to head battle, but try not to jump while turning.
Shield
Allows the bearer to absorb on hit from an opponent, but the hit ejects the flag immediately. Since the flag may not disappear when it ejects, you may want to wait around for it to fall to the ground so you can grab it again, but the shield flag flies for an extra long time (longer than the normal reload time).
Steamroller
Possibly the least desirable of flags (other than Ricochet and Jump when server settings make them useless) this flag enables your to kill other tanks by driving over them. The downside is you rarely get close enough in normal game play.
Shock Wave
Makes your tank shoot a shock wave in all directions rather than shells. Any tank caught in the wave is destroyed (including tanks on or in buildings). This is a good tactical flag against Guided Missile an Oscillation Overthruster users. The downside is the shock wave has a short range, so even an opponent without a flag has an advantage. Try not to jump with this flag either.
Phantom Zone
Driving through a teleporter send the bearer of this flag to the Phantom Zone. A "zoned" tank cannot shoot, but can drive through buildings and cannot be destroyed except by a Super Bullet or a Shock Wave. Also fun to use to taunt or distract unseasoned opponents who might waste time firing at a "zoned" tank.
Genocide
This is a dreaded flag in team play. When the bearer of Genocide kills any tank on another team, all members of that team are destroyed as well. A good way to rack up the points or kill a Guided Missile user by killing off the weakest member of his team. No battle advantage in head to head or Rogue competition.
Jumping
This allows your tank to jump, but is useless on "jump" servers. Great for servers without jump enabled for all since high-ground can't be reached without jumping. Identify
Displays the identity of the closest flag in the vicinity. This flag is good for finding a flag you want, but don't get too distracted "flag shopping". This flag offers no battle advantage.
Then there are the "bad" flags:
Colorblindness
This makes all tanks appear black, both on radar and in your view screen. Be careful you don't shoot your teammates.
Obesity
This flag causes your tank to become very large and easy to hit. Makes teleporters unusable due to enlargement.
Left Turn Only
This prevents your tank from turning right. Only thing to do is drive in straight line or circle left until the flag times out.
Right Turn Only
Same as left turn except the opposite direction.
Momentum
This flag gives your tank a lot of inertia. Stopping and turning become exercises in physics. The overall effect is less response for all movements.
Blindness
This blanks the main view screen, but your radar still works. It is effectively impossible to detect any tank with Stealth, but shooting a Stealth with Blindness is the stuff legends are made of.
Jamming
Disables the radar but you can still see out your main view screen.
Wide Angle
Ever wonder how a goldfish perceives its owner? This flag gives you some idea. The bearer sees the battlefield through a distorted fish eye lens in the main window.
Go to Part 2, Strategy and more!
For you OS X folks... (Score:5, Informative)
Bolo (Score:2, Informative)
wow that was fun.
Ohhhh!!!! A MaC OS X Version!!!! (Score:2, Informative)
Downloading! yay!
Clicky Linky! [hzsystems.com]
Re:BZFlag rocks (Score:4, Informative)
Unfortunately, netrek has suffered a serious decline due to old graphics, and the expiration of the paradise client for windows. Newbies tend to like the paradise version of the game because it's a little more fun, a little less complex, and the clue on bronco servers can be quite abusive.
Anyone else here remember playing Netrek? I know I spent a year of college tuition back in '93-'94 playing the game...
If you're lucky, there are nights when you can play the hockey version of the game. Long Live the SC!
To this day, when I hear the word "Ogg", I don't think about the music encoding format. Ogg is a verb, not a noun.
Yet more proof (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I thought it was cool at first.... (Score:2, Informative)
It reminds me of CS. But there is a major difference: bzflag developers are creating a fix, and this won't be a problem in 1.8.
Re:Website with more info (Score:1, Informative)
As a developer for BZFlag, I can vouch for the fact that it is, in fact, an AFJ.
-- Colin Bayer
Re:A Great little game... Could do with more confi (Score:3, Informative)
It's not an options menu, but you can configure the available flags when starting the server. Check the man page.
On casual inspection, the following appears to remove phantom zone and guided missiles:
bzfs -f PZ -f GM
Re:For you OS X folks... (Score:2, Informative)
Spreading the pain -- Links (Score:3, Informative)
2 - Download 1.7e2 [sympatico.ca]
Bzflag Home Page [bzflag.org]
Game Den review [gamesden.net.au]
SourceForge Page [sourceforge.net]
Game Dudes Review [cablelan.net]
Laser being best depends on the arena... (Score:3, Informative)
Guided missiles are my preferred one.
Re:Other offenders (sorry, had to do it!): (Score:3, Informative)
It's actually called "The X Window System".
Re:For you OS X folks... (Score:1, Informative)
Re:BZFlag rocks (Score:2, Informative)
It doesn't run on linux and you have to pay for it (hence I'm gonna get flamed) but it IS very, very good. It has a huge community [combatmission.com] (or here [derkessel.de]) following even though it is only available online and does not exactly have mainstream content.
Also a rare case of a developer working closely with their customers and allowing them to contribute to a product; the engine isn't open source but the graphics certainly are (to the extent where people are producing whole new enviroments that are totally outside the game's original scope).
Re:what sort of a name is bzflag? (Score:1, Informative)
BZFlag is not a Linux game - it is an IRIX game ported to Linux. It was written for the Indyzone challenge way back when. Furthermore, program names in UNIX are notoriously cryptic - why can't our games be the same? Its not like we are trying to sell them...
Current development & bzflag league (Score:3, Informative)
1.8 will look very little like 1.7. The user interface is fully customizable (through xml) and worlds will be completely custom. The network code is also being completely rewritten to reduce lag. 1.8 is in CVS HEAD for anybody who would like to try out the new features.
Also, a CTF (capture-the-flag) league is getting going. If you're interested in doing team battles and tournaments, take a look at http://bzflag.org.league/ [bzflag.org]
BZFlag is also on OPN - feel free to drop by and make a suggestion or three.