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S.SHOT

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SCENE
GENRE
GRAPHICS
SOUND
PLAYABILITY
VALUE
OPINION



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BATTLESPORT

Developer

Studio 3DO

Options

Distributer

Akklaim

1 -2 Players

Game Type

Shoot-em-up

Mem. Card

Review Date

Sept 1997

Setting the Scene

One of the more popular 3DO titles released has made it's way to the PlayStation. Studio 3DO has taken care of the conversion themselves to insure the integrity of the port and to keep the gameplay intact.

BattleSport is a futuristic sports shoot 'em up fest that has quite recently become somewhat popular in the home console marketplace. You get to strap yourself into one of a handful of space age hover type tanks and face off against the computer or a friend in a no holds barred battle to the finish.

For those of you familiar with the recently released game "BallBlazer Champions", BattleSport is very similar in nature and raw gameplay, but vastly different strategies are employed between the too...

Anyway...select your tank, choose you weapons and be prepared to face-off against some of the most brutal characters this side of the 21st century...it's time for BattleSport!

Genre

Battlesport is a futuristic first person shooter, waged in hover tanks.

Graphics

For lack of a better word (or words), the graphics in BattleSport are rather raw or bare-bones. In other words (you knew there would be some!), the graphics get right to point and don't waste too much time being fancy.

This, at least for me, is not a bad thing. Everything in the game is clearly definable and crisp...another by-product is the speed...whoa! The graphics move around at an eye blurring pace and not once is there any noticeable slowdown! It sometimes becomes hard trying to track the ball or the other players ship it's so quick, but that's a good thing because it just increases the overall challenge. Even in two-player split screen mode, the speed factor stays consistently fast and the graphics lose none of it's detail!

The view is from a first person perspective, so you don't get to see your own ship while playing, but the enemy ships are clearly defined and easy to spot. You get a choice of six ships, each modeled differently and all are very futuristic looking...just not real colorful.

The arenas are also modeled very nicely and vary in appearance from each other. Overall you get to choose from over 50 playing fields, each with their own theme and unique challenge. Some stadiums have ramps, others have objects littered about that you (or the enemy) can hide behind and some are just barren, with a few pillars thrown in for good measure. Overall, I thought the arenas were done very well and never did objects in the area become overly obtrusive or adversely affect the gameplay...so the arena graphics are nice.

Next you have your now standard, futuristic glowing orb that must be shot into a futuristic "goal". Actually, the orb isn't quite so "standard", in that you get two types of flavors...One is a glowing bluish white that varies in size, depending on the playing field and the other looks like a burnt orange wild berrie (the ones with all of the little bumps on them). The orbs are in constant motion around the arena, but stand out quite nicely from everything else, so they are easy to spot.

So I guess there you have it...the graphics are very functional without a lot of flash. Very good, just not cutting edge.

Sounds and Effects

BattleSport features some nifty sound effects. Everything is nicely done, from the hover tank sounds to the sound your tank makes when it gets ripped apart from an enemy missile. The only problem is that for the most part, they are not dominating...even when turned up to the maximum settings allowed within the game menu, most of the sounds play a backseat to the overall game experience. This for me was rather disappointing, as I enjoy the sound in games almost as much as the eye-candy and always felt it added to the most important factor of all...the gameplay. Yes, everything seems to be in there and covered from a sound effects perspective, it just doesn't add anything to the adrenaline rush of the game...a shame.

The background music is done well enough and fits the mood of the game, but again...nothing noteworthy that stands out in my mind.

There is also an announcer of sorts that introduces the players and keeps track of things like the player getting the ball, shields being re-energized, and getting or missing a goal. The voice never really gets annoying or obtrusive, but if it's not to your liking you have the option of turning it off. Crowd noise is also included in this game and adds a nice touch of realism. Crowd noises can also be toggled on or off from the option control menu.

Playability

I may be starting to sound a bit repetitive (something every reviewer fears!), but the gameplay is also rather raw...It's got a "get in there and score...destroy or be destroyed" feel to it. Now don't get me wrong...there is a good degree of strategy, cunning and deception required to be consistently victorious, but the gameplay moves about so quickly it's hard to think about stuff like that until you give the game some time and discover it's little nuances.

A typical one player game starts out like so....

You are treated to a very nice opening FMV depicting a typical war being waged against the two opponents (man, I can't wait until consoles have the power to actually let you play a game with graphics like these...) in a selected arena. Press the START button and you are brought to the menu screen where you have the choice of selecting Instant Action, Instant Action Setup, 1 Player or 2 Player Exhibition or Tournament modes. Instant Action drops you right into the game with the presets you assigned from the Instant Action Setup screen. This can be a one or two player game with 3 three minute periods. You can enter you name, select a tank, choose an opponent, pick an arena or let the console assign a random one out of the 50 or so playing fields, and finally set the shot clock to on or off. All of this information is automatically saved to a memory card slot if a card is present. The best way though to get used to the game is to begin in 1 Player Exhibition mode. You have all of the options available to you from the Instant Action mode plus you can now set the time of the periods (from 1 to 9 minutes) or have a score based battle ranging from 1 goal to 99...anyway, you are presented with a very nice menu interface for all of info being thrown at you...First up, enter you name...then select your arena. Not only do the arena's differ from one another, but the ball size and goals are also effected (a bit more on that later)...next it's on to your opponents. There are six very mean motha's to choose from...each with their own attributes and abilities. The menu does a nice job giving you the backgrounds of each and every one of these social misfits and includes a picture of each deviant. Now it's time to select a hover tank...each tank is given six attributes; acceleration, top speed, firepower, armor, cornering and ballhandling. It's usually a good idea to select a ship to can match up favorable against your opponent, but hey that's your call...Now you will want to arm your baby with all of the latest technology before starting the battle. There are no fewer than 26 items to choose from, ranging from a missile guidance system to a ball guidance system to track your ball to the goal...pick your upgrades well though, as you are only allowed to carry three at a time per game. Once you run out, your best bet is to hope a good power-up is still left on the playing field.

The arena's are a varied lot...as mentioned earlier, some offer protection and hiding places in the form of debris scattered about and others are almost wide open. Also to add some spice to the game, the goals vary greatly from field to field. The goals can be single, double or quad sided...rotating or stationary, and ground based or hovering...hell, some of the goals even float in constant motion around the playing field! The orbs also range in size from small, medium to large. The are also various power-ups scattered about such as invisibility, health, flight, blind enemy, cash and double damage to name a few. In the Tournament Mode the cash power-up is an important one...you need money to buy the upgrades for your ship! Collect that cash!!

Movement about the arena's consist of using the directional pad to move forwards & backwards and to rotate left or right. The buttons are used to shoot the ball, fire lasers, fire missiles and go to your inventory screen. Finally the L1/R1 buttons are used to strafe left and right...by holding both down at once, you can make your tank jump which is needed to shoot at the airborne goals.

Once your actually in there the gameplay gets rather frantic. Some of your opponents are goal scoring masters while others take great joy in trying to blast the hell out of your tank and forgoing the issue of scoring. If your ship explodes, your screen turns red for 3 seconds before your ship is repaired and dropped back into the arena...this is basically an eternity for the console controlled enemy to score a goal against you, so do try to not blow up! At the end of the game you are presented with a nice little screen that shows you all the vital stats for that game such as shots on goal, amount of times you destroyed the enemy, number of missiles fired, percentage of hits...and other good stuff like that.

Tournament mode is basically the same as Exhibition, except that you start at the bottom of the heap and must claw your way to the top by battling all of the opponents that the game can throw at you. Arena's are selected for you, and you are presented with new ships only after you have one a number of battles. There are also stat tracking for your "Season" of play.

All of this may sound real good, and for the most part it is, but the game really starts to rock in the two player mode...playing against a friend is always much more fun and adds a certain intensity not found in the single player game.

A couple of things could have been done to elevate this game to a must buy status, and amazingly these things can be taken right from the game "Ballblazer Champions". In fact if you took the best features of both games, you would have a clear cut, first rate game here...First, grab the "snap" feature found in BBC...Pressing a single button would turn your ship in the direction of the ball or towards the goal when you already had the ball. This is a nice feature. Next, spice up the graphics...While this doesn't actually improve the gameplay, it sure does make things look a bit nicer. The graphics in BBC are among the best in this genre. And lastly...put in an ass-kicking soundtrack that gets your blood pumping!

Value for Money

50 arena's, multiple ships to choose from and am assortment of bad people to do battle with in a futuristic setting...If this kind of stuff appeals to you get this game...It's challenging and fun to play. It's also a great two player contest, adding basically unlimited replay value.

Opinion

TOM

GRAPHICS:

Average

This is a very well made game. The menu screens are wonderful to navigate and the gameplay is as intense as anything you'll find in a futuristic sports shooter. It's one of the games I "go to" when I have friends over. We keep logs on some of our more interesting games, ship configurations and arena's to play in. The problem is, as a one player game it gets very little attention from me...I've already seen everything there is to see, and for me there is very little to draw me back as a solo participant...
Hell, I heard they are already working a BattleSport 2 game...add some tunnels, make key walls and debris destructible, throw in some more baddies, add a "snap" feature, spruce up the graphics and soundtrack and you can count me in for the sequel mister!

SOUND:

Average

PLAYABILITY:

Very Good

VALUE:

Very Good

OVERALL
7.5/10

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