QUOTE (Wikipedia)
Battlezone II: Combat Commander, often abbreviated to BZII or BZ2, is a 1999 computer game released by Pandemic Studios as a sequel to Activision's 1998 Battlezone. Like Activision's Battlezone, Battlezone II is a hybrid tank shooter, first-person shooter and real-time strategy game. The player pilots various futuristic vehicles, while using the function keys to select and command units and structures. Battlezone II features two races, the ISDF (humans) and the Scions (aliens).
The Battlezone series is set in alternate history. The first game was a comedically straight-faced depiction of 1950s Cold War gone interplanetary. Battlezone II is instead set in the 1990s and has a much more subdued alien invasion theme. Access to alien technology has necessitated the creation of an international peacekeeping force, the International Space Defense Force (ISDF), whose role is to oversee distribution of the rare bio-metal resource and mediate disputes between member nations.
The plot had also been expanded somewhat, with the former game's NSDF campaign accepted as canonical. General Armand Braddock, an M.I.T. graduate, conducts an experiment of fusing bio-metal with human flesh, called Project Pedigree, creating highly efficient killers fused with their vehicles. After some sound victories, the Black Dogs rebel. The National Space Defense Force and the Cosmo Colonist Army merge, creating the ISDF. Their combined power was enough to defeat the Dogs, who flee towards the outer Solar System. To prevent the misuse of bio-metal, the AAN (Alliance of Awakened Nations) is created to oversee the even distribution of the resource between the countries.
The Battlezone series is set in alternate history. The first game was a comedically straight-faced depiction of 1950s Cold War gone interplanetary. Battlezone II is instead set in the 1990s and has a much more subdued alien invasion theme. Access to alien technology has necessitated the creation of an international peacekeeping force, the International Space Defense Force (ISDF), whose role is to oversee distribution of the rare bio-metal resource and mediate disputes between member nations.
The plot had also been expanded somewhat, with the former game's NSDF campaign accepted as canonical. General Armand Braddock, an M.I.T. graduate, conducts an experiment of fusing bio-metal with human flesh, called Project Pedigree, creating highly efficient killers fused with their vehicles. After some sound victories, the Black Dogs rebel. The National Space Defense Force and the Cosmo Colonist Army merge, creating the ISDF. Their combined power was enough to defeat the Dogs, who flee towards the outer Solar System. To prevent the misuse of bio-metal, the AAN (Alliance of Awakened Nations) is created to oversee the even distribution of the resource between the countries.
Basically, you're a guy in a tank/ship and you get to build bases and face off against another faction. What is amazing about this game is that despite the negative criticism it received in several fields, people still play it today. There was even a full-fledged community project, a full-conversion mod called Forgotten Enemies, with voice-overs and a wonderfully fleshed out story. I still play it to this day, it's a great time-waster.
What I want to know is, has anyone else heard of this, has anyone else played it, and does anyone else still play it?