Battle Isle 2220: Shadow of the Emperor is the latest release from German software developer Blue Byte. This is also the first title Blue Byte has released in the US under its own banner. The prior title in the Battle Isle series was published by Accolade, and Blue Byte's European hit, The Settlers, was released in the US by SSI as Serf City: Life is Feudal. Curiously, while Blue Byte has generally met with much success in the European gaming community, over here their sales haven't done as well. By taking US product development and publishing into their own hands, Blue Byte hopes to find a broader market for their games.
Fans of previous Battle Isle games (as well as fans of the NEC TurboGrafx-16 game, Military Madness - at some point in the gaming family tree, these two products have a common ancestor) will feel right at home with BI2220. The basic mechanics of the actual gameplay haven't changed too much. This is still a turn-based game played on a hexagon-regulated battlefield. Players still push futuristic units around, capture buildings, and create more units from the spoils of war.
Where BI2220 diverges from the prior products is in its glitz factor. The storyline is told through the use of video cut scenes, and battles are portrayed in rendered displays of carnage. While I hate to sound like a Luddite, these scenes are intrusive; Blue Byte would have done well to either tone them down or to have done away with them completely. The opening scenes and the scenes between missions are fine (though there has been no attempt at synching voice to mouth movements, presumably due to the multi-lingual nature of the product) but the short scenes that pop up during a mission, complete with slow-to-load eye-candy shots of portals opening and closing, will have you wanting to scream. OK, thanks for letting me vent.
The other concern with BI2220 is some clunkiness in the interface. Generally speaking, it's mouse-click intensive. For instance, to move a unit you'll double click on it, click on a movement icon, double click on a destination, then click on an icon that says you're done with that unit. There's no way to set default actions, nor are there any other time savers built in. Also, since this is a Windows game, your screen resolution and monitor size will affect game play. On a 16" monitor at 800x600, there's just enough room to get the major windows all displaying at once. With less screen real estate to work with, you'll be swapping continually between windows.
Once past these two problems, BI2220 starts to shine. The game is fairly simple and tends to move quickly; while following the campaign, you'll enjoy a gradual layering-on of new units. Each type of unit has its strengths and weaknesses; learning what these are is a great part of the game's enjoyment. Each unit is rated according to armor, range, fuel and has one or more weapon systems. As is typical, you'll find your real powerhouses tend to be hampered by slow movement or a less than ideal fuel supply. Some units can move, attack, then retreat. These tend to have smaller weapons platforms, but used correctly they can be remarkably effective.
At the start of the game, your units will be limited to giant robots and tanks. Later scenarios introduce support units such as fuel, ammo and repair vehicles, surface and submarine naval units and air units (both planes and 'copters). By the end of the campaign, you'll be enjoying some fairly sophisticated combined arms warfare. One silly flaw, though: a ground unit and an air unit can't occupy the same hex! Oh well, the emphasis here is on playability, not realism.
In any given mission, you'll often have allies. These are completely controlled by the AI, and can at times become very troublesome (for instance, when they decide to sit in a hex that you really need to move a unit through) or very helpful (as during times when you can hold back your forces and let an ally and the enemy beat themselves senseless). In any event, they add another level of interest to the game.
Missions are somewhat varied; many will take a few tries before you determine the best way to win. Each building has its own particular set of abilities; often these are the key to winning in a mission. For instance, if only one building on the map allows you to build new units, then you can be pretty sure a major battle will develop over control of that building. The catch here is, until you capture the building, you won't know what its capabilities are.
When you first install the game, your options are to start a campaign, play some stand-alone tutorial missions, or go head to head over a network (by judicious saving of games, you could play by email, too). As you beat each mission in the campaign, you're given a password (yes, a password, and yes, I gagged too) that will allow you to go back and replay earlier missions. Sadly, there is neither a scenario editor nor a random mission generator included.
At a time where more and more developers are choosing to move into some sort of real time strategy gaming, BI2220's strict turn-based structure is welcome. Make no bones about it, this is no wargame. The rules are simple, gameplay is fast, but there are still many different strategies to explore. As a "beer and pretzels" strategy game, BI2220 is a delight. Be patient waiting for the in-mission movies to play, and make sure your mouse button is well oiled, and you should enjoy yourself playing through this one.
