Rebellion’s trailer also gives a glimpse of Battlezone‘s first-person interface, revealing how players will interact with in-game elements while wearing a VR headset.
Battlezone is a modern-day revamp of a classic Atari arcade game released in 1980. The original version of Battlezone was an innovative first-person shooter featuring vector graphics and a unique twin-stick setup that simulated the cockpit controls of an armored tank.
Rebellion’s Battlezone retains its predecessor’s first-person perspective and tank-based combat while shifting its gameplay into the realm of VR for the first time in series history. Throughout the course of gameplay, players are able to observe their cockpit controls and keep track of their tank’s armor, radar, and other vital readouts via an immersive VR-optimized interface.
While the original Battlezone offered an endless survival-based challenge, Rebellion’s Battlezone splits its gameplay across multiple levels and playable arenas. The new Battlezone also introduces new enemy types that range from competing tanks to attacking aerial swarms.
In another new twist, Rebellion’s Battlezone offers a “dynamic campaign that blends procedural and randomized content,” resulting in what its creators call “a substantial campaign experience with near unlimited replayability.”
“Whenever a player starts a new campaign, the game’s ‘Hex’ campaign map is re-generated procedurally, and dozens of environments, levels, and mission types are blended together in new combinations for a completely different experience each time,” Rebellion explains. “Then it’s up to the players to forge their own path to the game’s epic finale.”
Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley adds: “I think VR has an unfair reputation for just offering cool bitesize experiences, but we want to come out firing and deliver the kind of substantial content early adopters are crying out for.”
Battlezone will launch “first on PlayStation VR” for the PlayStation 4. A Steam release with Oculus Rift support is also in the works.
