BattleTanx: Global Assault

Developer: 3DO Publisher: 3DO

Released: October 12, 1999 Rated: T 9/10

Sometimes when sequels come right on the heels of their predecessor, you feel like you can only expect so much. That quick turnover development time can only allow for so many foundational changes to the formula. But sometimes all it takes is that extra year or so to fully realize the vision. Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness followed this type of schedule, but even as a good experience, it often undermines the original through reuse and retread. BattleTanx: Global Assault, on the other hand, not only feels like the first game cranked up to 11, but offers plenty of new content and the drive to push the series forward in a way that really ought to impress.

I’ll come right out and say it first so that we can get to the goods: the dark and utterly bleak tone that casts its pall over the majority of the first game is largely gone here. It’s not to say that we’ve suddenly come out clean on the other side of the Thunderdome-like world of the first BattleTanx, but the violence and aggression has had a brighter coat of paint thrown over it here, one appealing to adrenaline junkies and hot rodders instead of doomsday preppers. In fact, the presentation and underlying sense of dark humor to the whole thing (check out the ad campaign if you don’t believe me) is starting to come more in line with Twisted Metal’s brightly-colored brand of vehicular combat, with the two series sharing more DNA than you might initially think.

I admit, I can barely understand how this game shipped without someone fixing the headshot of main villain Cassandra. Regardless, her cartoonishly evil disposition is another example of Global Assault’s less than subtle approach.

Even if that sounds like a bad thing, Twisted Metal comparisons and all, though, this tonal shift fits pretty well with the Gremlins 2: The New Batch level of content Global Assault brings to the table to make the gameplay all the more fun, chaotic, and fresh. A swath of new, more eclectic tank designs such as the fire-spraying Inferno, the treadless Hovertank, and the pinballing FLP-E (pronounced “flippy”) don’t really seem like they’d have fit in against the backdrop of the original’s Ground Zero New York or war-torn Chicago the way they’re presented in that game. Same with the new bouncing betty grenades (even if they’re a WWII callback) or a new campaign currency called “Tank Bucks” to determine if you’ve got enough capital to keep building new vehicles and of which kind. It’s certainly not difficult to see this being the original vision and these features being more “saved for the sequel” implementations, and they absolutely serve the gameplay better by being there, with the only negative change in my opinion being that the physics have been sped up a little too much, making the faster tanks downright unwieldy while mid-sizes take some getting used to.

In fact, it’s the way that Global Assault breaks out of the first game’s mold all around that almost exclusively benefits the gameplay both in the campaign and in multiplayer. It’s faster, more guns-blazing, and more in tune with being a video game in this form and overall, you simply can’t fault it for that. The green cartridge, the scratched red font, the destruction of famous world monuments (reminder: USA plus Western Europe still equals “Global,” apparently). This game knows what it is and is beyond adept at funneling all that adrenaline right to you. New game modes like Tank Wars (a time-limit score attack), Frenzy (Queenlord/Capture the Flag with the Queenlord appearing randomly at different points on the map), and Convoy (protect or destroy the convoy while the other team does the opposite) benefit both single and multiplayer with varied and interesting ways to play. The multitude of tank and weapon options even allows the option to create custom gang builds like a Call of Duty loadout.

Tank Bucks now the preferred currency on the Sabaton web store

BattleTanx: Global Assault comes across like what a sequel should be. More modes, more options, more reasons to play the campaign through if you liked the original and to get your friends to come over and keep it in the N64 for the night without being tempted to fall back to Super Smash Bros. or Goldeneye. There’s enough here to make it a multiplayer staple and even if the campaign still isn’t particularly long, it’s a rollercoaster ride nonetheless. A third-party gem practically lost to time as its parent company seems cursed to obscurity in the modern era.

Continuing Legacy

3DO’s most well-established franchises seem to represent an interesting trajectory for the company as a whole, and BattleTanx as a franchise seems to represent that perfectly with each of its three entries. Like Army Men, it eschewed serious and bleak themes as the millennium approached in favor of tongue-in-cheek humor and cartoonish backdrops without any of the commentary. Alongside a pseudo spinoff in (Wednesday Night) WarJetz, BattleTanx’s third and final entry would arrive on both PS1 and PS2 in the form of World Destruction League: Thunder Tanks, a satirical, over-the-top final form of its tank combat and hot-rodder mentality brought to full fruition in a Running Man-style television network presentation.