Retro 3D 'Vector Tanks': Battlezone for the iPhone? [Updated]
posted by Blake Patterson on January 15th, 2009 8:08 PM EST in Retro, Shooter, Upcoming Games, iPhone games, iPod touch games
Retro overlord Peter Hirschberg of the indescribably awesome Luna City Arcade has dropped us a line to let us know that his 3D retro tank title Vector Tanks will soon be hitting the App Store.
Think Battlezone on steroids. (Peter's friends are affectionately calling it BattlePhone…)
Peter talks a bit about the game's controls.
The control method for the game is, I think, a first. You use your fingers on the left and right of the screen to push up and down on the virtual "sticks". This gives you forwards, backwards, forwards and backwards turning, and turning in-place. You can see this in the video – the dots on the screen are where the iPhone simulator is interpreting my simulated finger presses. Hope that makes sense. It takes a minute to get used to but it's really fun once you get it.
He indicates that Vector Tanks will likely be submitted to the App Store sometime in the next few weeks. Features to be found either in the initial 1.0 relelase or a near-term update follow.
- Land mines
- Helicopters
- Jeeps
- More powerups
- Multiple tank models with the graphics based on real-life tanks
- Different enemy capabilities and behaviors per tank model
- High score table
- Obstacles that you can interact with to your advantage or disadvantage (like stacked blocks that can topple on you)
Have a look at Peter's gameplay video:
As a big Battlezone fan and a bigger retro nut in general, I can't wait to get my hands on this one for review. It looks fabulous. Arnold: this one's mine!
Peter indcates that Vector Tanks will likely be priced at $0.99 or $1.99, but he hopes to release a free "lite" version as well. Peter also brought us the retro Adventure for the iPhone and iPod touch.
UPDATE: I spent the last hour playing this game via Ad Hoc distro from Peter (thanks!) and I have to say, it beats the original Battlezone even in this pre-release form. You folks are in for a real treat. Ok, back to Vector Tanks now…
What impresses me most is getting useful two-finger control out of the one-mouse iPhone Simulator!
Never heard of Battlezone, but this looks promisingly like Spectre, the old game for Apple II, and later remakes for the Mac… Fond memories of primitive LAN play over phonenet in my high school's computer lab.
*DROOL*
i can't wait
Whaaaaaat??? Never heard of Battlezone! God, I'm getting old.
This looks freaking amazing (if you know and loved the original).
hmm, that song i enjoyed. anybody know it?
Excited! I used to love Battlezone. Showing my age here, me and my buddy when we were way to young to be in pubs would spend hours in the one his dad owned in London and play the original arcade machine complete with the "periscope" view. Not very hygienic, but very immersing!
LOL@Nuke!
If they're going put in jeeps and helicopters in there, hell, I'm getting it for sure. Wait, do we get to use helicopters and jeeps? I'd love to take a tank out from the air. Hmmm, either way, I'm getting it.
Battlezone is simply one of the best arcade games ever. Atari actually made a version for the army which was a simulator called Bradley Trainer
This is looking awesome… wonder if they can institute Multiplayer?
looking forward to this!!!
Hah! That video was awesome. The song was perfect! The game reminds me of playing Spectr VR on my old Performa. Really liked that game. Will be getting this one.
My article about the Luna City Arcade from some time back:
http://www.bytecellar.com/archives/000137.php
And…wow. One of our readers hasn't heard of Battlezone before.
Gah! Haven't heard of Battlezone. I suppose you've never heard of vinyl records or console games that came in cartridges, either…
Anyway, this? Looks. freaking. AWESOME. Jesus everlubbin' crikey. Massive WANT.
Peter is really going for his sainthood…
Good choice for a retro game on the iPhone. The old color scheme (black background) will work well in bright light or outdoors. Perhaps the developer would consider a config option to change the color of the vector lines from green to any other color (e.g., red etc.).
Nice song. Hope they're gonna put out a lite version so that I can try it out.
A video of one of Peter's Luna City game days.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03nn1wKk6Zo
Man, if someone could do a Spectre clone with wifi multiplayer (local or internet) that would be awesome…
god I hope this has some wifi multiplayer.
Imagine playing team CTF or some other objective based team multiplayer gametype where you have a choice of jeep, tank, or helicopter. Pure gold right there.
Nice work – I was going to write this myself, this has saved me some effort!
Looks like you dont need to be as much of a sharpshooter with this version either. I remember needing to hit a tank EXACTLY in BZ and it was very frustrating.
A wifi multi player version would be sweet.
I am playing this game in Ad Hoc. (Thanks Peter) And it feels way more "pedal to the metal" than Battlezone. It feels great!
Just sharing. You guys are in for some good retro fun. Can't wait for the final release.
This looks great….you can count me in!
After this, how about a port of Tempest!?!?
Awesome. This looks like the perfect Battlezone clone. (How can anyone not know battlezone? Landmark arcade game, followed years later by a couple of great PC games. ..though I would have preferred it if the PC ones had avoided resource-management.)
If I had done this I probably wouldn't have thought of the bouncy suspension. That's a real good idea. I wonder if UrbanSnake would licence their "blow s–t up" song to go in it? Great in-game song.
@blake
Does peter have a mailing list?
Something to track his progress?
used to play this game for hours in college.. now it looks like I'm gonna play some more once its out.. wicked soundtrack
UNREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAL