Battlezone: Combat Commander

This visually enhanced real-time strategy/first person shooter seems good at first, but the clunky play ruins the experience. Battlezone: Combat Commander is just the latest item that makes it hard to deny there's a wave of nostalgia in entertainment these days. Movies, TV shows, and video games are all getting remade, rebooted, and remastered for a new audience. But how much difference can a new coat of paint really make? That's a question Battlezone: Combat Commander struggles to answer. While the game definitely looks sharp, the gameplay hasn't aged well since the original's release nearly two decades ago. It doesn't help that the new game is built on a foundation that was already plagued with issues of its own.

Battlezone: Combat Commander is an odd hybrid of a first-person shooter and a real-time strategy game. You need to gather resources, build structures, and command units like most RTS games, but all from the cockpit of your futuristic tank. While this is an interesting twist on the usual formula, the novelty wears off quickly when you're juggling all the different roles at once. Meanwhile, you've also got to deal with technical issues like occasional lag in gameplay, a questionable A.I., and dated voiceovers and sound that stand in stark contrast to the game's fresh new visual flair. For fans of the original, it's a faithful remake with some cosmetic polish. For the rest of us, though, its lack of other improvements makes Battlezone: Combat Commander a game that's best left in the past.