Z
Description official descriptions
Z is a real-time strategy game in which you fight for control of the sectors, some of which contains manufactories that can gain you additional units. Touch the "flag" in the sector and it's yours. Capture the sector before the new unit comes out of the manufactory and the new unit is yours. With six different robots (different armaments, armor, and speed), multiple vehicles (from jeeps to tanks) the robots can utilize, your ultimate objective is to destroy the opponent's base, and prevent him from doing the same to you.
The game differs from many other RTSs by emphasizing territorial control (and the manufactories) instead of getting kills and gathering a big army. You have to finely balance defense and offense. If you wait too long, the enemy will grab all the manufactories first. If you go too fast, you'll get hammered for stretching yourself too thin. You can hijack enemy vehicles by shooting the driver off. If you send a group of soldiers toward an objective and they find a vehicle, one of them will split off to grab the vehicle; you don't really need to micromanage each soldier.
Groups +
Screenshots
Promos
Videos
Add Trailer or Gameplay Video +1 point
See any errors or missing info for this game?
You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.
Credits (DOS version)
49 People · View all
Lead Design | |
Design | |
Programming | |
Additional Programming | |
Graphics / Artwork | |
Additional Artwork | |
Music | |
Sound | |
Additional SFX & Music | |
Writing / Dialogue / Story | |
Playtesting | |
[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 75% (based on 30 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.4 out of 5 (based on 68 ratings with 4 reviews)
The essence of Real Time Strategy
The Good
After I had played Z, all other RTS games looked lackluster. This is not because of fancy graphics, but because of the incredible gameplay. No other RTS keeps you on your heels like Z does:
There is no cozy buildup phase. - You are in the thick of it from t=0 onwards.
There is no room for errors. - You have to enter a map with a battle plan, or you will be crushed.
There are few units on the battlefield. - You need to take good care of yours, as high casualties cannot easily be compensated.
Besides the gameplay, there is the tongue in cheek atmosphere of the game, which kept me hooked, even after a lost a map for the nth time.
The Bad
Z is challenging. There is no one size for all strategy, which works on every map. This means that you will likely get your bottom handed to you far more often than you are used to from other games.
The Bottom Line
Z is as close to pure adrenaline, as you can get in a RTS.
DOS · by Admiral Loknar (1) · 2007
The Good
-Top Notch AI
-Excellent Graphics
-Lots of Details
-Different Units
-Fun Multiplayer
The Bad
-No allying in Multiplayer
-Only 3 different types of units: Veichles, Infantry and Turrets
-AI has navagational difficulties
-AI is quite hard sometimes.
-Not much replayability value since no Internet Multiplayer option (Zone/Kali don't work either with the IPX trick)
The Bottom Line
Perhaps one of the more original Real Time Strategy games around. Instead of mining/resource gathering or having a limited budget. The game is focus on to Capture the Flag senarios (correct me if it's a mistake). Basically you have 1 side and your enemy has one side. on either of your sides you will have sectors which contain either/some/all or even none of the following: a Radar center (detects units and lets yoiu see them on a mini-map), a Barracks/Robot Manufacturing plant, Veichle Manufaturing Plant, Veichle Repair center, a fort and some more stuff like turrets and etc. Most of the building create units; namely the fort, robot and veichle plants and it takes time to create these units. But the time is a variable; changes whenever you capture/lose a sector. So this pretty much evens out the game so it's based on the person who ever has the most territory wins the game .... usually. Great Game overall but tiny details could have been added to spice it up
DOS · by Rebel_lord (38) · 2001
The Good
I like Bitmap Brothers, of course :-)
Seriously though, the graphics are OK and the gameplay is very rewarding at first.
The Bad
Problem is, it's too damn hard! The controls aren't very good and the game gets SOOOOO tiresome after too short a while.
The Bottom Line
A bizzare RTS you'll get tired of real quick.
DOS · by Tomer Gabel (4536) · 1999
Trivia
Cancelled Amiga port
In the late 1990's, Canadian publisher clickBOOM announced it was porting Z to the Amiga platform. Previews were featured on dedicated Amiga magazines such as Amiga Future. However, such version never saw the light, and years after its announcement clickBOOM was still advertising an open position for a 68000 programmer to develop the port. All traces of this ongoing work vanished along with the company's involvement in the Amiga scene.
PC version
Z was Bitmap Brothers' first title to be originally developed for the PC, unlike the PC versions of their earlier titles that were ported from Amiga and Atari ST versions.
Analytics
Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!
Related Sites +
-
IGCD Internet Game Cars Database
Game page on IGCD, a database that tries to archive vehicles found in video games. -
The Chaos Regime - The Bitmap Brothers Tribute
Fan site with information, music, reviews and screenshots. -
The ZZone
Fan website with news, forum, downloads etc. -
Wikipedia: Z
A general article about the game in the open encyclopedia. -
Z
Bitmap Brothers' site for "Z".
Identifiers +
Contribute
Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.
Contributors to this Entry
Game added by robotriot.
PlayStation added by //dbz:. BlackBerry added by Sciere. Android, iPhone, iPad added by Kabushi. Windows added by lights out party. SEGA Saturn added by Terok Nor. Macintosh added by Scaryfun.
Additional contributors: Accatone, Kasey Chang, Apogee IV, Yearman, Zeppin, PoliticallyCorrupt, CalaisianMindthief, Starbuck the Third, Victor Vance, Jo ST.
Game added November 1, 1999. Last modified March 6, 2024.