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Develop2016 - Battlezone is a twitchy Doom-like arena battler for PlayStation VR

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Develop2016 - Battlezone is a twitchy Doom-like arena battler for PlayStation VR
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Of all the retro games to get a fancy new, virtual reality remake, the 1980s Atari coin op Battlezone might seem like a weird choice.

But if you're old enough to remember the original arcade cabinet (or, like me, looked it up on YouTube) you'll know that it used a barmy periscope device to let you peer into the game's black-and-white battlefields.

So this new version, which uses the PlayStation VR headset to engross you in the game, isn't a million miles off the original.

In play, Battlezone 2016 is fast and frantic. At times, it feels like classic Doom as you circle strafe around the battlefield, dashing away from enemy fire and lobbing back your own barrage of ordinance. A chaotic dance of rockets.

You'll face rival tanks who are almost as mobile as you, giant turrets that make up for their immobility with their fire power, and flying critters who swarm from the sky. Everything is drawn in bold, coloured vector art that makes it effortless to pinpoint targets.

For controls, Battlezone doesn't try anything too ambitious. You play with the Dualshock 4 (which appears in game, floating around in the cockpit of your tank), moving with one stick and aiming with the other.

And sure, the game would work just fine outside of VR. But it would feel far less futuristic. And those bits between levels where robots fix up your tank like you're sat in the world's most fancy car wash, would feel far less cool.

Battlezone will launch alongside PlayStation VR, on October 13th. Other headsets will follow.

Mark Brown
Mark Brown
Mark Brown is editor at large of Pocket Gamer