When I was a young boy, I remember a turn-based strategy game I watched my father play called “Battle Isle.” The story takes place on planet Chromos. It is a society whose technology is seemingly more advanced than modern day Earth. Much of their engineering designs included advanced robots, artificial intelligence, and spaceflight (for the colonization of Chromos’ moons). Each one of Battle Isle’s games characterized a different war. The main objective, no doubt, is to complete each mission in the game. These missions vary from conquering or capturing the enemy, or retreating from them. Some missions have a limited number of turns to achieve the goal, while the presence of other storyline events could dramatically impact the battle, changing the situation. This could be new objectives, reinforcements, or enemies. In some battles, you fight against more than one foe, yet in others, you have more than one ally. However, their intentions may differ from the main idea.
The first game in this series is “Battle Isle: The Moon of Chromos,” or just simply “Battle Isle.” Released in 1991, “Battle Isle” featured levels containing a hexagonal gridded map. Players could control units such as infantry, artillery, mechanized robots, fighters, armored trains, submarines, and warships. Included in this mix were logistic units like ammo and fuel transports, scout and radar units, and road and trench construction vehicles. The latter units added balance to this game, making it more realistic.
I remembered playing this game and getting my butt whooped by an artillery piece for about 10 rounds before all of the sudden, the massacre had stopped. I’d find that same artillery piece somewhere deep within the fog of war or in an uncharted part that I had just revealed! However, the very same misfortune could befall the protagonists’ side if they are not watching their supply.
Also, the player can capture enemy or vacant facilities to produce new units.
The screen was divided in two. The left side depicted the enemy’s progress while the right showed yours. All movements were done in the “Move Phase” while all the attacking was done in the corresponding “Attack Phase.”
The second game, “Battle Isle II: Titan’s Legacy” or alternately “Battle Isle 2200,” released in 1994, added new units to the roster and also more in game elements. Among these were included the joining of the two screens from the first. The enemy could now only be seen if your radar could track their movements, just as in war today. Additionally, the attack and move phases were consolidated into one turn. This feature was a relief from the burdensome buttons in the previous installment that just seemed to take up space and programming lines.
Lastly, the game’s graphics were improved, rising to the 3-D video game standard. This game included wintertime elements. If a sea unit was trapped in snow or ice, the player could not control them. However, land units could pass over such areas until the weather heats up. How unfortunate for those units still on the sheet of ice when that time comes!
The third game, released in 1995, was entitled “Battle Isle 2220: Shadow of the Empire,” featuring a music video by Still Patient, a heavy metal rock group, on the game’s disc. This game added additional units like the battle robot (similar to a mecha).
The remaining two games that followed were “Battle Isle: Incubation” in 1997 (similar to the X-Com and UFO tactical squad games) and “Battle Isle: The Andosia War” in 2001. The latter tried to combine turn-based strategies and real-time strategies. Consequently, the game did not achieve much success in this area as the long-time Battle Isle fans were disappointed in the game’s new direction. They were accustomed to the traditional board-game style consistency within the past Battle Isle games.
There was another Battle Isle game started after the last. With the era of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG) at the turn of the century, this new game opened up the way for the Massively Multiplayer Online Real-Time Strategy (MMORTS), like Starcraft and many others, under the name Battle Isle V: DarkSpace or just DarkSpace.
Regrettably, Blue Byte’s reign of video game making ended as Ubisoft (makers of Rayman and many Tom Clancy inspired games like Splinter Cell) took over. DarkSpace soon became an independently owned project.
In the end comes my review. Although I only played “Battle Isle” II and III, the game still receives a 9/10. Why 9 you say? It’s matter of game play and difficulty level on this issue. I’m not a great fan of turn-based strategy, however; when you have a diverse selection of units to choose, just as in any strategy game, tactical planning is endless!
When I played this game in my young adulthood, I always found myself struggling to get that certain level, so I could just deplete my resources in building up an army of all-powerful specialized units. The only con to this plan is my not being able to advance any further in the game. Similarly, it’s like the fatal flaw of a great general that ultimately leads to his demise.