Herzog Zwei

Herzog Zwei
Developer(s)	TechnoSoft
Publisher(s)	TechnoSoft
Platform(s)	Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer Split-screen

Herzog Zwei is a Mega Drive/Genesis game by Technosoft, published in 1989 (released in the United States in early 1990). It is one of the first real-time strategy games, predating the genre-popularizing Dune II, and considered one of the best two-player Genesis games, combining the arcade-style play of Technosoft's own Thunder Force series with a simple, easy-to-grasp level of strategy.

Herzog Zwei (pronounced ['hɛətsok tsvai]) translates from German to Duke Two. It is the sequel to Herzog, which was only available on the Japanese MSX personal computer.

Overview

The instruction manual explains the player's role:

As the high commander, you're in charge of mobilizing and controlling all troops. You must occupy the neutral bases and gain control of the enemy's advance bases. You decide what weapons to deploy and where to place your forces. You must also protect your occupied territory from enemy attacks. Your final objective --- and the final battle --- is destroying the enemy's base camp.

In Herzog Zwei, the player directly pilots a flying transformer, a multi-role vehicle suited for utility and combat. Through the transformer, the player purchases surface combat units, airlifts them across the battlefield, and issues them orders. These command activities can only be performed through the transformer. Vehicles follow their assigned orders (which are fairly basic: patrol, garrison, capture base) until they either run out of fuel or are destroyed. Tactical re-deployment (mission reassignment, vehicle repair) involves a great deal of micromanagement, due to the required involvement of the transformer.

Both the player's ground-forces and the transformer have finite fuel and ammunition. A prolonged engagement requires considerable micromanagement, as vehicles will not auto-repair, and the fragile combat-supply vehicles have limited radius of service.

With a total of eight different types of land-units to purchase, the player can determine the composition of his army. Each combat vehicle type represents a tradeoff between speed, anti-air, ground-attack, and cost. Units are assigned mission-orders from a menu selection: "fight from a fixed position", "patrol this area", "fight in fixed radius," "go to/attack/occupy intermediate base." New orders can only be issued during airlfit, and every time a unit's mission-orders are re-assigned, a cost is incurred.

In addition to the the player's main base, there are nine permanent (outposts) scattered across the battlefield. These indestructible buildings are the only production resources on the battlefield players. Once under a player's control, an outpost generates additional revenue (for purchase of units), and serves as a remote base of operations (repair/refuel, pickup delivery of purchased unit.) A key strategy is to capture as many outposts as possible, or deny enemy use through nuisance actions.

Herzog Zwei supports both single-player mode (against the AI), and two-player mode (head-to-head.) In single-player mode, the entire screen is devoted to the human-player's field of view. However, the game's unsophisticated AI renders the single-player experience lacking. The game partially offsets the AI's inherent weakness by increasing the armor and offensive-damage of computer player side with each advancing level.

The game concept of a central command/fighting vehicle directing other friendly units to attack remote enemy base appeared in past games, such as Sir Tech's 1984 game Rescue Raiders. However, Scott Sharkey states that the 1988 game Modem Wars was possibly "[t]he closest predecessor" to Herzog Zwei.

Mechanics

File:Herzog Zwei 2player.png

A two-player game in action

The mechanics of Herzog Zwei make it a game with a slower feel than most modern RTS games, making for more thoughtful play. The player's view of screen is always centered on the player's transformer. The player can pilot the transformer to any location on the map, while shooting at enemy units, airlifting friendly ground vehicles, or placing purchase orders for more vehicles. If the transformer is destroyed in battle (or runs out of fuel), a new transformer respawns over the player's primary base. Unlimited respawn allows the transformer to engage in suicide tactics, as it is essentially a disposable asset.

Although the vehicle purchasing-menu can be activated from anywhere on the battlefield, only one vehicle may be purchased at a time. The completed order must picked-up from a friendly base (by the player's transformer), before the next purchase can be made. The game has a hard upper-limit of 100 active units (50 per player.) But when a game-session exceeds active seventy units, the console slows down, making play difficult.

Herzog Zwei requires the transformer-vehicle to airlift vehicles for close-inspection and mission-reassignment. Later RTS games use the virtual-console style of interface, allowing direct control of any player-owned vehicle.

To complete the game in single-player mode, the player must defeat the computer on each level four times, each time representing an increasing level of difficulty. When the game is completed, the ending offered differs depending on whether the player played as the first player (red), or the second player (blue). Two-player mode divides the screen into two playfields. Each player can see the opponent's actions, eliminating any element of surprise.

Levels

A key aspect of the game play is how the player interacts with the environments of the different levels. Each of the eight levels takes place in a different location that requires a different strategy for attacking the other side. Some levels have a large, physical barrier in the middle of the level that prevents a user from launching a direct ground attack at the main base in a timely fashion. For example, the jungle stage Waldung has a large swamp in the middle of the board that slows troops movement and eats up energy. Other levels, such as the volcano stage Vulkan are covered in lava rivers that will destroy any unit that comes in contact with it. This makes it difficult to launch ground assaults against the main bases as well as the mini-bases as the individual units artificial intelligence is quite limited. Only three of the levels, Strand, Eisfrei, and Oase, have bodies of water that allow boats to be launched against the enemy. The Abgrund level features a river but the player is not allowed to purchase boat units.

On all levels with the exception of Abgrund, the both sides start off with a certain number of mini-bases already claimed. In Abgrund, all bases are neutral, including those directly near the main base.

Reception

Herzog Zwei was not a huge success, due to its lack of marketing, relatively early release on the Genesis platform, and non-arcade genre on what was considered an arcade game console. Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the game a rating of 4.25 out of 10. However, long after its release, it achieved popularity. 132 GameSpot users gave Herzog Zwei an average score of 8.8 out of 10. It is often found on several "best of..." lists of video games, owing to its precedence in the real-time strategy genre, as well to the increasing understanding of finer points of its gameplay.

A sequel was planned for Sega's 32X platform, but with the subsequent failure of that console, so, too, died the plans for a third Herzog title. With Technosoft closing its doors in 2001 and the status of the intellectual property being unknown, the future of the series is likely sealed.

External links

• Herzog Zwei at MobyGames
• A Herzog Zwei homepage (contains passwords of all 32 levels, and weapons statistics)
• Technodynamic Herzog Zwei Shrine Technodynamic has a write-up on this game with unit information.
• Join the Herzog Fight Set and compare level times and "kill" stats.