Customer Reviews

Herzog Zwei

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Herzog Zwei is a German real-time strategy game Copyrighted in 1989. The name translates roughly to, "Two Leaders", from what I've been told, and that's a fairly accurate description of the game. The game is a series of skirmishes, with two teams, red and blue, each trying to destroy their foe's base. Each player, whether computer or human, has an avatar, a giant transformer style robot/airplane. Little bases are scattered about the map, and most of the gameplay centers around trying to control these. Each little base you control contributes to your per-second income, and gives you a place to create any of the fifteen odd unit types available. The units are given simple orders, represented by icons, such as, defend, patrol, attack the enemy base, or conquer little base. A match can last anywhere from twenty minutes to several hours, depending on the skill of the players involved, and ends when one player's base is destroyed. Herzog Zwei is very probably the first true real-time strategy game, predating the much lauded Warcraft series by several years. Despite its age, it is great fun to play against a friend. The graphics are quite dated, but still functional; the units look different enough from each other that you can always tell what you're looking at and who it belongs to. To any RTS buff with RTS buff friends (and a Sega Genesis), I would strongly recommend this game. Playing against your friends at Herzog Zwei is about as good as it gets without purchasing two computers and playing Starcraft against each other. The single player game is too short to afford a whole lot of play, and the AI is, well, from 1989. If you don't have the kind of friends or siblings who enjoy this sort of thing, you're probably best off looking elsewhere.

Herzog Zwei was like my gateway drug into the RTS gaming world. When it originally appeared in the early '90s, my friends and I would geek out all night with Herzog, junk food, and over-caffienated soft drinks. The game was simple enough to pick up quickly but intricate enough to keep you fascinated. Each unit built had to be given a command, which varied in price depending on what you wanted it to do. So you had to be smart with your money or else you'd end up with a lot of wasted dough. In addition, you have to be concerned with ammo and fuel, because each unit only has a limited amount and will stop running/firing if it runs out. These are the features that make Herzog unique and one of the best RTS games ever!

The first real-time strategy game ever! The game basically deals with two armies, the red and blue, locked in a civil war to destroy one another.

The war is fought over terrains ranging from sand dunes to a futuristic city, from steaming jungles to an underground network of caves. Your arsenal consists of infantry in full-environmental armor to massive TAX-52 tanks and SAM-42 missile launchers. As you progress over the terrain, you take-over factories, while trying to defend your base, and destroy your opponents.

The main unit you control is a transforming mech which can land and transform into an armored soldier or remain in the air as a jet fighter or an air carrier. The game limits you you to a maximum of fifty units, so build carefully, as the troops can be expensive at times.

Each stage of the game consists of four difficulties listed A through D, for a grand total of thrity-two games set in eight stages, with A being the easiest and D being the toughest.

The game itself is set in an overhead, bird's-eye view. The graphics are very good and clear, allowing you to see the details very well, even on a small-screen TV. Asdie from what you can see on-screen, you are also given a radar to detect any nearby enemy units, as well as your own.

So what are some drawbacks? Aside from the occasional lag when the screen displays multiple units of thirty or more, one of the big disadvantages was the fact that you had to purchase commands for units. The AI wasn't so great at times, that it is quite common for many unitsa to be trapped behind simple obstacles. All units outside of infantry and supply trucks require fuel, so if a vehicle was stuck, you can expect it to run out of fuel soon. This can be tedious if you are unaware of the unit's fate, as you must now search for it and it reduces the number of units avaliable to you.

You could also only issue out commands one at a time, which severely limited the ability to attack your opponent in large forces at times. One reason, being units can get trapped as described as above. Two being the need to purchase commands could severely limit your offensive if you are low on cash. And third being some faster units would outpace your slower units, which gives your opponent time to form a defense or to attack your forces on their own.

Still this game is a classic, and its a shame it was never updated to the future Sega consoles.

Herzog Zwei is without a doubt, One of the BEST 2-player games ever created for any system to date!!! Definition: A Timeless Classic Forever!

So I gave this game five stars..... is that because I am incredibly biased or is it actually true. My brother and I spent hours playing this game. It has great game replayability. The graphics were ahead of their time as well as game concept. Even the AI is formidable. It has some of the best FM sound that I heard for a game of it's time.
It was really that fun. Several maps/terrans to choose from. As the terran changes so do the opportunities for unit types.
The smaller base domination is important because the more that you control the more money you can earn.
One play option that my brother and I would do is turn on the two player game start the game and before doing anything we would let the money roll in so as to speed up the game play... watch out though this is old style computing because we learned that the money counter will not rollover but reset after reaching the max amount in the counter.
This is a fun game that put real time startegy on the map.

My only wish is that it would come out on disk for Nintendo or Playstation... my cartige has been played so much that the contact points are suffering.
GREAT GAME

This game is a cult classic that used to retail for 80 bucks. I guess Gen X is finally getting over its nostaligia thing, which is good because, it's a great Genesis game but we didn't need to turn every element of our past into a flipping collectable.

Now, for the RTS thing: I'm not sure if Battletech: Crescent Hawke's Revenge was the first RTS (never played the previous Battletech strategy game - Crescent Hawk's Inception) but it was earlier than Herzog Zwei and, though jerky and on a grid, moved in real time. Not to mention a great game for it's time.

It was also Published by Westwood Studios the guys who eventually brought us Dune II and Command & Conquer and who were eventually bought out by serious collossal mega wankers, Electronic Arts, who promptly dissolved the company and walked off with its licenses.

But back to this game, yes, it's very cool and a damn shame it didn't catch on with the mainstream back when the SNES was a no-show and the Genesis was king. I have never played it in multiplayer but I've heard it's a blast.

Rather than the boilerplate RTS format most of us are accustomed to, in Herzog Zwei you took control of a transformable robot/jet that can also pick up units and drop them. Build infantry at your home base. Drop four of them off and they'll walk over to the nearest neutral or enemy base and take it over. Earn credits faster with your new base to build more units from any base you own. Rinse Repeat That is, until the other guy lies in wait or drops units to kill your infantry. You can kill just about anything in robot mode but the robot is not very fast and easily blocked by terrain. The jet can evade anti-air missiles but it'll get clobbered if you try to transform near a bunch of them.

Kill the enemy tranformer guy and he blows up only to reintegrate at his home base with zero fuel. Oh yeah. Forgot about the fuel. You can fill up at any base. It runs out fast. Sometimes its tactically worth suiciding to get something somewhere sooner than later. There's ammo too but that's mostly relevant to your units who can be refilled automatically by an ammo vehicle with the pathfinding ability of a blind lemming. Units can all be given order types which give them a certain role. As I recall, only 2-3 of them were particularly useful. Some orders cost more than others and can be swapped after a unit is created.

It's not an incredibly well-balanced game and I imagine it would probably end up boiling down to just a handful of the games units actually getting used if somebody ever ported the game for online play but it's a hoot in single player anyway and a very unique experience. Highly recommended and definitely worth 20 bucks.

such a great strategy game that went under the radar. A hidden gem that was alot of fun to play growing up verses the computer or against friends.

Its the best 2 player war game. What happens is that u start off earning money as time goes on. You buy tanks, missles, boats, infrantry, and isbm missles. You can either protect your base or attack your oppents base. You call the shots... Herzog is fun filled.