Beach Head 2000 (Mac)

Other products by Macsoft

Product Features

• Unlimited Levels of Pulse-Pounding Action, non-stop hardcore shooting action that simulates the drama of military conflict.
• Photo-realistic 3D graphics (no hardware acceleration required)
• Enemy targets include jet fighters, bombers, attack helicopters, tanks, landing troops and more.
• Shell-shock inducing sound and special effects.

Product Details

• Our recommended age: 12 - 20 years
• Manufacturer recommended age: 0 months and up
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004Y2OU
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: October 17, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #29,173 in Video Games (See Bestsellers in Video Games)

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  Video Games > Mac Games > Action > Shooter

• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

GameSpot
If you've seen Saving Private Ryan, you might agree that the first scene in the World War II film stands out from the rest. The scene lasts around 25 minutes, and it's an incredibly visceral, visually graphic re-creation of the D-day invasion of Normandy. The action takes place from the perspective of the American troops who storm Omaha Beach in armored landing crafts only to meet with a deadly barrage of mines and enemy fire. WizardWorks, the same publisher that brought you Deer Hunter, tries to capture the intensity of a WWII beach attack in Beach Head 2000, a loose remake of an old Commodore 64 shooter. For a short time, it may prove to be a fairly entertaining diversion. However, Beach Head 2000's limited gameplay won't hold your attention for long.

In Beach Head 2000, you're a lone turret gunner defending a stretch of beach that's under siege. You view the beach from a first-person perspective and aim using the mouse. Your turret is equipped with a machine gun, a howitzer cannon, and guided surface-to-air missiles. You also have a handgun to use as a last-ditch defense. At the beginning of each level, you're given a limited amount of ammo for each gun. Much of the game strategy comes from deciding when and where to employ this precious supply of ammo. Fortunately, supply aircraft make frequent parachuted ammo and health drops. But to obtain these, you've got to shoot the drop package itself. Attempting to nail these drop-offs with anything but a machine gun poses a considerable--and at times frustrating--challenge. Even if you get the extra ammo, you may still come up a few missiles or rounds short, which can make completing the level nearly impossible.

Beach Head 2000's graphics are OK sometimes, but pretty rough in certain respects. The enemy choppers, armored personnel carriers, landing craft, tanks, and bombers are rendered in 3-D with real-time lighting effects--and they actually look decent. The problem is that many of the units pop up out of nowhere, almost as if the game were rendering them late. The infantry troops don't look nearly as good: the foot soldiers are acceptable, but only from far away as they file out of the armored landing crafts. As they draw closer, their choppy animation and 2-D photo-scanned faces look silly.

Beach Head 2000's gameplay is fast paced and straightforward. It plays similarly to old arcade shooters such as Operation Wolf and Terminator 2, only the screen doesn't ever scroll in any direction. The levels steadily increase in difficulty until it seems as if they won't get any harder. After that, you just continue on and rack up as many points as you can by gunning down the enemy. You can't actually win. The game grows old quickly, as taking out the stream of enemies in each level becomes repetitive. Even the enemy units themselves soon become predictable, as the ground and air units seem to repeat the same maneuvers over and over again. Also, although your inability to move makes sense in the context of the game, it makes the game much less engaging.

Beach Head 2000 isn't horrible, though it's not ambitious at all. It has moments that can be satisfying, and the gameplay is quick and easy to learn. If you're a casual game player looking to let off a little steam in a WWII environment, you might enjoy Beach Head 2000 for a little while. But the game isn't suitable for anyone else. --Copyright (c) 2000 GameSpot, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.

Product Description
Beach Head 2000 (MAC CD-ROM), Product# 21600

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good graphics, but not too challenging., December 11, 2001

By	Gregory Nickerson (Providence, RI United States) - See all my reviews

I find once you get above level 60 or so the game is virtually unplayable. But getting there was a fun, albeit short, few days. I found a few bugs in the product but nothing earthshattering and they have patches on the website already to fix the issues.

I got it on sale, so I felt I did get my money's worth.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Simple, powerful, tense shore defense, November 8, 2001

By	Peter Lorenzi (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Based on a simple design and premise, it takes seconds to start. From your pillbox on the beach you fend off wave after wave of increasingly powerful attacks. First, the landing boats. Tanks and landing craft. Helicopters and jets. Bombers. They keep coming.

Efffective retrieving of first aid and ammunition (bullets only, no missles) in the middle of the wave will extend your life. The reward for successful ammunition and battlefield management is to clear out the current wave, fully reload, breathe for a second, and take on the next wave. Bunched up landing troops are easy targets. A well-placed anti-tank shell destroys an entire landing craft, some of which include tanks and personnel carriers. Missles work well against jets, but need to be aimed with some accuracy. In a pinch, helicopters and jets can be machine-gunned into a flaming crash. With a little trial-and-error, I was up to level 14 pretty quickly. And you can save your work at each level and not have to start from scratch each time you return. Admittedly, it then became a bit mind-numbing and I have since set the game aside.

The graphics are quite clear. The carnage is evident (blood splatters, bodies fly through the air) but not especially graphic and not at all stomach churning. The game works best as a way to let off steam and to test your focus on the very demanding task at hand.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good quick action fix, July 17, 2001

By	David T. Ayers "daudio" (Royal Oak, MI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Many have panned this game. Probably from the perspective of the more complex and expensive games like Quake and Unreal. But I find that I can start up Beachhead and be blowing up stuff in just a few seconds, play for as long or short as I want and pop right out. Other, 'better' games such as Descent seem to require a big commitment of time to get set up and running (and keeping them running). I like it and have friends who have really gotten into beachhead 2000, even getting up to level 50-something, So it does work for some people and for some moods.