Herzog Zwei vs Military Madness

[parallaxscroll]

I enjoyed the hell out of both games, on Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 respectively. They each had tremendous replay value, Herzog Zwei especially.

Here is how Electronic Gaming Monthly rated them in early 1990.




Personally I think Herzog Zwei was more revolutionary, as it pioneered the Real-Time Strategy genre. Everything from Dune II / The Battle for Arrakis on PCs and Genesis to Command & Conquer, all the way to today's AirMech Arena were either partly or fully inspired by HZ. At the same time, Military Madness (aka Nectaris) was a best-of-breed example of console turn-based strategy.

So, what's your take on the EGM reviews, and your own thoughts on these two games?

[celerystalker]

I like both of these two, but I prefer Herzog Zwei. It looks like the EGM reviewers didn't really understand Herzog Zwei, and rated it accordingly. It seems like they just didn't spend the time it takes to truly get that one, whereas Military Madness is very accessible and looks like what it sounds like.

[Tanooki]

I guess I don't understand it either as I feel is sucks in all the same ways, mind you I have likely less time than they probably suffered through on the game. I think the 9 and 8 are too high on MM/Nectaris either but it is a solid game from the era a good 7-7.5 level title for the reasons they briefly covered.

[celerystalker]

I guess I don't understand it either as I feel is sucks in all the same ways, mind you I have likely less time than they probably suffered through on the game. I think the 9 and 8 are too high on MM/Nectaris either but it is a solid game from the era a good 7-7.5 level title for the reasons they briefly covered.

I'd agree that they were a tad generous with Military Madness. I can see an 8, but 9 seems a little high, as even for the time it wasn't innovating or anything. It was just really fun and accessible. With Herzog Zwei, though, they were clearly confused by both the real-time strategy and the fact that you move your ship directly like Thunderforce II, which was pretty recent at the time, and I don't think they could get past that. Their brains went into action game mode and couldn't go back. My initial reaction to the game was similar, as I had no warning to what it was either. Just a loose cart in a Genesis, and it took one of my buddies who was familiar with it giving me an explanation to figure out what I was doing. Once there, though, I thought it was a superior game.

[Koa Zo]

Thank goodness I didn't see that EGM review back in the day. They highly influenced my purchases and I'd have never picked up Herzog Zwei had I seen that.
Thankfully, and I've recounted this story elsewhere previously, an uncle had a subscription to CG&VE, and one Thanksgiving holiday I was visiting with him and he gave me a few magazines.
VG&CE spoke very favorably of Herzog Zwei which led me to an eventual purchase. For years after - to this day even! - it has stuck with me how VG&CE suggested that a future sequel to Herzog Zwei could make use of the Telegenesis modem. Oh what could have been!

[parallaxscroll]

Thank goodness I didn't see that EGM review back in the day. They highly influenced my purchases and I'd have never picked up Herzog Zwei had I seen that.
Thankfully, and I've recounted this story elsewhere previously, an uncle had a subscription to CG&VE, and one Thanksgiving holiday I was visiting with him and he gave me a few magazines.
VG&CE spoke very favorably of Herzog Zwei which led me to an eventual purchase. For years after - to this day even! - it has stuck with me how VG&CE suggested that a future sequel to Herzog Zwei could make use of the Telegenesis modem. Oh what could have been!

Nice post.

I'll look through the few issues of VG&CE that I have, as well as the issues which have uploaded online to see if I can find any previess, reviews, comments, etc.
I also remember the multi-format , Game Players magazine featured a nice little strategy guide for Herzog Zwei.

If I find anything... Ah I did (tho not the Game Players mini strategy guide I mentioned)

GP preview:


VG&CE review:

[Gamevet]

I'm guessing that the EGM reviewers didn't play Herzog Zwei with 2 players. It was one of the best 2 player games of that time. There was nothing like seeing your friend trying to fly into your home base, and watching him get flogged by a storm of rockets from the Jolly Rogers.