Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12486 in Video Games
• Brand: Sega Of America, Inc.
• Platform: Sega Genesis

Customer Reviews

A Real Classic
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.

Revolutionary RTS Game!
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 RTS!
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.