Herzog Zwei vs Military Madness

[Parallax Scroll]

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. Although Famicom Wars ('88) released a year before Nectaris ('89) in Japan, it would be over a decade before the Wars series would take off, in the form of Advanced Wars. A

Also, whereas Nectaris would be ported to many platforms in the 90s and 2000s, Herzog Zwei remained exclusive to the Mega Drive / Genesis. Yet its impact seems to be greater as it was ahead of its time.

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

[+save2600]

Wouldn't really think to compare the two normally. Had both back in the day and vastly prefer Military Madness, which I still play to this day (great for short bouts). Not sure I care(d) for the action part of Herzog or its brand of split screen comparatively and gave up on it years and years ago. Much prefer turn based military strategy games. Same reason I never really got into Archon I guess.

[Gabriel]

EGM was basically shit for reviews.

 

That said, I picked up Herzog Zwei complete with box for $5 or less when Blockbuster (remember them?) was getting rid of all their cartridge games. I've never been able to get into it. I see people talk about it like it's this fantastic game, but I just don't see it. I like the concept, but the execution falters from where I'm sitting.

 

I didn't get to play Military Madness until it hit the Wii Virtual Console. I was fairly excited at first, but then... Well, it's kind of boring and bland. Admittedly, I didn't play it until long after I played games it gave inspiration to, but I just didn't think it was that good of a grid wargame sort of game. It's OK, but I'd rate it as more of a 6 than a 9.

[TPR]

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.

As someone who worked on Dune II and C&C, I can tell you that those games absolutely had Herzog Zwei as some inspiration. And as much as I love both games, I was always a little partial to Military Madness. But it's one of those "why not have both?" Scenarios.

[NE146]

I was a huge Military Madness fan on the TG16.. I liked the leveling up of the units during the battle.

 

I've always wanted to get into Herzog Zwei.. but just never pulled the trigger on the cart during my Genesis days. When I got it via emulation later, not having a manual was the problem . The manual is obviously available online these days.. I just need to try it again sometime.

[KidGameR186496]

That's the key problem with herzog zwei back in the day and even today,it's accessibility,it's not a game where you can pick up and play immediately

[Parallax Scroll]

As someone who worked on Dune II and C&C, I can tell you that those games absolutely had Herzog Zwei as some inspiration. And as much as I love both games, I was always a little partial to Military Madness. But it's one of those "why not have both?" Scenarios.

 

I really enjoyed Dune II on Genesis and C&C on Saturn/PS1 Outstanding games. C&C Red Alert as well.

 

When I found out Neo Necaris wasn't coming to the Turbo Duo in NA as Military Madness 2, I bought the Japanese PC-Engine CD version.

[TPR]

 

I really enjoyed Dune II on Genesis

Dune II Genesis was one I helped produce, so I appreciate that!

[Parallax Scroll]

Dune II Genesis was one I helped produce, so I appreciate that!

 

I'm curious, what was your first experience with Herzog Zwei ?

 

Mine was summer, 1990. I bought the game from Babbage's. Fired it up, and it took me a few hours to start to understand it. Within a day or so, I was having so much fun just building up defenses around my main base and one secondary base on the Oasis map. Genesis handled it pretty well with 25-30 of my units, but with 40 or more (50 max) things started slowing down, yet still playable. That summer our Sony Trinitron TV/monitor blew out.

I managed to hook the Genesis upto a small portable TV (not much bigger than a Turbo Express!) with the A/V cables and continued playing HZ. Was officially hooked

[Black_Tiger]

Herzog Zwei is a cool arcade style realtime war sim. During the early days of the Genesis, pretty much everything was an arcade style take on a genre, even the kinds of games you'd never see in an arcade (like PSII, Sword of Vermilluon, etc). The early library is similar to the Neo Geo that way.

 

Those EGM scores aren't fair, but Herzog Zwei is definitely a polarizing game and not for everyone. It was cool to play as rental with my friend, but I never would have considered buying it over so many other games.

 

Military Madness was much more fun and rewarding, especially on the Turbo Express. Neo Nectaris will always be one of my favorite games, but I haven't been able to bring myself to play very far into the other Nectaris games.

[NE146]

I loved Military Madness and that caused me to seek out the other Nectaris games including the recent iterations on the PSX & Xbox Live, and to be honest, I just couldn't get far into many of them. I think a lot of the appeal of the TG16 version to me in addition to the gameplay was the music and graphics. It lended a definite feel.. while the other Nectaris games felt slow and plodding with non-existent music. Also the graphics got dull and gray.

Edited February 17, 2016 by NE146