Battlezone: Rise of the Black Dogs (2000). Play online

Summary

Battlezone: Rise of the Black Dogs brings the 1998 PC classic to the N64 with a fresh Black Dog campaign that never appeared on the computer. The game still mixes first‑person shooting with real‑time strategy, letting you command units while you’re in the cockpit. Multiplayer is thin but varied: a classic deathmatch pits up to four human players or bots against each other, a race mode challenges you to dash between beacons for a set number of laps, and a strategy mode lets you recruit three AI bots to help clear out rivals. Though the online crowd never caught on, the added campaign and the three‑way multiplayer give N64 owners something beyond a straight port.

Storyline

Battlezone: Rise of the Black Dogs drops you into an alternate Cold War where the United States and Soviet Union are battling in space, even on the Moon, while the public remains clueless. As a commander you pilot hover‑tanks from a space‑based platform and can choose between three distinct modes: the American NSDF campaign, the Soviet CCA campaign, or the renegade Black Dog faction that tries to tip the balance.

The American story begins on Luna, moves to Mars, then follows alien bio‑metal relics to Venus, Io, Europa and finally Titan, where the self‑aware Fury weapons turn on both sides and force an uneasy alliance. The Soviet side mirrors this path from Venus onward, with the Black Dogs repeatedly destroying their bases before the Furies betray them.

The Nintendo 64 version adds a dedicated Black Dog campaign, letting players experience the rogue unit’s perspective and its own objectives within the same solar‑system conflict.