Battle Isle

Storyline

The Battle Isle storyline is set on a fictional planet called Chromos, whose society is technologically slightly more advanced than that of contemporary Earth, possessing the knowledge of advanced robotics (robots), computers (AIs) and limited spaceflight (enough to set up space colonies on the moon of Chromos). The individual games represent various wars that took place on Chromos.

Gameplay

The first three games are played on a hexagonal grid for a map. Players not only control the combat units (ranging from infantry and tanks to helicopters, fighters and bombers, armored trains, surface warships and submarines, stationary gun turrets), but (especially in the later games) also many support logistics units (ammo and fuel transports, scout and radar units, road and construction vehicles, and others). Units have various weapons and can gain experience (which in later games can be transferred over in a campaign). Fuel and ammo is limited, and logistics require careful attention. Players also control buildings, where units can be repaired, and sometimes, produced. Weather conditions change, affecting unit movements (for example, a sea or river can freeze, immobilizing ships but allowing light units to move through it). Fog of war is prevalent and players have to use scouting units to gain information about the battlefield. Some of those options were added in expansions or sequels.

Players have various tasks, ranging from eliminating all opponent forces to capturing specific buildings or protecting certain units or places. In some missions events from outside the battlefield can suddenly change the situation, giving players new objectives, reinforcements, allies or enemies. In some battles there are more than two sides, each with their own objectives, not all of them directly involved in hostilities - some of them can be even allied. At the same time, those allegiances can change because of some events or actions.

Battle Isle one had the screen divided into two parts, one for each player. The turns were also divided into move and attack phases. While one player moved his units, the other commanded his own troops to carry out his actions. Battle Isle 2 gave the player the entire screen, and merged move and attack phases, and introduced the 3-D display of combat. Battle Isle 3 was very similar to Battle Isle 2, with improved graphics, more units and a new storyline. Battle Isle: The Andosian War was entirely set in the 3-D environment and combined elements of real-time and turn-based strategies.

The AI is relatively weak, relying on mass frontal assaults. After a player survives the first few turns and the AI's overwhelming numbers using protected artillery and terrain advantage, the computer is usually unable to mount a proper defense.

History

Battle Isle was Blue Byte's first big success in Europe. It was completed in 1991. Inspired by the Japanese game Nectaris for the PC Engine, Battle Isle spawned numerous add-ons, sequels (most notable are Battle Isle 2 from 1993 and Battle Isle 3 from 1995) and imitations. Of those among the most notable is BlueByte's own History Line: 1914-1918 from 1993, which moves the science fictionish climate of Battle Isle into the times of First World War. Others include the open source projects of Crimson Fields and Advanced Strategic Command.

After the release of Battle Isle 2 Blue Byte decided to release a Windows version on CD that was internally referred to as Win CD. This would be one of the very first games for Windows (3.11/95 and NT). The program was to be converted to Windows while the maps were to be replaced with new ones and a new storyline was to be written. The project was led by Patric Lagny who wrote the video player for Battle Isle 2 and had many of the original graphic artists from the Battle Isle 2 team. While the program was being developed, Blue Bytes Marketing Department suggested to name this product Battle Isle 3 instead of marketing it as a Data CD for Battle Isle 2 with Windows support.

Battle Isle achieved cult status, with over 600,000 copies having been sold. There were two data disks released for Battle Isle 1, and one for Battle Isle 2. Battle Isle 3 represented the most developed variant of Battle Isle 2. However, in the late 1990s Blue Byte decided that the old model was no longer sufficient and decided to change the model of the series.

In 1997 a new Battle Isle game was released as a 3-D tactical squad game: Incubation, similar to UFO: Enemy Unknown; later in 2001 Battle Isle: The Andosia War which tried to bridge the gap between turn-based strategies and real-time strategies, but both titles, while mildly successful, alienated many older players who had come to expect that the Battle Isle brand would represent traditional, board game style games.

Blue Byte attempted to use the Battle Isle brand name on yet another game (and genre), this time a MMORPG DarkSpace, which for a time was known as Battle Isle V: DarkSpace, but after Blue Byte was bought by Ubisoft the DarkSpace became an independent project.

The first games were available for the operating systems Amiga and DOS. Later, Microsoft Windows became the target for the games.

As of 2010, there is no official Battle Series game in development.

In 2013, Stratotainment, LLC, a mobile game company owned by Thomas Hertzler (Co-Founder of Blue Byte Software), announced the development and the reboot of Battle Isle. Battle Isle:Threshold Run was scheduled for iOS release in 2013. After several delays, the project was halted in September 2014.

Clones

Battle Isle has inspired two free open source clones:

Both clones include a map editor and a converter that can load Battle Isle and History Line maps.

Games in the series

Reception

Overall, the Battle Isle series has received positive feedback in reviews. In a 1992 survey of science fiction games Computer Gaming World gave the title three-plus stars out of five, writing that "it was "Enjoyable for the persistent gamer looking for new worlds to conquer".