Z

With the RTS genre exploding, industry legends Bitmap Brothers tried their hand with the ever overlooked but superb Z, a comical, challenging and at times infuriating game.  Z was slightly different to any other game before or since, entirely avoiding the tried and tested method of collecting resources and buying units. Instead Z had territories to capture, with units building over time so as long as you hold a territory for the allotted time. Lose the territory however and the opposing team could then use the buildings on the territory to do their evil bidding instead.  Once the first few missions are complete the game completely ramped up the difficulty, and during the last couple of missions it was practically impossible to keep up with what’s on screen. 

Z: Tongue in cheek.

A nice inclusion in Z was the funky cut scenes which shared a similar style to those seen in the original worms, which acted as light comedy relief to brighten up an otherwise very serious genre. The game’s sense of humour could often become infuriating however; when you started doing badly your troops would shout abuse at you and berate you for being ’rubbish’.  Z’s a game that any self respecting RTS fan should take the time to go back and play if you’ve not already: It’s held up extremely well over the years, and even if you don’t appreciate the gameplay, you will appreciate the humour.