Any well-done game is likely to become a sales success, but good real-time strategy wargames can make a lot of money for a lot of different people.  Command & Conquer and Warcraft are good examples of the style of game I'm talking about.  The player sees his forces, usually from an isometric or overhead view, and gives orders to go here and attack that.  Most of these popular games require that the player build and nurture resources like barracks and fortresses as the game will build up to one big, frantic, final battle.  The good folks that make up The Bitmap Brothers software development company thought that the really fun part of these games was the actual shooting and destroying of things.  So their new game "Z" is designed for more shooting and less waiting for things to get built.

	Z is not much different in execution from other games before it.  The player has control over different types of robots that go around and do his bidding.  Order-giving is simple - just click on the forces you want to move, then click on where you want them to go and/or attack.  Where Z differs from previous similar efforts is in its humorous style.  For example, General Zod, one of the leaders in this melee, is based on Robert "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" Duvall's character in Apocalypse Now, wearing sunglasses and a military hat while always chomping on his cigar.  But he's just the beginning because Z is chock full of dirty, beat-up robots that drink, swear, and love driving tanks real fast and blowing up anything that can be blown up.  The Bitmap Brothers are using cut scenes for introduction purposes and in between battles in which the player gets to watch Commander Zod and his robot followers as they do what they do best - get drunk, shoot, and get shot at.

	But even though it is a lighthearted attempt at destruction, the gaming is very serious.  While resource building and management is a part of Z, it is more focused on combat and destruction.  Five different types of robots handle small arms, rocket launchers, troop carriers, tanks and more.  Gameplay is very straightforward, with no real mission structure except win.  A blue fort is placed at one end of the battlefield, the red fort is placed at the other, and whoever takes the other fort first is the winner. So, while something like Warcraft requires the player to accomplish such and such a task before moving on to the next mission, in Z the only missions are the ones each side undertakes in order to pummel the enemy.  And when the fighting starts, it's a Tim Allen more-power affair with giant pyrotechnics highlighting the large amounts of firepower that each side is throwing at each other.

 	Even with all of the grunting and destruction that goes along with Z, there is still a strategy element present.  There are factories in the battlefield that produce more soldiers and weaponry throughout the battle.  But the alliance of these factories can change back and forth as the combatants take and lose control of the area.  So in order to replenish an army, each side has to take control and keep control of these factories in order to advance across the battlefield and eventually destroy the enemy's fortress.  An army can't just sit and wait for their factories to make enough weapons to demolish the other side since controlling more territory is the key to increasing production.

	The battlefields themselves change as the armies go from planet to planet.  The first planet is a desert area, while other terrain includes jungles, lava-ridden volcanic areas, and ice worlds where heavy equipment can fall through the ice.	 The designers have even thrown in the possibility of hiding troops underwater in some worlds so they can wait to ambush an enemy that just happens to be passing by.  As you can see, the terrain is not just a place where the battle happens, but it can actually become part of the battle itself.  If there's a rock wall in the way, an army can just blast it to bits in order to get through.

	Of course there is going to be multiplayer capabilities in Z.  What good is being able to blow something up if it doesn't belong to someone you know personally?  Up to four players will be able to blow lots of each other's stuff up at the same time over a network.  Modem play for two-player desolation will also be included.

	Z is looking to appeal to those folks who think finesse is for sissies.  It's kinda like a football game with guns - sure, there's a strategy behind what's going on, but in the end, it comes down to one guy on the field blowing the other guy away.  For folks who love to get into games like Warcraft and kill things, but hate trying to build enough farms to supply soldiers to go mine gold, Z looks like a gold mine itself.  Virgin should be moving out and blowing things up with Z sometime in September.