I’m constantly surprised by just how ahead of its time the Atari Lynx was. Developers seemed to push this system in ways that no one bothered with the Sega Game Gear or even Nintendo Game Boy. This leads me to the subject of today’s review; a Lynx game called Battle Wheels. This title is impressive in many ways. For one thing, it’s a handheld 3D game with decent scaling effects and open arenas. Even home consoles at the time struggled with this kind of ambition. Also of note is the fact that BattleWheels is a vehicular combat game from a time before the genre was cool. Trust me when I say that it must be seen to be believed. Let’s take a look.
Taking a note or two from the film Mad Max, Battle Wheels takes place in a post apocalyptic future across many desolate landscapes. In this ruined would mankind has taken to violent and explosive sports for their entertainment. This is where you come in. You begin the game by choosing a car, an avatar, and of course your weapons. At this point you’re thrust into a square arena which you can freely drive around and dispose of foes at your will. It’s a pretty basic premise, but for a handheld game of this time it almost sounds too good to be true.
This is one of the few Atari Lynx games wherein you view the action from a first person perspective. From behind the wheel you can move forward, backwards, and turn left/right. You can also look out both windows of the vehicle to see what is on either side. You have a variety of different projectile attacks but these are limited in ammunition and varied in strength. Your goal isn’t necessarily to survive, rather, you want to rack up more kills than your opponents. When your car is destroyed you simply respawn, and continue the fight until time runs out. I prefer this approach to simply having a game over and being out when you sustain too much damage. You move from match to match and your points (kills) carry over.
The matches are surprisingly dynamic. It’s actually pretty easy to escape from an enemy and circle around to try to attack them from a side where they’re more vulnerable. The interface will indicate which direction you’re being attacked from, and there’s a radar you can use to track the movement of every foe. You can even call up a diagram indicating how much damage you’ve sustained. Gameplay is surprisingly sophisticated for a 3D title released in 1993, that’s for sure. They were definitely pushing the envelope with this release.
Probably the most interesting aspect of this game is the fact that you can exit your vehicle and run around on foot. In this sense it plays like an early first person shooter because you can still fire the basic shot. Without a vehicle however you die from a single hit. Luckily you can hop in an abandoned car, or try your hand on foot for the remainder of the match. The freedom is unprecedented for a handheld title from this time period. You are however at a serious disadvantage when running around because you have only the basic gun and are entirely too fragile.
That’s not all though! Battle Wheels features several different modes of play. You can choose to just fight in a series of matches or a tournament of sorts where you earn money from fights that can be used to upgrade various aspects of your car. The most surprising and advanced feature is multiplayer. You can link together six different Lynx units to play all in tandem. I haven’t been able to experience this one for myself. It’s a crazy advanced feature and although I can’t comment on how well it works but the mere fact that it’s here is mighty impressive. Good luck finding six Lynx systems let alone that same number of people willing to play.
Battle Wheels is very much ahead of its time and plays significantly better than I expected. With that said the game does miss a few marks. Gameplay becomes repetitive almost immediately. There just isn’t a lot of diversity in how you play. You approach the enemy cars, fire until you take damage, move out of the way, and then target another foe. Rinse, lather, repeat. The scaling works well enough but gameplay isn’t quite as dynamic as in a true 3D game. You can’t approach vehicles diagonally, and can only see them from the four sides. This makes aiming pretty easy to be honest, but the game is a bit simple because of this restriction. It’s also a little tough even on the lower difficulty levels.
I love the graphics in Battle Wheels. Seriously, this game looks incredible not only for a handheld game but also as an 8-bit title in general. The scaling is very impressive and more smooth even than in most 16-bit titles that go for similar effects. BattleWheels is also a very colorful game. The cars are easy to differentiate between each other, and they enlarge in a realistic looking way as they approach. The scenery is a bit sparse, but given the hardware limitations it’s fine and there’s nothing particularly offensive about it. The audio is pretty limited but it’s okay. You shouldn’t feel too bad about turning down the volume on this one because the Lynx struggles to push out great music.
Battle Wheels is so far ahead of its time that I still can’t believe it was released for the plain old Lynx. What’s more is it’s still to do this day an exclusive on the platform. Bigger and better vehicular combat games have been released since this one, but there’s a certain novelty in playing such an old one on a now defunct handheld of all things. BattleWheels is a mildly entertaining. One of my goals is to eventually find a way to play this one with friends because I imagine it’s a real blast that way.
