Best of Sega Genesis Games: Herzog Zwei
Sega Genesis had thousands of games. Many were clunkers. Some were great. Herzog Zwei was one of the greats. I still play it from time to time because it’s so great.
Herzog Zwei is the forerunner of games like Starcraft or Command & Conquer. All are strategy based games of war. In Herzog Zwei there are two main bases, Red and Blue. The game is won when one of those bases are destroyed.
How to Play
To accomplish that task you build units, take over outpost bases, and directly engage with the enemy. You control the main airship which can carry units, shoot, and transform between an air born or land based fighter.
The only control you have over the units are issuing commands, such as attack, defend, or remain stationary. There’s a long range and short range radar to give you real-time information about what’s happening on the battlefield.
It starts off slow but things pick up fairly quickly. Switching between building units, directly fighting enemy units, and keeping an eye on who controls which outpost bases keeps you busy.
Taking and keeping outpost bases is a constant battle throughout the game. Acquiring an outpost base close to your enemy gives you a huge advantage. It allows you to launch more attacks against their main base.
Building an Army
You start with the main base, a little money, and the primary fighter you control. From there you need to build an army. Infantry is the cheapest, quickest unit to build. From there are Motorcycles, Armored cars, SAM (surface to air missile) units, supply units, Tanks, attack boats, and the extremely costly Cannons.
The more bases you control the faster you earn money. At first, you can only afford to build infantry to take over other bases. Eventually you’ll afford to build defense units for your bases, and attack units to help attack enemy bases.
The map maxes out at 50 units so it isn’t huge battles like many modern war strategy games. However, battles between 3 or 4 units are still a lot of fun.
The air/ground mech unit you control has limited fuel and ammo. If it runs out of fuel or is destroyed in battle it respawns at the main base. It automatically refuels and repairs at any base you control.
Exploring the Maps
Apart from the engaging fighting, Herzog Zwei has 8 different maps to choose from. Each map offers a unique war experience. The Strand map is made up entirely of small islands, while the Stadt map has no water or obstacles.
Vulkan is full of craters and lava flows. Which cause massive damage to any units that enter them. Eisfrei is a frozen world of ice, snow, and a few islands in the middle.
Waldung has a tap pit in the middle surrounded by mountains. Units move very slowly through the center of the map. Oase has a lake in the middle surrounded by flat lands and trees.
Abgrund is the first map. It looks most like a typical battlefield on Earth with low lands, high lands, rivers, cliffs, and trees. Loch looks like the surface of the moon. It has some obstacles like Abgrund, but is mostly open.
Each map offers a different experience since each map has it’s own advantages or disadvantages. Maps with few obstacles tend to have more fighting and less strategy based. While maps with many obstacles tend to rely more on strategy and seem to have fewer engagement.
This is a generalization, since even the island based map can have intense fighting at times. Also, sneak attacks or flanking strategies can win the map without any obstacles. The best part is each map offers a different style of play.
Conclusion: A Great Sega Genesis Game
Herzog Zwei is one of the original strategy games. It implemented a mini map, resources, army units, bases, and top down view for fighting. Plus a variety of maps to play on.
The slow build bogs it down compared to modern games. But it’s still one of the best!
Best of Sega Genesis Games: Herzog Zwei brought to you by: David M.
I’m David M. I’ve been playing video games a long time, my pong game was fire. Now, my kids run circles around me but we always have a good time. We mostly play party and family games. Strategy and battle games are still among my favorites. I like writing about games almost as much as I do playing them. My favorite games are: Moving Out 2, Out of Space and Overcooked All You Can Eat.
