Z

Z (often referred to as Z: The Game) is a 1996 real-time strategy (RTS) game developed by the legendary British studio The Bitmap Brothers and published by Renegade Software. Releasing during the absolute explosion of the RTS genre, Z completely ignored the slow, methodical base-building of games like Warcraft II or Command & Conquer. Instead, it delivered an incredibly fast, frantic, and humorous game focused entirely on aggressive territorial control.

The premise is delightfully simple and dripping with 90s attitude. You command a foul-mouthed, beer-drinking army of red robots led by the cigar-chomping Commander Zod and his two bumbling subordinates, Brad and Allan. Your sole objective is to eradicate the blue robot army across a series of diverse alien planets, utilizing whatever weapons, vehicles, and factories you can get your metallic hands on.

Gameplay

Z is widely remembered for stripping away traditional economic macro-management. There are no peons, no spice silos, and no gold mines. The game is purely about map control and momentum.

Key gameplay mechanics include:

• Territory Control: Every map is divided into distinct, grid-like territories, each containing a central flag. Sending a unit to touch the flag captures that territory for your team.
• Factory Production: The map is littered with pre-built robot factories, vehicle plants, and radar stations. If you capture the flag of a territory, you instantly take control of whatever facilities are inside it. The factory will then begin manufacturing units for you.
• The Time Mechanic: There are no resources to spend. Instead, production is based entirely on time. A factory takes a specific amount of time to build a tank. However, the more total territories you control on the map, the faster all your factories will produce units. This creates a relentless, tug-of-war momentum where losing map control rapidly snowballs into defeat.
• Vehicle Hijacking: Vehicles in Z do not have their own health bars separate from their drivers. If you shoot the driver of an enemy tank or jeep, the pilot is destroyed but the vehicle is left perfectly intact. Any of your infantry robots can then simply walk up, hop into the empty driver’s seat, and steal the tank.
• Unit AI and Attitude: The robots have highly distinct personalities. They will complain if you give them bad orders, cheer when they blow things up, and if they are left idle, they will literally sit down and start drinking robot beer. They are also prone to panic—if a squad of basic grunts is faced with a massive heavy tank, they might completely ignore your orders and flee in terror.

Development and Legacy

The Bitmap Brothers were already industry legends in Europe, famous for their critically acclaimed Amiga titles like Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe and The Chaos Engine. Z was their massive, highly anticipated pivot to the booming PC strategy market.

Upon its release in the summer of 1996, Z was heavily praised for its gorgeous, highly detailed 2D sprite art, its excellent cinematic cutscenes, and its totally unique approach to the genre. However, the game is also infamous for its absolutely brutal difficulty. The enemy AI is notoriously aggressive and highly competent, constantly flanking your territories and stealing your factories the moment you leave them undefended. There is no turtling in Z—if you play defensively, the AI will capture the rest of the map and simply out-produce you.

The game’s success led to console ports for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn in 1997. In 2001, the franchise made the jump to full 3D with the sequel Z: Steel Soldiers, which added traditional resource gathering and base-building to the mix.

In 2014, the original game was beautifully remastered by Kavcom as Z: The Game, featuring modernized controls and high-resolution support, ensuring that this fast-paced, high-attitude classic remains perfectly playable for modern audiences.

Key Features:

• No Resource Grinding — Skip the gold-mining and focus entirely on aggressive combat and expanding your borders.
• Territory Tug-of-War — Capture flags to take over neutral or enemy factories, constantly shifting the balance of production power.
• Grand Theft Auto in Space — Snipe enemy pilots out of their cockpits and steal their heavy artillery to turn the tide of battle.
• 90s Attitude — Command an army of highly animated, beer-chugging, foul-mouthed robots that will actively talk back to you.
• A True Challenge — Test your RTS skills against one of the most famously ruthless, aggressive AI opponents of the 1990s.

Release Platforms:

• MS-DOS / Microsoft Windows — Summer 1996
• PlayStation / Sega Saturn — 1997
• Z: The Game (Remastered Edition) — 2014 (Currently available via Steam, iOS, and Android)