Anyone remember the really strange showing that Ubisoft did for BattleTag at E3 2010?
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I think their demo had most people scratching their heads wondering what the hell was going on... I have to admit that at the time I was a little more than intrigued. Having kids that are always running around our house shooting Nerf guns at each other something like this could be a blessing for me. Could this BattleTag thing be the end of having to pickup pieces of torn foam after the lawn mower ran over a Nerf dart?
I followed the development of BattleTag for a while after E3 and finally before Christmas 2010, Ubisoft announced a limited "soft" release. The system was only available at Toys R Us stores in Austin, Texas, some stores in Canada, and online at the Ubishop. I jumped online and immediately dropped the $130 for the 2-Player Starter Pack, no second thoughts.
If you aren't familiar with BattleTag; BT is basically an updated version of Laser Tag. However, it doesn't end there... BattleTag takes it a step further and can be considered a real life First Person Shooter, complete with bases, ammo packs and health kits.
The Starter Pack consists of 2 guns, 2 vests each with 4 sensors (front, back, right and left shoulder), Team 1 base unit, Team 2 base unit, 2 ammo packs, Ubi Connect USB base and CD based software.
The guns, known as T-Blasters, communicate with the base station known as the Ubi Connect. I was expecting the guns to be like toy guns, but I was pleasantly surprised upon picking one up. The guns are heavier than they appear and probably weigh about a pound each. The guns feel like they are quality built and have a rubber grip. Each gun has a digital display that shows pertinent game information to the player during game play. The gun display shows players health, ammo, and connection status. The player can toggle between different displays using a button located below the display. The guns also have force feedback to indicate that you have been hit. There is a button that is located on the bottom of the gun under the barrel that comes into play during various game types. I will touch more on this button and game types later...
The guns are connected to the players vest via a spiral cable that allows for ample movement during game play. The vest is light weight and has adjustable straps that can be adjusted to fit various body types. At 230lbs I don't have any issues getting into or out of the vest, but I don't think the vest would fit a 300lb person. The vests have 4 sensors on them that sense when the player has been shot. There is a front, back and right/left shoulder sensors. I also think that the tip of the gun has a sensor as well that others can aim for, but I have not been able to confirm that. When you shoot a person their sensors flash indicating a hit.
One interesting feature of BattleTag is that players can have limited ammo & health. The 2-Player Starter pack comes with 2 Team T-Bases and 2 Ammo Packs. Team T-Bases are plastic boxes about 2.5" tall and 4" in length. Team 1 is blue and Team 2 is red. These bases act as spawn points after a player has been killed in certain game types. In some game types if a player runs out of health they must run back to their Teams T-Base, tag the base with the button located under the barrel of the gun before they can re-spawn. Ammo bases are like Team T-Bases in size, but they are orange color on one side and they have ammo shells molded into the plastic. To reload the player grabs the ammo pack, touches the button to the pack and the gun is reloaded.
The Ubi Connect is a circular antenna that is connected to a PC via a USB cable. This is used to transmit and receive data to and from the T-Blasters. The computer acts as a game master and it keeps track of time, score, and it sends data to program the guns for the selected game type. The Ubi Connect can also be used as a target in a few select game types. The specifications of BattleTag state that the Ubi Connect has a range of 300 yards, 3 football fields. This range is NOT the range that the guns can fire, but is the range of communication from the Ubi Connect to the players T-blasters. While I haven't tested the range, it does cover our whole battlefield area.
The BattleTag software is where I think the game could really use some improvement. While the software does what it is supposed to do it is a little buggy at times. Since the initial release the software has been patched and is becoming more and more stable, after-all this is still a limited "soft" launch period. I do believe that as the game matures this is really where the BattleTag can shine. Right now there are about 10 different game types that can be selected. Game types range from a Wild West 2 person duel to a semi-capture the flag type game. Depending on the game type selected you can program the game settings for how you want to play. You can select the amount of health and ammo each player starts out with as well as how much ammo is in ammo packs and how many times a person can reload. Ubisoft has made comments about user created games eventually and I think this can really add depth to game types. Right now the software only has game types for up to 8 players, but Ubisoft has stated that 40 player games will be possible.
Our first game - For our first game we played a quick game of Starter Frag. This is just an all out shoot fest. Shoot and be shot; the winner is the one with the most hits when time is up. We picked this game type because there are not any advanced settings and is a very quick game to get into. This gave us a chance to see the range on the guns and the Ubi Connect.
For most people a laptop would be ideal for BattleTag, but my setup at home is a bit different than the normal user. We have several larger LCD screens hooked up to multiple PC's (mame cabinet and digital pinball machine) in my garage. The kids can easily setup the game and hear the game master while playing. The system states that the range is 300 yards and with full battery power in the guns we have come close to achieving this range. However, to get the maximum range I had to place the Ubi Connect just outside the garage on a 6ft pole and it is connected through a couple USB extension cables. This enables our playfield, or battleground, to be our whole cul-du-sac using front and back yards as well. Of course the range on the guns is NOT 300 yards; the 300 yard range is the distance that the guns/Ubi Connect can communicate game information. The guns seem to register hits fine at 200ft.
After getting use to the software and different game types; my 9 year old son and I tend to like more strategic game play. We will set health down to 3 and have limited ammo/reloads. This type of game play stops the run-n-gun and really makes you think about your strategy. I think with 4 or more players this gametype could be very fun. We are still experimenting with various game types and settings to see what is best for our current setup.
Overall, I must say that I am quite impressed with the BattleTag system. Ever since I purchased it, I have not had to pick up a single Nerf dart!
[size=8]Score: 8/10[/size]New Expansions for BattleTag:
Since I purchased our 2-Player Starter Pack back in December; Ubisoft has added the Med-Kit Expansion kit that comes with 2 Health Kits and Team T-Bases for Team 3 & Team 4 to their online store. For $20, I just received our Med-Kit Expansions and plan to put them to use sometime this weekend. They have also released the T-Blaster Expansion Pack that contains a T-Blaster and vest, at $60 each. For just $10 more than the cost of 2 T-Blaster Expansions; I think it would be a better purchase to just get another starter kit for the additional ammo packs and have a backup Ubi Connect if needed. I do plan on doing this in the very near future as 2 players just isn’t enough.
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Topic: Review: BattleTag by Ubisoft (Read 9655 times)
