Z (Zed) by Bitmap Brothers
August 24, 2007
Blasting onto the scene of real-time combat games is the Bitmap Brothers’ latest shooter, Z. The time is in the not-so-distant future. The place is on various fictional planets where you are in command of a league of ruthless, party-animal, twisted, cowboy-looking robots primed and ready to take over the galaxy. That’s about the extent of the story line, as Z is geared for Duke Nukem-caliber bloodfests and humor. Z has the same feel as games like Command & Conquer and Close Combat, but with a few interesting twists. While other games of this genre have tried hard to make combat realistic and believable, Z adds a little spice and humor to the slaughtering of masses. Compared to the other games in its class, Z is simple and easy to play, and it is obvious that the main goal is to get the player into some major slaughterfests as soon as possible. The storyline is really just for laughs and the characters are cartoonish robots who act like they are always partying between massive bloodbaths. It is your job to progress through a multitude of missions (C&C style) to eventually wipe your worthless foe from the reaches of the universe. Each mission gets harder and lots of interesting weapons are obtained before you finally win the ultimate battle. Or … if you are not into beating up on your poor computer, you can work on your relationships with your friends as you smash their little robot faces to dust. Z supports a four-player network mode or connection via modem. Hopefully you are getting the idea; Z is high on action and low on storyline … a real planetary ego-romp.
Gameplay
The gameplay and interface for Z is very similar to that of Command & Conquer, and there are no surprises here. You look down on your overhead map and select units to take to battle; it’s very easy to pick up, and you shouldn’t need the manual. 
If C&C is your favorite game, you will be disappointed with Z. There is no base building in the game; in fact, you can’t build any structures, which makes it obvious that the Bitmap Brothers wanted to remove everything that got in the way of pure death and destruction. So you are limited to units (troops and armor) and the bases and structures supplied when you start each new mission. There are flags posted at various strategic points on the battlefield (usually where there are structures), the capture of which should be the player’s goal. Once you capture a flag, the associated building is yours to use, but beware—the enemy lurks near to snatch it back from you. The ultimate goal is to lay siege on the enemy’s base (located at the opposite end of the battlefield, of course) and destroy it, causing your robots to tap a victory keg and act like tin egomaniacs as they party their way to the next mission. There are four missions per planet, then you fly off to a new planet (with new planetary graphics) to cause more death and destruction. I am an avid C&C player, and by far that is my favorite overhead war sim. But Z has its good points, and it does some things that I found to be a refreshing change. For instance, the simplicity is great, especially if you just want to cause havoc for a half-hour, then move on to something else. The missions are not really that long, and the simple idea of "capture the flag" kept me playing longer than I would have expected. On the other hand, unlike C&C, you can’t sit down for hours and engross yourself in strategic and interesting scenarios. In the long run, Z is dry, and the humor and cut scenes are repetitive and get old after a while. Of course, you can remedy this with some good old-fashioned network play … fire up those modems!
Graphics
The graphics are great, done in SVGA, and are very smooth. When structures and units explode, the particles fly up in the air, giving the player a really neat 3D effect. Of course, realism gives way to Wile E. Coyote-style fluff at this point and you realize just how fragile the battlefield really is. In fact, there is a setting where the player can decide just how much explosion debris he/she wants during the game. I found it amusing to blow through canyons and cliffs and watch the debris fly into the air,only to land on and squish my unsuspecting foe. The cut-scenes in Z are nicely done, but they get repetitive fast, and you won’t be amused by them for long. Overall, the graphics are nicely done.
Audio
Standard fare here. Good sound, lots of shooting and dying, etc. Nothing much to say here … or to write home about.
Documentation
Just fine for the simplicity of this game. I used it mostly to look up the different units to see which ones were better for certain situations, etc. I really liked the detail in this area. 
System Requirements
486-66 MHZ processor, 8 MB RAM, MS-DOS 6.0 or greater, VGA Graphics Adapter, 20 MB free hard disk space, 2X CD ROM, Microsoft compatible mouse. The game ran fine on my P-100 with 32 MB of RAM.
Bottom Line
Z is fun, Z is amusing, Z is simple, Z made me laugh (albeit momentarily); Z is action-packed, Z has nice graphics, Z was on my hard drive for more than a week. But Z is not Command & Conquer — case closed. I just can’t get all that juiced over a game that inevitably gets pitted against the ultimate. For its good points, I give Z a 78 out of 100, and hey, if you just want to kill something, go get Z. Who needs to build a base anyway?
Download Z
You can download Bitmap Brother’s Zed from 486games.net compressed in a Rar archive. File size: 10.1 MB (10,556,117 bytes). To run the game you must extract the Z folder contained in the archive to C:\Z otherwise you have to change some settings manually. Also for the sound to work properly in the Zed game you have to run SETSOUND.EXE and select your card model. I did the following: Select and configure digital audio driver -> Creative Labs Sound Blaster or 100% compatible -> Attempt to configure manually.
At last, double click(run) Z.BAT and the game will start. Enjoy!
HI!
Sorry, but where can I download this game(Z (Zed) by Bitmap Brothers)?
Thank you!
hi
i’m fra , sry i’m lookin for Z like u but i don’t know where to DL it …
sorry
bye
Slipknot954
The one thing the author of the article missed to talk about is the AI, i mine self found it in comparison to C&C supior, if compared compare it complete on all fronts.
Hi does this game run in Windows Xp … ??
i have a new videocard, it does still not works. who can help me?
hi i’m italian and i looked for this game for a long time…..now i’d know if this game can start on windows xp….thanks
This game does not run on XP. You’ll need Dosbox (www.dosbox.com)
It works best with version 0.62. I had newer one and with it Z didn’t work so well.
Or if place where you are downloading Z also provides some version of dosbox, you should load it too.
I loaded set with had both dosbox and Z and i had the newer dosbox(0.72 or something) and it didn’t work with new one. Sometimes Dosbox says there is problem. It says that you are missing “main.pac” This should be found in your computer. Use search. Then transfer it to your Z folder. I had few more problem which could be solved just like main.pac -problem.
Also I had problem with Dosbox. It said that It could find the game on d file(or that it couldn’t find something on c file even the game was on d) You have to transfer your game folder there.
After all those problems I got it working
P.s Don’t bother trying to get it work without dosbox. I couldn’t do it even I tried for long.
pp.s Enjoy your play pals!
if someone has problems here my icq uin for question about the game Z under WinXP.
228370699
Guy’s i had the real game and i played it when i was 7 it was one hell of a game, and there is no computer now who can play it that is a real shame.
Hi can anywan tell me where i can just play this game
Hey well i had this game ages ago and just remembered i like it so can any one help me so i can play it because i can only find re iews so…. HELP PLEASE!!!!
I dont understond how play Z whit the F”"” dosbox. allways is missing main.pac
explain plssssssss
are a version whitout CD ??? may be is the CD! dosbox not read the CD
Anyone with a little knowledge of Dosbox, torrent and google can find this game within under 5 min ~~.
Great game, had a lot of fun playing it over 10 years back.
Hi, can you send me Game ZED for WIN XP, please?
my ICQ is 487-454-354.
Thank you very much !!!!
http://zzone.lewe.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28/
the above link shows you how to run it on dosbox, it has a fix for the dosbox config, so paste that in and back up your old config if you run other dos games as well, just remember to mount your CD drive where “X” is, and yes you don’t need the CD just be sure the CD drive match in the Z.bat and the dosbox config because you will get “that” error, and don’t mount your cd drive under your hardrive (c:) because you have already mounted the first directory so mount it as your CD drive (”ooooooh, thats why is does not work”)
if you still have trouble read it again carefully or get someone more computer savvy to do it for you,
Who can explain how it does work?
This game dowload couldnt be installed on my hardrive,i go to the setup want to instlal it,he installs it until 44% and says that he wants to change some sound #0. or something like that.
I want to go on,but he repeats it the whole time,the only thing i can do is to exit it immediatly…
How do I modify the screen mode. I’m using winrar.
Hey, I bought Z but it don’t work perfectly on my computer, compatibility error. if you want, you can buy it on 2xmoincher, a french website.
bye
I have Z in deutch. It worked on my first PC(386)! Now i play in DosBox, even sounds working. I like Z in deutch more than eng version. In ZXP mouse does not working good, it is difficult to aim to objects. How to fix, does anybody know? Sorry my english, i`m from Ukraine.
muy buen juego,, fue mi infanciaa mall
q salga el 3
no si ni siquiera si easta el 2 pero q salga el 3 !!!!
Alguien sabe como instalar y jugar Z en una Pentium IV o una Dual Core 1.8 ? En realidad ya lo isntale pero cuando voy a jugar el juego se sale dayana_732@hotmail.com
No work in my pentium IV heplme please (sorry my english: venezuelan girl) dayana_732@hotmail.com
I am from the philippines. I first played this Game way back in college as a freshman, this game was like no other back then! even after playing the 3D version (i.e. steel soldiers in 2001) this game is still in my personal top 5 classics list* But I lost the CD* and I think it was under Virgin interactive’s license… do you have maybe any information where to order this awesome programming masterpiece? I’d even reinstall win95 all over again if I have to^^
Oh and by the way, I like it so much seeing those crazy robots get squished* under those tank tracks!
Works fine for me with XP and without DosBox but I only hear speech sounds, no weapon sounds etc
can someone help ? 
Hi just wondering if this game will work on vista? is it just the same and getting it to work on xp?
i download the rar file from the link given but it doesnt want to work. when i play it, it asks to install and only gets to about 40% saying volume #0 must be installed… and i say skip to next volume and that dont work so i have to quit … any help?
It says file is broken after extraction- can anyone help…. I just wanna play.
uhmmm why is it that its stop at 44% and it want to have the volume #0 please tell me how to intsall it
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