Herzog Zwei is a Sega Genesis game by TechnoSoft , published in 1989. It is one of the first real-time strategy game, predating the genre-popularizing Dune II. Many also consider it one of the best two-player Genesis games. It is the sequel to Herzog.

Herzog Zwei (pronounced hay-a-tsohk tsvai) is German for Duke's Two, reflecting its two-player nature. It can be played alone, and the weak AI of the computer opponent is offset by having many more units than the player.

The mechanics of Herzog Zwei make it a game with a slower feel than most modern RTS games, making for more thoughtful play. It was not a huge success, due to its lack of marketing, relatively early release on the Genesis platform, and its non-arcade genre on what was considered an arcade game console.

Objective

The objective of the game as defined in the user's manual:

War!

The world is at war! When you turn on your Genesis Game System, the Title screen appears. Then the demonstration battles begin.

As the high commander, you're in charge of mobilizing and controlling all troops. You must occupy the neutral bases and gain control of the enemy's advance bases. You decide what weapons to deploy and where to place your forces. You must also protect your occupied territory from enemy attacks. Your final objective --- and the final battle --- is destroying the enemy's base camp.

Mechanics

Herzog Zwei has eight different land-based units and a unit representing the player, a transformable flying/land-based robot. Units can be picked up and dropped by the player, saving the power of the carried unit. Units are given orders such as "fight from a fixed position", "patrol this area", "fight in fixed radius," "go to/attack/occupy intermediate base" via six "programs" which cost differing amounts of money to activate.

The maximum number of units allowed in the game at once is one hundred (fifty for each player), but after seventy units the console slows down, making play difficult.

In addition to the two main bases are six neutral bases that can be captured to provide power.

External links

• Herzog Zwei at Home of the Underdogs (contains a download of the game)
• A Herzog Zwei homepage (contains passwords of all 32 levels, and weapons statistics)