The mayhem begins when the devious Marxists-Leninists attack the peace-loving Americans of the National Space Defense Force. Meanwhile, the renegade Black Dogs work hard to gunk things up for both sets of cold warriors. Far from a direct port of the hit PC game, Battlezone: Rise of the Black Dogs features new modes and a game engine optimized for the N64. In Arcade mode, you're a hover-tank pilot, hell-bent on blasting everything in sight. In the one-player Pilot mode, you're a hover-tank pilot who must fulfill demanding missions. In the strategically oriented Commander mode, you obtain and store resources, manufacture new units and command units in battle.

The widely varying mission objectives include reconnaissance, defense, offense and establishing and maintaining bases. In the two-player Pitched Battle, each player commands a squad of teammates. In four-player Death Match, it's every soldier for himself. Wisely, developer Climax Studios is building in a comprehensive series of training scenarios. The battles rage over seven planets and moons.

The Turok-like controls use the C buttons to control movement direction and the Control Stick to aim up and down. The B Button turns off and on the cockpit view or, if you're on foot, switches between a first-person and third-person viewpoint. The R Button initiates vertical thrusters in vehicles.

In the early version, our tank roared lickety-split over the bleak lunar landscape. In a good simulation of what it must feel like to drive in an 0.2 G environment, oversteering is common if you don't ease up on the controls. Leaping from pinnacle to pinnacle with the thrusters took more practice.