THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE

3D COMBAT ZONE 
 
PUBLISHER
Artic 
 
AUTHOR
Jon Ritman 
 
YEAR: 
1983 

CATEGORY
3D Shoot'em-up

DESCRIPTION: 
3D Combat Zone is a clone of the arcade game Battlezone by Atari.
The game uses 3D wire frame graphics to render the enemy tanks, 
saucers and other objects. There are two types of tanks you can 
encounter, the first is typical cannon fodder but is still quite 
intelligent. The second type which you encounter later on is a 
lot faster, intelligent and harder to hit. Both tanks can fire 
back but the saucer cannot. The battlefield is also littered with 
pyramid shaped objects which are very useful to hide behind, but 
unfortunately this is so for the enemy tanks. Your tank is  
restricted to firing one bullet at a time and will reload when 
the shell either goes out of range or hits an object or tank. To 
help you locate the enemy there is a radar screen, this only  
picks up the vehicles and not the shells. 
 
CONTROLS
SPACE - fire 
SYMBOL SHIFT - forwards 
M - backwards 
C - left 
V - right 
 
You can also use Kempston and Sinclair Joysticks. 
 

INLAY TEXT: 
*Side 1* 
 
ARTIC COMPUTING LIMITED 
MAIN ST., 
BRANDESBURTON 
DRIFFIELD 
YO25 8RL 
 
3D COMBAT ZONE 
GENERAL LOADING AND RUNNING INSTRUCTIONS 
1 Assemble the cassette tape at the silent part before the  
program. 
2 Connect the EAR socket on the SPECTRUM to the EAR or  
LOUDSPEAKER socket on your cassette recorder. 
3 Adjust the volume of the cassette recorder to 3/4 maximum and 

the tone controls to maximum treble and minimum bass. 
4 Type LOAD "" CODE (CODE - extended Mode I). Do not press ENTER 
yet. 
5 Start the cassette recorder and now press ENTER. Instructions 
in Program. 
 
 
*Side 2* 
 
3D COMBAT ZONE 
 
After the century-long bloody battle fought across the plains of 
Lacentra, you alone must alone must fight to live. As sole  
survivor of the once magnificent home battle fleet force, you  
must wander the radio-active wasteland and defend yourself
against the remains of the ravished enemy. You are the commander 
of a tank, and must out-manoeuvre enemy tanks, flying saucers and 
super tanks while avoiding the structured obstacles for you  
solitary existence. Your heat-seeking missiles are all spent and 
only shell-blasters remain as your ammunition source. You may  
only use one shell at a time. The inferior invading clans, but
as time goes by and your presence is detected, superior tanks  
appear. 
 
A radar screen and location message readout are positioned above 
your sights to help you seek out the enemy. 

The control keys are as follows: 
 
FIRE             - SPACE 
FORWARD          - SYMBOL SHIFT 
BACKWARDS        - M 
LEFT             - C 
RIGHT            - V 
 
Scoring 
TANK             - 500 
FLYING SAUCER    - 1000 
SUPER TANK       - 2500 
 
This game also works with the Kempston and Sinclair Joysticks. 
 
SEQUELS/PREQUELS
None 
 
SCORES RECEIVED
Unknown, however it was not reviewed by Sinclair User or YS. 
 
GENERAL FACTS
This was one of the first games by Jon Ritman, the man who would 
later program classics such as Match Day and Head over Heels. Jon 
wrote 5 games for Artic including Namtir raiders (Ritman  
backwards !), Cosmic Debris, Dimension Detructors, Bear Bover and 
of course 3D Combat Zone.  As stated earlier 3D Combat Zone is
a copy of the classic arcade game Battlezone of which an official
version was not released until much later by Quicksilva. Jon's
version differed in a few ways to the original, the main one
being control of the tank. In Battlezone you had control of both
tracks and so could do quick turns etc but 3D Combat Zone only
allowed you to move the tank.  The game used a sophisticated
loader for the game where to load the basic loader you had to use
LOAD "" CODE. 
 
CHEATS: 
No pokes known. 
 
general tips. 
 
-The enemy tanks will not aimlessly drive into the path of your 
shells and will change direction. 
-Use the pyramids to your advantage. 
-When you are retreating by driving backwards, watch out for the 
pyramids which can get in the way. 
-Don't bother trying to run away from the enemy, they will always 
keep you in check. 
 
COMPLETING THE GAME: 
Not known if it can be completed, more likely is that it gets  
harder and harder the more levels you pass. 
 
NOTES: 
One of the first Battlezone clones. 























