Battlezone 2 was published by Activision, and created by (Creation studio forthcoming soon.)
It is somewhat similar to Battlezone 1 ...
THE PLOT
You are Lieutenant Cooke, a member of the ISDF forces. It is somewhere near the present day, and with the US v Soviet wars of the 1960s (battlezone 1) long behind you the ISDF is less about war than about distributing the bio-metal to everyone that wants it.
That is, until now.
THE FORCES
ISDF
Whether or not these are the good guys is up to you, and is eventually revealed in the single player missions. They represent Earth. They don't have shields but they have better maneuverability and speed than Scion ships.
Scion
Whether or not these are the good guys is up to you, and is eventually revealed in the single player missions. They represent some other crazy planet (Rend?) and have colonized many others. Their ships eventually can come with shields (they come in three flavors!), but have poor maneuverability and speed, painfully so if you're used to playing ISDF.
Side Comparison
ISDF
The ISDF's advantages are less expensive units, centralized power, mortar slot on all tanks, faster speed and marginally better maneuverability, ships recharge ammunition.
The ISDF's disadvantages are centralized power (which means that by taking out 1 power plant your enemy can cut power to all of your base's defenses and structures), ships cannot have shields, ships cannot morph, gun towers weaker than gun spires, slower construction speed than Scions.
Scion
Scion advantages are: Vehicles are allowed to have shields, per-building power (in the form of a Lung attached to each structure; replacable at a cost of $20. This means that the loss of one lung debilitates only that structure and not your entire base), can build any structure anywhere - no need for relay-bunkeresque building, ship morphing (default - combat mode, higher speed (still slower than ISDF), ISDF-style weaponry (weapons fire small shots relatively quickly at high speed), better maneuverability, recharge ammo only. Other option is siege mode, ships travel much more slowly but recharge health - which ISDF units can never do, have MUCH stronger weapons (fire in continuous stream, flamethrower or lightning - can destroy a scavenger, one of the more heavily armored units in less than 10 seconds), stronger defensive gun.
Scion disadvantages are: Slower ship speed, no bomber (an obscenely powerful craft which can destroy just about any building in one shot), noncentralized power (a gun spire can be disabled where it stands - you can no more defend your power plant than you can defend your gun spire) siege mode is too slow to approach ISDF defenses and put heavier weapon to advantage, ships do not come with mortar slot.
Random Stuff I Just Remembered
This is like a strategy section, except sort of not.
Sniping for fun and Profit
When you originally spawn in a multiplayer game, you are given a sniper rifle. This allows you, with careful aiming, to kill the pilot of another vehicle. To do this, use secondary-fire (you will deploy your sniper rifle and kneel); some sort of display will come up that greatly magnifies your display. Move the crosshair over a vehicle's cockpit, look for the red dot and shoot. If the vehicle settles towards the ground, you've got it! You can now claim their vehicle and drive off, cackling insanely at the knowledge that
a) You have a ship
b) You just cost the enemy upwards of 40 units of scrap.
Now, sniping moving targets is much harder, and only really possible if you have a high framerate. For this reason, it is unlikely to see someone successfully snipe another player in a multiplayer game.
Special Pilot Abilities
Both Scion and ISDF pilots have the same abilities. One of them is sniping, which I've already covered. You can only use one (excluding sniping; you can always snipe) at a time.
Jetpack
This is really cool. Press "c" and you'll go flying into the air! This is especially useful when your ship is destroyed in an enemy base - you fly up but not far enough to escape danger; by pressing C again you leave the effective range of any weapon of theirs, and I doubt they'll have the will (or the way) to track you down.
Grenades
You only get three for every time you enter or exit a ship. These are like mortars, except a pilot throws them and you don't get aiming assistance. Not terribly effective; I suggest you stick with the jetpack.
Conclusion
There is no conclusion. This is a fun game. That is all.