Week 5
Game Review(s)
-
Pocket Tanks
Pocket Tanks is a turn-based strategy war game with a
maximum of 2 players. But what makes it special are the ever-expanding packs of
weapons that do weird and wonderful things. Ever blown up half the map with a
single shot? Ever made water spout from the ground in a fountain-like fashion? Have
you EVER shot through a mountain to hit your opponent? If you answered no to
any of those questions, then Pocket Tanks
is the game for you!
The game is controlled via the mouse, for navigating menus, buying
weapons, and controlling your tank as you battle against the computer opponent.
Controls include move, weapon selection, changing the power of your shot, changing
the angle of your barrel, and fire. All these controls are characteristic to
most 2d side-to-side shooters (for lack of a better genre description).
The theme is war, one tank versus the other, in a desperate
struggle to gain the most points through expert marksmanship, while
simultaneously preventing their respective opponents from gaining points. This battle
takes place in a limited space that can either be flat, a mountain, a plateau,
or a valley, all of which is entirely destructible. Hitting your opponent with
weapons will gain you points, and hitting yourself will you lose you points,
and believe me, it’s easier to hit oneself with a weapon than one might think. The
player with the most points at the end of the game after exhausting all of
their weapons is declared the winner, and the player is prompted to play again,
or quit the game.
Alongside the fun and challenging gameplay, the arena is
bathed in a beautifully relaxing, but at the same time tense soundtrack, and a
true testament to a complete gaming experience.
-
Total Annihilation
Now THIS is a game
Total Annihilation was
the ultimate RTS (real time strategy) game of its time, and is an extremely
enjoyable experience still to this day. Control vast armies of tactical bots
and vehicles, lighting fast aircraft, punch-packing artillery, fleets of ships
and submarines, and the all powerful Commander.
This is, undoubtedly, one of my favourite games of all time,
and the best RTS I’ve ever played. Controlled via both the mouse and keyboard, the
game mechanics involve examination of the environment, creation and movement of
units, and the construction of structures for various purposes. It also sports
some of the greatest soundtracks of any RTS (in fact, any) game on the market,
courtesy of the extremely talented composer, Jeremy Soule.
Total annihilation’s
theme is that of a futuristic conquest real time strategy game, where the Arm
battle against the Core armies for complete dominance. The game play is similar
to the popular Age of Empires games
of the same genre, with both storyline and death match play modes. There is a
multitude of maps to play the game on, maps that are themed according to the
different planets that the armies battle on, ranging from lush, green, and Earth-like,
to dry and desolate wasteland planets, to planets made entirely of metal!
The game offers an engaging bird’s-eye-view of the
battlefield, with the option to toggle limited sight for increased mystery in
gameplay (also like Age of Empires),
and the point of gameplay varies depending on which mode you play in. Death
matches are simple, destroy the enemy’s Commander, or LEAVE NO ONE ALIVE, the
latter usually being the more fun of the two. Story mode is a bit more
challenging, as both you and your enemy will begin with units already out, the enemy,
usually having the upper hand. The player eventually progresses to the enemy’s home
world for one final battle for universal dominance. But in either mode, there are
various degrees of unpredictability. No two games are ever the same, even on
the same map. Not being able to see your opponents out of range of sight makes
it even more difficult.
Narrative of Total Annihilation,
and I quote:
“What began as a conflict over the transfer of consciousness from flesh
to machines, escalated into a war that a decimated a million worlds. The Core
and the Arm have all but exhausted the recourses of a galaxy in their struggle
for domination. Both sides, now crippled beyond repair, the remanents of their
armies continue to battle on ravaged planets, their hatred fuelled by over four
thousand years of total war. This is a fight to the death, for each side, the
only acceptable outcome... is the complete elimination of the other.”
Game Design
This instalment of
the journal is a follow up from Week 4, anything listed here is subject to
massive change. It will also most likely replace and/or merge with our existing
territorial acquisition game.
After adding the chance card locations and playtesting the
game, we have found it to play out successfully, with a winner being declared
every time. We also made the following changes:
-
ID card only needed to finish the game, not
location access
-
Turned all possible positive/negative chance
spaces into chance cards in a deck
o
When a player lands on a chance space (constant
location on the game board) they draw a card from the deck and its effect comes
into play
-
Players must roll a 1, 3 or 6 on the die to find
their ID card when on a university location
-
Players cannot backtrack on the same route
o
But, you can when leaving a university location
As no online maps existed for the
ground floor of the library, it was my task to sketch map it using pencil, to
be digitally traced and transformed into a proper game level at a later stage. Naturally,
the game will flow from 1 level to another, and having 5 team members means 5
levels. Unfortunately, only 3 levels have had draft maps completed, as the JCU
library only has 3 floors. Imagination is the limit for levels 4 and 5...
