Gods of war. Something about the artillery games. Part IV

Today's article concludes the cycle of verbal memories of artillery games. Here I will tell you about my favorite modern games, about the upper branches of that tree, which was cultivated for forty years by numerous hands of the creators and fans of the genre. I hope that it was as interesting for you to read as I groan. The previous parts can be read here: one , two , three - started!

Mayan Death Robots. Tsuutz is coming!

^{Developer: Sileni Studios
Release Date: November 2015
Platforms: Windows, Linux, Mac OS}

It all began, as usual, by chance and for a very long time. Either someone didn’t greet him politely enough, or graphite grease hit her head too hard, but there was a tiff. Symbol by symbol, a manipulator in the eyepieces - and enraged alien robots landed on the Yucatan Peninsula, eager to clean each other's front panels according to all the rules of gladiatorial fights. There, where the Mayan civilization approached its heyday, having mastered the mass sacrifices and kickbacks in the construction of a paved sacbah from Tikal to Chetumal.
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The heart of a simple-minded person in a loincloth was conquered instantly and irrevocably. With all the fervor of the neophytes, the Mayans rejected the previous gods and rushed to help the robots in their uncompromising struggle for money and glory honor and dignity, stung by carelessly thrown evil signals about the rusty gears of someone's great-great-grandfather. Here their prosperity ended and the match begins.

You can only play together, the lack of network multiplayer is the main drawback of the game. Otherwise, it is beautiful, but Itzamna sent prosperity to all developers, the benefit of which is only two. You can play against AI (it is surprisingly good) or with a partner. You can choose to pass a campaign or a quick battle. With the passage of the campaign, new robots and levels will be gradually unlocked, in each of which you can choose the map you like.


Choosing a robot determines the characteristics of your weapons. Each robot has 4 options of moves: two types of weapons, jump and building blocks, with the help of which you can restore the destroyed landscape. Unused blocks accumulate. The moves are executed simultaneously, as in Death Star Battles, and if you miss the choice, your next move will repeat the previous one. During the battle, you can get a random bonus in the form of additional weapons, it appears in the course selection panel.

Included with each robot is the energy core, namely it is the main target: the destruction or the fall of the core outside the playing field marks your unconditional victory. The robot itself is immortal and reborn, praise Spike Totek to the gracious, child-loving, in one move.

On some levels, under your feet, you will be swarming with small, fierce Maya bugs , helping your god with prayers and, sometimes, with catapults to the best of your ability. There will be no sacrifices if you are interested in it, even a glassless hen will not be offered a glass. But if you are thrown into enemy territory, these crumbs will attack you immediately, as ants attack a sugar cube. The damage they do is small, but methodical. Their destruction will give an additional bonus to the destructive power of your weapon.

And in the game there is a suddenness. At the level of a hurricane can rage, which will smear you on the ground. Flying saucers, your faithful horses and pets, begin to drag you around the map like helpless kittens and periodically drop into the abyss. Hungry and dissatisfied with Kukulkan, this uzhik in feathers with dubious pedigree, strike him Bolon Dzakab, crawl out of Xibalba herself, destroy half the cards, and even burp at you with something caustic, tsuuts. In general, you can play dozens of games, and none of them will repeat the other: for indie games, the amount of content is downright enviable.

Interplanetary. God knows everything, and neighbors even more.

^{Developer: Team Jolly Roger
Release Date: May 2015
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows 8 Tablets, Windows 8 Phone}

When you have to dig a lot in the ground, in contrast, it really pulls you to heaven. Perhaps that is how Team17 came up with the idea of ​​becoming an Interplanetary publisher.

In the universe of Interplanetary there is a paradoxical situation. The science has reached significant heights there: quantum computers, nanotechnologies, simple processing of nuclear waste, but with interplanetary flights - the pipe is the case. It does not fly, no matter how they kick. At the same time, the relations between the planets reached the point when the transformation of a system's neighbor into a meteorite stream no longer seems out of the ordinary. Do you understand? They had not yet visited each other, but were already shooting at flower pots in the windows of others.


Interplanetary is an extremely slow game. Your initial available resource is one solar station and one mining mine. Using the righteously acquired and unjustly repulsed from others, you expand production, develop science, and hence the weaponry. Resources should be used wisely, developing not only means of attack, but also defense. The tabs for selecting actions are located in the upper right corner of the interface; Objects available for construction will be displayed on the left and placed on the surface of the planet by dragging with the mouse. When you have completed all preparations, click on the button, passing a turn. Gradually, railguns, rockets, lasers, kinetic defense-protected weapons and other true signs of overwhelming friendliness will appear on the surface of your planet, which you will not mind showing to your equally friendly neighbors.



And here you are in for an unpleasant surprise. Despite the fact that your quantum computers have already analyzed the entire universe by atoms and are surely writing good poems at night, the calculation of the projectile flight path taking into account the moving planets is still an impossible task for them. All again rests on your keen eye.

In practice, this means that the lines of aiming that you see during your turn (here again the same system of moves: at first everyone aimed, then simultaneously fired) are valid only for a fixed system. Yes, they are useful for demonstrating the effect of gravity as a projectile moves past the planet, but at the beginning of motion they lose their meaning. Shooting with a sight is convenient only on short trajectories. Pre-tune in to the hard work of a couple of generations of nanorobots to nowhere, and try to be philosophical about this. Kind of like fried morning scrambled eggs on burning banknotes.


Oh yeah, intelligence. The ability of the AI ​​or your rivals to "see" what is going on there on the surface depends on the ratio of several parameters:

• from the activity of your counterintelligence, building special buildings and special urban buildings;
• from the total development of your planet - the difference in points of “intellect” determines the amount of visible;
• from your observation - do not forget to follow the results of your shots, both successful and not so good, suddenly you will be able to see something useful?

Up to eight players can simultaneously be hacked into the game, but because of the play-and-a-avnost and not the simplest gameplay in the lobby, one has to get pretty bored. Therefore, it is better to agree in advance with the company of the same patient people. Probably, the club of bead lovers or the uncomplaining neighbor-modeller will agree.

ShellShock Live. Tanks on steroids.

^{Developer: kChamp Games
Release Date: March 2015
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows 8 Tablets, Windows 8 Phone}

And finally, a worthy modern remake of the “mother of all games”, Scorched Earth, made by one person according to a glorious tradition. This man lives in Southern California, is called Kyle, has been programming on flash since he was 17, but he swears that wisdom - and only she - led him to more popular platforms. He considers the ShellShock series to be his best achievement at the moment. Curiously, is there a certificate in the list of victories for a school biology project?



Since it seems to me that to get ShellShock, Kyle took Scorched Earth, put it in a dark box to Tank Wars and Pocket Tanks Deluxe, threw steroids and yohimbe, quickly shut it and did not open the week, not paying attention to the terrible roar from under the cover. What escaped from there, breaking the side wall of the box and attacking the cat, became his favorite child.

Yes, all this we have already seen. Yes, nothing new. But to complain about this is the same as complaining to a sport steak about a good steak, on the basis that someone thought up to fry meat earlier than others. The developer was able to take the best of the progenitors and bring it all into a rollicking macabre jolly. This tanchiki after the bite of a radioactive spider. There are gigatons of weapons, pumping, hundreds of maps and levels, health bonuses and damage multiplication, the ability to turn off the wind, fight to the death and record, limit the number of weapons in battle, and so on and so forth.


Multiplayer Unlike many other artillery games, where you have to study dusty patriotic posters on the walls for a long time before your future rival glances in the lobby, ShellShock is lively, noisy and smoky. You are always happy to meet, take your teeth by the collar and lovingly shake from side to side. If someone shakes you too unsportsmanlike, and even Hamit with his mouth full, you can click the Report button, it was added in the last update.

You might think that I invite you naked to jump into the pool to the piranhas immediately after shaving, but believe me - you will like it.





That's all. Shuffling away. As usual, I will be grateful for comments and comments. If you have in mind a modern artillery game, for some reason not mentioned by me in the review, please let me know, I will try to fix it.