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It has been announced for only a few weeks, but no way to
escape it. Interviews and previews have been released at an astounding
pace. And we haven’t been spared. Wargaming.net practices an extremely
aggressive marketing policy whose goal seems, without contest, to find a
publisher.
You’ll see later that they deserve it, really... So we have received an
alpha version to test
it and then to present it to you. But I have to understate that the
following lines can be modified without notice. Sign here. Not necessary.
So. Now that we agree on that, we can serenly talk about this preview...
For those who didn’t read the developers interview, Massive Assault would
be a futurist turn-by-turn wargame with a lot of mechs units and BX-6000
laser-beams. When Rise of nations pretend integrate all the elements of a
turn-by-turn game in a strategic game, MA tries to integrate the epic
dimension of a strategic game
in a turn-by-turn game. I confess I was dubious of the result until now.
Massive, but not too much
The unveiled images until now, make us think it was as detailed than the
stress-test of Impossible Creatures (Microsoft is such a reference in
strategy games). It wasn’t the case. Agreed, it’s 3D, a first one, but not
enough beautiful to give the desire to lick the screen as in IC.
The pyrotechnic effects are, for their part, magnificent. For example,
when a shell bursts through a sky, with its fire trail and then explodes
the targeted tank, crushing it from all sides. Magnificent!
It’s possible to zoom but the angles become too prominent and ugly. The
1600*1200 is not a great improving. But all is very fluid. The only time
when you have to wait a little is when it’s time for the opponent to play,
or, when you have United Devices, ICQ and Settlers 4 (yes, I’m ashamed) in
background tasks. Let’s bet that will be even more optimized for the final
version, so the action will be wondrous.
Hey, it’s time to survey the optimization. Most of the time, I used MA on a
hellish computer (Geforce G4, 512 Mo Ram, a 1,8 Gz processor) and it was
perfectly OK. But if you
use a two-generations earlier computer (800 Mhz, geforce 2 and 96 Mo Ram),
the time lag is prominent. But be careful, it’s only an alpha version, we
should wait for the beta one(and the final one) to make our judgment.
Let’s finish this technical technique with the sound part. To speak truly,
they are not much. Some alarms, a few sounds and one or two explosions.
Nothing fantastic but music wasn’t implemented for the moment.
Assault massively tactic
I was talking earlier about action. It’s definitly this part of video games
Massive
Assault is aiming at. At first view it seems to be a clone of Battle Isles
but let me show you the gameplay before such an hasty assessment. First,
it’s the ’disclosure phase’. During this phase, you can reveal two of your
secret alliances and place the units made available on a parcel of their
home territories. Then comes the ’move and combat phase’ during which you
can attack, move your units and/or invade a neighboring country. But for
the moment, it’s not a likely option, you won’t have the sufficient troops
and the opponent has no units on the map.
After this phase, it’s your opponent turn. he can do the same things than
you, reveal two alliances and deploy troops in his homeland or invade a
neighbor. Invasion is ruled by a simple system: if a group of units
invades a neutral or enemy country, it is immediately controlled by you
opponent. Then comes a ’guerrilla’ phase during which the invaded can
retaliate with free but limited units. He will need to liberate the country
if he wants to create units. A most advised strategy is deploy fleet units
near the coastline to be ready for whatever situation may take place.
Let’s assume you have invaded one of your neighbors now controlled by your
opponent. He has not placed hi units because your turn hasn’t ended. Time
for the ’recruitment phase’. There is no gestion in Masive Assault. The only
way to build new units is to conquer new zones which enable you to build new
units whose numbers depend on the number of victories and others factors.
So you enroll a unit amongst the fifteen available in each side. It’s a pity
the way of playing doesn’t much differ according to the side. But we can’t
have everything.
After building a substantial and relatively polyvalent amy (you have only to
fairly balance the attack and the defensive potentials), you and your
opponent will be ready for a bitter fight. He’ a worthy tactician with
efficient attack and able to give ground when needed. A good point for the
IA and it’s only in a preview version.
Now it’s time for the tactical side. Positioning of units is primordial,
some assault vehicles faster than others or with a longer range of fire.
Minutes are needed to place the troops before restarting all because of a
not-so-evident tactical error. Terrain is an important factor too. A mortar
uphill on a cliff should be able to decimate downhill troops who will have
many difficulties to retaliate. There are aircrafts in Massive Assault, but
I haven’t be able to launch one, maybe a bug (Redaction’s Note : he’s such a
dumb).
Now last part
The preceding chapter was long to say all about a 50% finished game. There
is a multiplayer mode, not very interesting, because of the quality of the
IA and of the duration of the games. In the same view, there was no save
option, which is very annoying when less than an hour is available to play.
Conclusion
No date of release has been announced. Many modifications should be
implemented during the next few months, probably before this
Summer.Wargaming.net hasn’t found an publisher. It may mean that the game
would
only be diffused in English and on the net. Massive Assault is definitively
a
great potential game and it’s on a way to become a great turn-by-turn
strategy game. Perhaps the best ever, who knows?
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