I tear myself away from a Diablo 3 stupor to bring you a triple feature now through Tuesday!
First up, one of the most famous computer lab assistant multiplayer games ever: Scorched Earth: Mother of All Games! Very simple concept, even simpler graphics and controls, Scorched Earth's genius lies in it's customizability.
You are a single tank against the world. Every round a landscape is generated, and the tanks placed according to your settings (random or in order). Players take their turns in order by choosing a weapon, an angle of fire, and power of the shot, then watching the chaos ensue. Whenever a tank is destroyed, a random explosion occurs that could take out more land and even other tanks. If you're taken out before your turn, tough, you're dead! Each round you're awarded cash for each other tank you destroyed to buy additional tools of destruction.
The arsenal available is pretty vast. From simple missiles, napalm, and nukes, to bombs designed to destroy earth to make your enemies fall to their deaths, cluster bombs to fry more than one, and missiles that can roll down hills to hit enemies that would otherwise be blocked from your aim. There are also defensive items and other tools available. You can buy shields, magnetic deflectors to turn incoming shots in other directions, parachutes to stop from falling, and even a motor to move your normally stationary tank. These things become absolutely necessary when your opponents are using laser guides and heat seeking upgrades.
When the regular game mode starts to get repetitive, you can practically create a completely different game by changing the environment settings. Weather can be added to make aiming harder and add in the danger of random, deadly lightning strikes. Normally, if your shot goes off screen, its gone, but you can change the walls to make them solid, bouncy, or make shots wrap from one side to the other. Crazy games can be created by altering the effects of gravity or the amplitude of explosions.
Scorched Earth: Mother of All Games can be downloaded HERE.
Tomorrow, our first board game review!
