Who Says Turn-Based Strategy is Dead?
1. Did you love old-school turn-based combat games like The Perfect General and Panzer Generals, and prefer games that reward careful planning and actuall strategy games over RTSes, which tend to reward fast action and mastery of interface instead?
Or:
2. Do you love real-time strategy, but chafe at the unreality of resource gathering and tech trees, which surely have nothing to do with the actual problems faced by military commanders? Would you prefer something where combined-arms tactics, use of terrain, and other concerns of actual military strategy dominate?
In either case, welcome to Massive Assault.
It is, in a sense, an old school turn-based combat game, but done in 3D, with pretty decent graphics and animations, and polished scenario design. If your the sort of gamer that doesn't like reading manuals, that description might raise warning bells--but fear not. Massive Assault's UI is smooth and intuitive, and an excellent series of tutorial missions will get you up to speed quickly. No need for a manual, in fact.
If you think strategy games should contain actual, well, strategy--give the demo a try. We doubt you'll be disappointed.
The Developer Says
Take the command of "Free Nations Union" forces and defeat the secret alliance of "Phantom League" on one of 6 distant planets. The rebels decided to seize the power on Earth by first conquering the space colonies, which provide vital energy resources to F.N.U. The war for global domination will unroll on continents, at sea and in the air. Lead your divisions, fleets and air squadrons against those, who dared threaten our freedom and democracy!
The game utilizes Wargaming.net’s high-performance 3D engine giving revolutionary look and feel to turn based global-scale games. The gameplay is smooth and easy-to-learn.
The game contains original political system, preserving the intrigue throughout the whole war. Each side has a bunch of allied countries, unknown to the enemy. Secret allies can disclose and provide troops at any moment, surprisingly shifting the power balance in particular region.
The game is set in dynamic strategic environment, where the tide can turn for several times. And if you finally win, you will feel like the victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat. The secret alliance concept provides endless replayability - in each game the distribution of secret allies is totally different, so you will never have two alike games, facing unique strategic situation. You will have to employ the eternal principles of warfare, such as:
- usage of terrain advantages
- outflanking moves and envelopment
- troops concentration in the area of main strike
- cutting enemy supply routes
- screening maneuvers
- guerrilla tactics and sabotage
Liberating the continents, you will be involved into huge naval landing operations, will learn how to operate carrier battle groups, provide artillery support and will face other non-trivial challenges.
Reviews
"Have you ever wondered where the fun went in strategy gaming?... Apparently, the team at Wargaming.net must have felt the same way, because their outstanding strategy title Massive Assault harkens back to the good old days of tabletop strategy gaming...95%"
- Daily Game
"This game is epic, intense, and gut-wrenchingly fun....91%"
- Game Chronicles
"The player who gives Wargaming.net's Massive Assault the time it deserves will find himself or herself richly rewarded with a challenging, compelling experience....90%"
- UGO.com
"Both gameplay and presentation are the best in the genre I’ve seen in years, and probably even for years to come."
- Fragland
"Massive Assault is a boon for every serious strategy gamer" -
- DIY Games
"Massive Assault is the best strategy game I have played this year. It offers just the right mix of features I’m looking for in a good game: great balance, easy to learn basic principles and a behavior that is tightly controlled by the developer." -
- Netjak
"A wonderfully uncluttered, tactically transcendent, turn-based hex wargame." -
- PC Gamer
"Massive Assault is such a freeform experience as to rejuvenate the entire turn-based genre."
- Gamer Nation UK
"Massive Assault is an extremely well designed game. The gameplay is highly streamlined, as is the interface and everything else about it. " -
- Jolt
"Massive Assault is everything a turn-based strategy title should be - beautiful, balanced, easy to learn, and hard to master." -
- Gaming Horizon
"Massive Assault’s gameplay is simple to understand, difficult to conquer, and most importantly, very addictive." -
- Game Zone
"Strategy gaming has never been so sweet!" -
- GameSpy
"A game that is a blast to play." -
- The Wargamer
Our Review
Massive Assault
Submitted by DrJ on Sat, 2006-10-14 18:08. The WordBattleTech Meets Panzer General
Massive Assault Better Than MissionForce: Cyberstorm
by Dr. J
Each step of the massive machine caused dust to cloud around its lower extremities. To the LAVs, light assault vehicles, looking up at the robotic monstrosity, the Ostrich appeared to hover above a cloud of its own making. As the missiles rained down upon them, an explosive lightning that left charred debris and smoldering flesh in its wake, the gargantuan engine of destruction must have seemed like Baal, Rider of the Clouds—storm god of the ancients. But that was mythology, this was real.
Smaller LAVs surround an Ostrich armored "vehicle" to peck away at the larger machine and bring it down.
The smaller units converged at the base of the Ostrich, tagging it repeatedly with their lasers in hopes that they could apply the mortal sting to its Achilles Heel. The larger machine turned one of its antlike attackers nearly to ash before an ally, a Smallfoot that was a virtual mirror of the LAVs, performed the laser surgical coup de grace on the blackened LAV. Still another LAV took the place of its annihilated compatriot. This time, the stings added up. An internal blaze signaled the demise of the machine and its structure imploded. Achilles’ fall may have been mythology, but this was real.
This review begins with two paragraphs of story in an attempt to make a point. When speaking of space opera (in novel, film, or television format) or considering a thin fictional background story for anime, comic, graphic novel, or game, reality is relative. Yet, regardless of approach, such a universe requires certain conventions to have any sense of credibility. We only seem to be able to suspend our disbelief when we posit monolithic power structures fueled by centuries or millennia of hostility and/or suspicion in order to fund the building and deployment of these armored armies massed for futuristic Armageddon.
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