Tank Wars

Infobox VG
title = Tank Wars


developer = Kenneth Morse
publisher =
version = 3.0
released = 1990, 1991, 1992
genre = Artillery game, Strategy game
modes = Single player, Multiplayer
platforms = DOS
requirements = VGA monitor
input = Keyboard, Mouse

"Tank Wars" (also known as BOMB because of the filename) is an artillery game developed in 1990 by Kenneth Morse, a year before "Scorched Earth", and was quite popular at that time; yet, surprisingly, not many people today know that this game appeared before "Scorched Earth" (and hence that "Scorched Earth" was inspired by "Tank Wars", and not the other way around).

There is another artillery game named Tank Wars, written in 1986 by Cody Snider. [" [http://www.mobygames.com/game/tank-wars_ Tank Wars] " on MobyGames] Apart from the basic concept, these two games are not related.

There is also a similar game on the Commodore Amiga computer system called "Scorched Tanks", written by Michael P. Welch (who also made "Pocket Tanks"). The things that stand out in this game compared to "Scorched Earth" is that Mr. Stupid is funnier, The Twanger AI when bouncing walls are turned on, the sound effect of the nukes, and the colorful backgrounds that also animate/move in newer 2.5x and later versions. Scorched Palm is the version designed for the Palm OS.

Description

The game alows for up to 10 players in any combination of human and computer players. The number of games played in a set is chosen before the game (default is 20 games). New terrain is randomly drawn at the start of each individual game, and the tanks fall one by one into their start positions in random order, evenly spaced horizontally on the screen. The tanks then take turns firing at opponent tanks , order going left to right, until only one tank remains.

Whether or not there is wind during the game, and the amount of wind can be set. Other options are available including rebounding walls, background effects, and whether the tanks can fall when terrain is blown out from under them.

Points are awarded during the games for kills and wins. Points can then be used for each player to purchase new weapons and misc. items in between games. These wepons range from the Nukes that give the shot a larger blast radius to energy sheilds, as well as dirt bombs that can be used to increase defences.

Computer Players

There are several AI personalities that have distinct shot calculating techniques and therefore apear to have their own personality.

Versions

Tank Wars is 320x200 256 colors only. It prefers 286 and 386 computers, but is playable on 486s and slow Pentiums as well. Versions 2.0 and 2.5 seem to be optimized for the 286 PS/2 computers that were handed out to schools in 1988-1991. Versions 3.0 and 3.2 are optimized for slower 386 machines. Tank Wars runs under Windows XP, but the game runs almost unplayably fast and there are graphical glitches that prevent one from seeing the angle/power settings.

References

External links

* [http://members.chello.at/theodor.lauppert/games/tankwars.htm "Tank Wars" review and download]

* [http://cd.textfiles.com/gameempire/SOFT/ADV/SECRET/BOMB.DOC "Tank Wars" Instructions & Tips]