Massive Assault Network: Massive Assault Goes Global
Company: Wargaming.net
Wargaming.net will soon be taking their flagship title Massive Assault online with a re-release of the game, now with expanded multiplayer components. Dubbed Massive Assault Network, the core gameplay remains unchanged. This is a good thing, as it was pretty perfect the way it was as I said in my initial review, http://www.gamevortex.com/gamevortex/rv_massiveassault.htm l. The big change is they have expanded the multiplayer component to include ranks, matchmaking, chat, and some new maps. There will also be a subscription fee for using these services.
Since a single turn can take awhile to plan out, much less an entire match, the focus isn't on playing one game at a time. Rather, it seems to be set up for having several ongoing matches at once. It tends to work like this; you come home, start up Massive Assault Network, take your turn in several matches, and call it a day. The multiplayer window has several tabs that lets you lists of all the games you are currently in. One list shows matches in which it is your turn, and another lists the matches in which you are still waiting for the other player to take their turn. There's a section for matchmaking and challenging opponents, and the last area is for chat. The interface is a little non-intuitive at times. It took me awhile to figure out how to send players messages in matches, and how to surrender, but on the whole it's pretty easy to figure out.
However, since the actual game itself is really just Massive Assault, my only question is, does it really seem fair to charge people who own the original Massive Assault the price of a new game to get a few extras that pretty much equate to something you'd find in a patch? Current owners of Massive Assault will get a free trial period where they will not have to pay the subscription fee; so I suppose that makes up for it.
-Alucard, GameVortex Communications AKA Stephen Triche
Related Links: Wargaming.net
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