Wheels of Destruction: World Tour is a team-based, class-oriented vehicle destruction deathmatch shooter. In this multi-player only game, players split into two teams (red and blue), and each choose from among five classes of vehicle; Soldier, Scout, Heavy, Assassin, and one which has not yet been announced ( it looks like a little dune buggy). Not sure how this one is going to compete with the similar, more well-known Twisted Metal, which was only recently released, but perhaps there are some players who want their vehicular combat with fewer silly characters and more airtime. The focus on teamwork also differentiates the title, but the promotional material doesn’t really stress that much. The features they do stress are the class choices and the ‘vivid’ European city-influenced levels.
It’s a good week for car-haters because WoD is not alone in the destruction. Wrecked: Revenge Revisited also drops this week. This is a random-weapon-drop racing game with a realistic style. Features include over a dozen weapons, including air strikes and plasma cannons; multiple game modes, with online or local, competitive or cooperative for up to 4 players; six distinct tracks to race on; and four vehicle types, each with customizable paint job. There doesn’t seem to be an overriding gimmick here, however, unless you count the custom paint jobs.
The Icrontic Spotlight this week shimmers through the time-tunnel of Gettysburg: Armored Warfare. If you’ve read much Harry Turtledove, you know this story: advanced weaponry has been sent back in time to the American Civil war in an attempt to bring the odds in favor of the Confederacy. Now the south has gone from a low-morale, under-equipped army to one with fully automatic machine guns, rocket launchers, flame-throwers, heavy armored artillery, and bombarding zeppelins. However, the Union has them too, and the Civil War will have to be determined anew. The game calls itself an RTS/FPS hybrid, but that doesn’t really explain it. There are two game modes to explain, which may give greater clarity:
In ‘Deathmatch’, up to 64 players divide into two teams for a battle that works similar to the mechanics of the Battlefield series, where each player can choose their role on the field each time they spawn. The other game mode, ‘Army Skirmish’, is where there are some interesting mechanics. In this mode, up to four players control two armies on a nine square kilometer battlefield. Each army can be custom crafted with a unit-point buy system, and, after deployment, can be controlled on the battlefield by the one or two players in control of that side from a high, bird’s eye perspective. Then, at any time, a player may take direct, FPS-style control of any given unit on their side, giving them more dynamic control of that unit’s behavior for a short time, while still in communication with the other player on their side for the big picture evaluation.
The game features 14 unit types, a dynamic experience system for players and units, a map editor, an army editor that saves to the Steam cloud, and the ability to handle over a thousand units on the battlefield at a time. The setting is a bit odd, but the battles look to be epic, and should be great fun for any fans of military tactics and/or FPS battler.
Following is a full list of this week’s announced North American releases:
Windows
- Gettysburg: Armored Warfare
DS
- 90’s Pool
3DS
- Alien Chaos 3D
- ARC STYLE: Soccer!! 3D
- Deer Drive Legends 3D
- Funky Barn 3D
Xbox 360
- Combat Wings: The Great Battles of WWII
- Country Dance All Stars
- Wrecked: Revenge Revisited
PS3
- Wheels of Destruction: World Tour
- Wrecked: Revenge Revisited
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