PC/Mac •
Back in 2014 Mythical City Games released a turn-based military sim onto Steam and mobile called Battle Fleet 2. Some guy named Owen reviewed it back then and summed everything up with three stars, whatever that means. I could go and read the thing but, let’s face it, Owen’s writing is way over my head. An Owen metaphor, “A gruesome struggle of life and death becomes a badminton match played with high explosive shuttlecocks.” My metaphor, “A gruesome struggle of life and death becomes raccoons eating garbage on a Saturday night in my driveway while listening to the Original Broadway Cast recording of Cats.” See? He’s just way better at this than I’ll ever be.
Anyway, Mythical City is back with Battle Fleet 2’s sequel that, due to a change in theme, isn’t simply Battle Fleet 3. That’s right, instead of steering mighty warships we’re driving nimble juggernauts of destruction: tanks. Welcome to Battle Fleet: Ground Assault.
Like its predesessors, Battle Fleet: Ground Assault will be a fully turn-based game, meaning you can take your time to coordinate your tanks into steel-covered waves of destruction. The game is set during WW2, so expect to have your fair share of Tigers, T-34s, M4 Shermans, and other armor [the wikipedia article Dave was reading obviously only mentioned those 3. Let’s let him have this one. -ed.] cruising the battlefields of Europe.
Battle Fleet: Ground assault continues the strategy and unique “Worms” / “Scorched Earth” style angle+power mechanic of Battle Fleet 2, adding destructible environments, armor, shell types and all new tactics. Hit the engines and cripple the enemy’s maneuverability, or aim for the crew compartment and disable the tank for an entire turn. With a full-featured campaign and a variety of single play scenarios, Battle Fleet: Ground Assault will make you feel like Patton charging through the German lines.
While that all sounds great, I doubt it will make me feel like slapping a PTSD-suffereing soldier with a glove. Then again, I probably will scream about reading Rommel’s book at the Battle of El Guettar if that happens to be one of the battles available in the single player game.
Battle Fleet: Ground Assault has a single player campaign as well as one-off battles if you’re looking for something quick. There’s also a multiplayer mode if you want to rip rip out the living goddamned guts of your friends and use them to grease the treads of your tanks. Their digital guts, not real guts.
It’s even coming to VR later this year, so you can chuck shells at the enemy while getting a massive headache and motion sickness! Who could ask for more! What it doesn’t appear to be doing is coming out for mobile. Battle Fleet 2 made the leap to tablets, but nothing in the press info I received mentions the word mobile.
Battle Fleet: Ground Assault will be released on May 1 for both PC and Mac.
I just hope this game gives the option to send challenges to your friends engraved in iambic pentameter.