Act: MegaBattle (by IanSoftware)

Game: MegaBattle
Release: Sept. 2002
Genre: Action
Website: IanSoftware
System Requirements: Pentium 200 or greater
Price: Freeware

MegaBattle is based on a somewhat old theme found in SnowBrawl and Snocraft.  The idea in its most basic form is to build a bunker and pelt your enemies while avoiding their fire. Instead of rehashing old ground, MegaBattle focuses on entirely new areas, while keeping a snow board as well. 

When you begin the game, you are randomly placed in either the beach, the forest, the desert, the city, a volcano or in a snow board. The game is broken up into different rounds.  Each round has two phases.  The first phase of each round is a "building" phase.  During this phase you put down walls.  The walls will protect you when all the slinging starts, so it is important to place them strategically.  One of the more fun things to do in the game is to determine where the best position to place the walls is.  While you are putting down walls, you occasionally will put down one of two special objects: a catapult and a tripwire.  The catapult is the grail in this game as it launches large rocks that will destroy large number of enemies.  The tripwire serves to drop unsuspecting enemies on their faces, which will either damage or kill that enemy.

Each board has its own basic weapon that does the same thing.  For the volcano board you throw rocks, in the city you throw baseballs, on the snow board you throw snowballs and so on.  There is some variability in the speeds of these main weapons, that leads to some levels, such as the volcano being easier for beginners.  In addition to your primary weapon, there is a secondary weapon that is specialized to the level you are playing.  You can get the secondary weapon by catching a powerup as it occasionally will float from the top to the bottom of the screen.  Once caught, your primary weapon becomes the special weapon for the rest of that level.  My favorites were the kelp whip on the beach, that allows you to whip over your walls, the sword in the desert that makes that level feel like an adventure game, and the bow in the forest.

There is no sequence of boards, rather the point of the game is to advance through as many levels in a single board as you can.  This task is quite difficult and you will likely find yourself getting stuck at about level 10 unless you learn a couple of tricks.  The first suggestion I would make is to take a friend along.  The game supports two players working simultaneously using the keyboard and a joystick or two joysticks.  The second suggestion is to make good placement of your walls so that you don't risk being hit while you are pelting your enemies with whatever you happen to have in hand.

Graphics: 6
The graphics in the game remind me very much of a Japanese anime game on the Super Nintendo.  They are very stylized to that type of look and are consistent across all the characters in the game.  The drawback in the graphics is the resolution of 640 x 480 which gives the game a rather pixelized look.  Still the graphics do not get in the way of the game and their "cutesy" look to them keeps the game from becoming overly gorey as the enemies die in a splatter of blood.

Sound: 8
For the most part, the sound is very midi-ish.  That being said, it is also very good and fitting of the game.  Each level has its own soundtrack that is light and does not becoming annoying as you blow through level after level listening to the same thing.  The music in the background of each level was well done and enjoyable.

Options: 4
There are not many options in the game.  You can choose your difficulty, but you have no way to control which set of boards you will play when you start.  Due to this, I found myself often exiting the game to restart yet again to see if I could find a level I enjoyed more.  There is also no score kept, which means your only reason for playing is to see how far you can go.  That is fun, but with two players, the rivalry to see who can kill the most enemies would be more fun if a score was kept for each player.

Concept: 7
The concept is fun.  Surpisingly fun.  I have to admit when I first saw this game I thought it wasn't much to look at and didn't think it would be a good game, but I was wrong.  The concept of the game is simple, but in this case, the simplicity leads to making it a very playable game as the concept doesn't get repetitive while playing through multiple levels.

Fun: 9
As a two-player, this game is a great download that I promise will keep you entertained for awhile.  It is easy to pick up, and after you get destroyed the first time, you'll start working on strategies to work together and built a better base with catapults blazing.

Graphics: 6
Sound: 8
Options: 4
Concept: 7
Fun: 9

Overall:  7
This is a good game that I think most people will enjoy.  The only real drawback is the low resolution graphics and the lack of options.  Still if you have a good friend and nothing to do for a couple of hours, it will keep you busy trying to figure out how to beat my personal best of 17 levels.

See screenshots! Added: December 23rd 2002
Reviewer: The Mole
Score:
Related Link: Ian Software
Hits: 7318
Language: english