The Wargamer

Introduction

Over the last few years Massive Assault has lost some of its luster, at least for me. I loved the original Massive Assault and gave it a glowing review in December of 2003 - it was mechanics-wise a sci-fi chess game with some nifty graphic and sound embellishment, but served best by its core gameplay. After a healthy single-player game, there was plenty of free online play against human players, which kept the game fresh and fun for long after the single player was over.

Wargaming.net then siphoned the online components of the original Massive Assault into a slightly updated spin-off titled, appropriately enough, Massive Assault Network. There were more online maps and some interface improvements, but by and large Massive Assault Network was the same game and players were forced to pay to play it online after Wargaming.net adopted the pay-to-play strategy. The demo was free, though, and I played on the single demo map quite a bit, but I just couldn't stomach paying to play almost the same game online when I had been playing the original online for free.

Wargaming.net was, at the time, working on an expansion for the original Massive Assault called Phantom Renaissance. However, they rolled the expansion into an entirely new game, and called it Domination. In an apparent effort to bring in more players, Domination eschewed the simple no-frills modes of Massive Assault in favor of campaigns and such with full, and fully awful, voiceovers. The "improved" presentation did nothing to improve the game, but there were new units and maps and the same great gameplay. Unfortunately, nefarious bugs and endless crashes made it tough to get to the real joy of the game, and again the online play was pay-to-play after a lengthy free period.

So, to say that I've lost enthusiasm for the franchise over the last few years would be fair. I returned to the original again and again but never really hopped onto the sequel bandwagon.

It was with a cautious nod that I grabbed the demo for the recently released Massive Assault Network 2. Why did I return? For one, the pay-to-play model has been removed from the new release, replaced by a more forgiving lifetime subscription model. For forty bucks I can play online until I'm bored or the server support withers, and this is awesome, but is there enough under the hood to bring back old players or bring new players to the game?

In a Familiar Galaxy Not So Far Away

The basic premise of Massive Assault has remained unchanged since the original. Two unoriginal warring factions, the Free Nations Union and the Phantom League, are pitted against one another on maps of various sizes. The timeline and the story describing the war, given lip service in past games, are thankfully passed over entirely in Massive Assault Network 2. Players only need to know that the FNU are the good guys, and the PL are the bad guys. 'Nuff said.

Thankfully, this same mindset has apparently been applied to the game as a whole as well. Massive Assault is, once again, a finely honed piece of software instead of the sprawling front end and bad presentation that was Domination. Wargaming.net have cut away the chaff and left the player with the core of the game, which is where the real brilliance has always rested. However, with Massive Assault Network 2 concentrating solely on online play, players looking for a meaty single player game will certainly be disappointed by the lack of offline modes.