If you ask us, strategists, Genghis Khan Napoleonovichey do not want there to play MMORPG, we have that answer? - Do not ... And shamefully disqualified eyes. That would be a general, or even a captain. But the rank and file? Not ours! Of course, most have a secret charm in "line", "Vovka or newfangled" Vahe ". However, even if it's not a walking corpse, and a dark elf with enticing forms the skeleton is the skeleton, and its place in the cabinet and in public housing let us submit Division! Not filed a special something. So, does that Europa Universalis III.
In the light BattleForge appeared because, if I may say so, selection. Let us explain: its "strategic" part is based on the mechanics of collectible card games (TCG) Magic: the Gathering. You buy a disc or a code (and then download the game from the internet). With the code, depending on the money spent, give one to four "decks" and earn some points BF. Each deck of 16 cards of some of the four "suits". Suits are - fire being the generation of eternal cold, ghouls and vitalists. Of course, the world is much more maps of each species, but the first set collects his Majesty the case. The card may symbolize detachment diehard fighters or some nightmarish straholyudinu. Other pieces of the virtual board can cause the building or use spells.
Having obtained the card, we begin to create combat deck. Fascinating, I must say, the occupation, which you can indulge for hours. Of how and why a deck is formed, depend in the future all of our actions. But, of course, the move to understand these subtleties impossible, because his first mission will have to undergo a basic set of one color.
So, I received my first deck and admire the relish precious monsters frolicking in your "sandbox" (where you can see what they are "in", and compare their fighting force), we find ourselves in a "strategic mode".  | |  | Map of the world. There have been some jobs available. The top card can be sorted by level of difficulty. | | The main screen in "strategic" mode. Here you can check who gets stronger, look at the monsters and to experiment with their wards. |
Everything is simple. Before us is a map on it are marked completed and not yet honest report of the mission, designed for one, two, four and twelve people.
Passing the majority of missions, we have access to the next. For each there are three difficulty levels - standard, an "advanced" and "expert" - what it is, the harder you have to, but the reward and desire more substantial.
For the successful passage of us gives to upgrade to one of the cards. All improvements are tied to missions in advance, so you can decide yourself what to do immediately and what a little later. And here, alas, has already started a mess.The game has some odd flaws, and rather rare in these times. Now taken to meet any newcomer with open arms, with the move to give him a training aircraft carrier or a few one-off Rings of Power, trying by hook or by crook to leave a neophyte in the game. BattleForge is rotated to the player mmm ... neck. Here, for example, you can not see what we get for the mission. Moreover, it does intrigue with a random prize a la lottery. Awards are known in advance and determined, and a list of them can be easily found on the web (here, for example). Why not show the list in the game, this writer did not understand.
 | Beauty |
Want to praise the beauty BattleForge. Detachments worked perfectly, even though they do not vysokopoligonalnye. In a cartoon giant halberd or a huge claws make any unit easily recognizable. Maybe each of them and not unblemished, but the overall picture of a grand battle looks great! The only thing that slightly spoils the impression - for some reason we again play monsters in a medieval style against a completely modern aliens. By its nature, perhaps, all the deck quite neutral, but their features are intuitive. Fire is strong in attack and has a devastating spells, cold is good in defense and a much slow enemies by freezing them. Ghouls are cleverly used to his bones Needs killed enemies, but the Greens have surpassed all others in the ability to heal. But why at the same time in all decks, except, perhaps, a cold, so many creatures that come to us straight from the paintings of Grünewald and Hieronymus Bosch? Even as some want to put an example chernushny Warhammer, there is something sort through everything: beautiful elves, dwarves are pragmatic, and orcs do not divide the world into good and evil, and the gay and boring. And with a soul out there in places of power brokers (Chaos kind?) Designed for fans of exotic. And then - almost half the units are then it was too nasty. I must say, this trend is evident in all of modern mass - culture. For some reason we are increasingly seeing is not the battles of good against evil, and not even for the clashes, where everyone has their own truth, and battle nightmarish creatures with a complete reptiles. That puzzle - and I got to do for whom? Really, is difficult to choose between a cannibal and a fascist. Alas, the authors BattleForge support this trend. Battles and special effects can make Warhammer, proud of epics, green with envy. But close associates of a good half of it is better not to consider, then calmly to sleep.
One berry take on another look ... So, you pass the mission, get over it the ability to upgrade. But to make it, it is necessary to produce special chests of gold, which in those same upgrades and spent. Precious metals here, fortunately, quite a lot, and get it easily, but with the improvement of yourself is not so simple. After all, every one of them can not only make the map more powerful, but also combine two cards into one, if there is a pair of identical. So do not rush to get rid of the "doubles", oh, how they are needed.
The next question is: how do the cards are taken? The answer: they can only get for the money. BattleForge - the game does not "shareware". From beginning to end, it certainly is a chargeable.Expand the deck, we can only BF-glasses, which can be obtained only in exchange for their money. As befits a collectible game, new cards are "blind". Buy indoor booster and with a sinking heart, look what we got. In principle, may be useful to all - utterly useless cards have not yet seen. Besides, if we need something seem of no value - sell or change.
Actually, the cherished BF-points can be extracted only trading so sharing, do not spend on the game. Theoretically, nothing prevents us, having received the original deck, upgrade them calmly and did not invest a single penny. But since you want to buy that big-nosed demon, and still won that tower with a hook ... Oh-oh-oh, what luchnichki! Doroguschy, bastards.
You can not even spend money on the code: we will hand to the poor original deck so stripped-down version where you can not trade, but to play quite a turn out. Although the temptation is great, let alone when gloat foreign luxury pack, some salivating and flow.
By the way, in advance of roll on lip cherished cards are not so easy, as the full catalog in the game simply does not exist! But, you should also know the gamer, to aspire to what units and spells to seek, beneath that "sharpen" tactics? Not to mention the fact that these same cards - actually bread publishers. Alas, here are exactly the same as with the upgrades - going to the above site and there carefully study the list of all currently available cards. On the native page description of the game cards also appear, and even with tactical advice, here are just covered so far only ... five pieces.
By the way, is not easy in and BattleForge torgovlishkoy deal, the cards are allowed to buy and sell only through a very poorly made by auction. At this market there is no sane search engine on the cards, no sorting sellers on price. But even if we miraculously found the right has only to raise your bid and wait, wait, wait. And then a letter with the notice, say, anything-we would not have bought, because our rate is killed.
| Interface |
Once I told a funny story about how one company, which is considered the best in Russia, the designers were asked. Take, say, a cool interface so easy. Month pored guys have tried dozens of options, three pairs of iron shoes trampled ... Ugh, it's from another fairy tale! In general, yield.And the boss and says: "Yes this is the interface of Warcraft»! And this tale is told as a warning to those who believe that nothing new can be invented, because all have long thought Sid Meier, but he did not, then invented blizzardovtsy. The very existence of BattleForge proves that it is a bad dancer always a problem with pants, and coped well with the non-trivial task even in the chemical protection suit. Judge for yourself. The bottom row is expanded, all your deck. Card, which you can now play on which lacks monuments and energy are put forward slightly upward. All units sent to you at different times in one place, should unite in a group and given numbers. If next to the group announced and other teams, they happily join the comrades. All battle groups are hanging in the upper left corner, and they can cause even a mouse, even with the keyboard. Call the group - there is a corresponding icon to the right department. Clicking on any unit in this mini-menu, we select all units of this type, and next to the menu appears, showing their special ability. In general, the control forces in combat in BattleForge - a pleasure.
Mixed in a bunch of horses, people ... But all this later, but until we, the green recruits, chose a mission and press the button "start game". After a short, well-written and well translated briefing report, in what way we happen to save the world at this time.
Here is where the fun begins. Remember those cards, the exchange we talked a little higher? That all units, monsters, spells and buildings. We complete your deck, we, in fact, shape the future of "race" for the classical RTS. Besides, a unique race because a lot of cards, they have different properties, and imagine two players with absolutely identical decks impossible.
So, in order to play the card, turning it from a beautiful picture in the squad, need two resources.
The first - the quantity and color you control "Monument" surmounted by colored spheres (at the beginning of the mission alone, in the end, usually four). To call the card requires a certain number of these areas so more of them as a particular color. Let's say you need three pieces, two yellow (for deck mertvyatskoy). Hence, this card will "work" for us in the second half of the game, when Pick up these same three monuments.
It turns out that, on the one hand, the more valuable cards that require a small number of monuments fixed color. For example, dark cultists armed with rifles - for them to use the four areas, but only one of them must always be purple. What is it good? They can be easily combined with strong quadruple cards of another "color schemes", because all the other monuments can be anything, and hence we have the right to use strong cards in different colors.
But the cards that require two or three spheres of the same color, much stronger. Usually, this is really the most powerful creatures in the deck or spells.
So, in a purple set has a map of "Reaper", nicknamed the Kid. In infants, according to the mean, fifteen tons of live weight, small enemies he throw right and left like kittens, demolishing the wall with two strikes, in good faith collect seeds defeated enemies and from them to whip up carpentry otryadiki skeletons. And there is the giant only in the presence of two monuments. Almost at the beginning of the game! Husky is a huge advantage - no one else at this stage there is no such beast. But! If we take your deck "Reaper", it automatically means that all of our cards that require one or two areas will be purple. As for calling kid needs a pair of monuments, you know what color.It turns out that, say, a "green home" (werewolves, archers and shaman-healer), so beloved by many players, we are available!
The second resource - points of energy. They are extracted from wells operating generators, which, as monuments scattered across the map. Each generator brings a certain amount of points, and need these glasses to call teams and cast. "Invitation" the same kid will cost three hundred points. It turns out that the player who takes it in your deck, in the beginning of the game is undernourished and nedosypaet, spend nothing, scrape, as the energy a little more - and saves, saves a weapon of revenge. But already there - just hold on!  | |  | Grimvayn, a huge tree. As more and more units that can shoot down the flying creatures. And still able to dissolve the roots, immobilizing nearby enemies. | | The towers can be build anywhere, where we have our units. So that these buildings are very useful, especially early in the game, when strong cards still are not many. |
This strategic framework should work fine. Collecting the deck should be clear idea about when, how and what to use. Need to make sure that at every stage we have been masters of martial arts, preferably some kind of "flying" squads hands for support to strengthen the spell. Yes, still need to know the mission that you are going to perform, because each of them have to pass three times, at different levels. And if one needed defensive towers to effectively ward off evil spirits, was besieging the city of Hope, the other can not do without fast cavalry, capable of in a timely manner to support colleagues in distress.
Add to this mission for two or four players, for them there is also the allies, which can also be successfully combined forces!
In short, there is something to ponder, and room for experimentation - a huge.
Oh, I forgot to say: Monument is allowed to demolish and repaint! And so, having invited the three kids and having exhausted stock of fast call these creatures (each card has a limit of rapid intervention, after which this character can call upon only after a long break), we can "repaint" one or even two purple monument and three have already played, say, a fiery pile.
| Secret! |
In many missions must provide someone to help, protect, save, etc. And the loser is usually far away (at the other end of the map), and even in the fortress. Do not try to break back in every way! Create a detachment of light cavalry, that he just gallop past the enemies. If the four musketeers to suspensions will get at least one of D'Artagnan - enough to build on-site generators or simply close to rivet his army.
In the midst of battle Thus, their main strategic decisions we make, forming the deck, and already on the battlefield, choose which units need now. The rules of the battle are simple: barns, producing troops there. Unit may appear next to any of our building or subdivision. Although, if the party invite to the open field, under the flank "to his other fighters - fighters appear with half health and not able to apply SPECIAL PROPERTIES until ochuhayutsya.
The rest - these are ordinary, well-done job, known since the days of Warcraft. Escort ships with gold, to protect the three fortresses in different corners of the cards and so on - as a whole is well organized and sophisticated. Mission suggest the solution of several problems: usually have to defend in one place and in another attack, or attack one, and another three to fight back - there can only manage to turn.  | |  | The game has often come across the wall, very useful for defense. Made it very cleverly: Bridging to the foundation, and then choose which way stenochka be addressed. On the walls can accommodate hands, though there are units that are capable of these shooters to shoot down the attic. | | Sarcophagus mummy - one of the buildings support mertvyatskoy deck. Including the sarcophagus, you increase productivity, put more simply, the bones can be collected faster, and this is the main resource of the deck to spell. Against the wall already has two towers, preparing to meet the enemy, next to the sarcophagus - a pair of running "generators". |
Game kinds of troops by itself also does not possess novelty - archers, mages, tanks, cavalry, flying units. While her, well, tradition is not concerned and do not niskolechko frustrating, because the system of elections, facing a gamer in general, not tactics, and in the planning of the game and the ability to decide when and what kind of team to call. Battle of the same - in fact, beautiful illustrations, to enjoy what happened. Micromanagement, of course, important but not decisive role - it is there is not StarCraft.
And of the enemy and our units are pretty clever, in principle, they know when and what to do. But even here there is entertainment for the player. Almost every unit is "active" SPECIAL PROPERTIES, allowing the opponent to make any special filthy muck. True, before the nasty realized, will have to fulfill some conditions. For example, archers, dark elves can go to the "mode" machine gun - to begin shooting particularly fast and scary. But at the same time they lose the ability to move, so even after had shot twenty seconds and change perekurivayut torn in the heat of battle bows bowstring.  | |  | The decisive attack: go ahead mighty beast on the floor screen. | | Kid - a very strong unit, but it alone is better to fight not to let. |
Wiping the sweat from his forehead So, we have a great strategy game. However, "residual" Is it online - it's still a big question.Because in fact the main feature of online games - communication players - we are almost never seen. Yes, we can together with friends to pass a complex mission, or to state in a specially reserved for games with live players place and had a good chop. Tightening, we'll even be able to trade, the brute made unsuccessful auction, and surprisingly awkward chat. But one world-then no.
In fact, there is a "meeting place", among the amateurs Team Fortress, which are fashionable terminology used online to attract the audience and the Internet to protect against pirates.
The game is good? Simply magnificent! Online Strategy, the first MMORTS? Yes, in general, no. Just a game server with the possibility of growth, with friendlies and not a match or co-op missions.
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