Massive Assault Network is the online extension of the popular strategy title Massive Assault. In most respects the game is same online as it is stand alone, but by changing the paradigm of player vs. player with the Internet in the middle, it feels like the entire scope of the game has changed.



Let's kick off with the good news. Massive Assault Network provides a clean, and robust gaming environment. The maps are uncomplicated and well designed with different types of terrain that affects the movement rate of units in different ways. A hovercraft blazes over grass and sand but can't enter a forest for instance.

The graphics and animations are smooth and clean. The individual movements and firing animations are adequately unique to each unit and transpire without interruptions or stutters or any of the other assorted oddities that often plague games. While there are certainly an ample amount of sounds to complement the animations, you would actually be better off muting the game and cranking MP3.



The online game play interfaces are clean and clear. You pick up a game on one tab. Games awaiting your moves are on one tab, games awaiting opponent moves are on another tab, and of course you can chat to your hearts content.

At its core, Massive Assault Network is a strategy game for thinkers. Many of the traditional elements of modern strategy games are missing, such as resource collection and construction times. Instead the player focuses on a limited number of units, a set cost for each unit and the strategy of the game.



And strategy it is too. By paring down the extraneous accoutrements the player can focus on pure strategy. In many ways Massive Assault Network feels like a hyper-chess match. Certain pieces, certain movements, certain capabilities and then the other player has a turn.

One of the features the company pimps is the "Secret Ally" On each map there are a certain number of territories and each territory has a capital. Any of these territories can be either an enemy, and ally or a neutral. The trick is, you don't know which ones are which. Your allied territories can be spread all over the map, as can your opponent. In order to generate units you need to disclose an allied territory which then becomes visible to enemy. In each turn where a disclosure is possible you are given the option to disclose a new allied territory. So while you may think that rushing all of your units into your eastern neighbor is a good strategy, it may turn out that your eastern neighbor is actually the secret ally of your enemy. Now you're caught with your shorts around your ankles.

And there is yet another level to this scenario. Neutral territories stay absolutely neutral until invaded. That means that if your eastern neighbor is a true neutral and not a secret ally of your enemy and you attack that territory, it now becomes the ally of your enemy. The real danger here is that you will have to fight on multiple fronts and spread your troops too thinly.



You must really analyze your enemy, and yourself, if you hope to have any success in the Massive Assault Network.

And now for the bad news. All of the problems of Massive Assault Network stem from two of its main features, Online Play and Turn-Based Play.



Yes, playing against a human opponent is infinitely more enjoyable and challenging. However, being a turn-based strategy game, you take your turn, make all your moves and then upload your data to the central server and wait for your opponent to take their turn. And wait. And wait some more. Oh and did I mention the waiting? Yes, if your opponent decides to go off and get a pizza, then you get to wait for them to return. Fundamentally you cannot alleviate this problem. So the game provides you with the functionality of having multiple games going at once. I do not know what the limit is, but I've had 6 games stagnating...err playing at once.

The second issue I had also stems from the turn-based approach to the game. Because you and your opponent take turns, you can see and plan all of your moves several turns in advance. But here is the rub. In order for you to attempt to take over a territory you must first move one unit across the border of that territory. Similarly, the enemy must attempt to move a unit across the border into your territory. Not so bad on the surface, but once you're lobbing missiles over the border you get to realize quite quickly that one border skirmish can turn into hours of maneuvering just to advance one bloody increment. Take this news with a pound of sugar because while it sounds bad, and it can be really bad, the enemy isn't always savvy enough or willing to fight a prolonged border skirmish.



Massive Assault Network is ideally suited to hard core strategy gamers who relish the pure strategic elements of player-versus-player conflict and don? mind the occasionally tedious hotspot in combat.