BattleCell
by Aethyna
Dec 21, 2015 |
1
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7
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Genres:
Strategy , MMOGraphics:
2DLabels:
Empire Building , Real Time , Futuristic Setting , GeographyPlatforms:
Publishers:
Social GameWorks Played entirely on a gridded Google Maps, BattleCell is an intriguing and very unique text-based MMO strategy game that allows you to claim entire sections of the map ... if you’re capable enough to do so. Will you be able to prove your strength and dominate the world? Play BattleCell now and find out! Play Now Similar Games Played
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Summary
Played entirely on a gridded Google Maps, BattleCell is an intriguing and very unique text-based MMO strategy game that allows you to claim entire sections of the map ... if you’re capable enough to do so. Raise an army using in-game cash that you’ve earned from various cells you control, and establish banks, factories, or even missile silos to aid you in your campaign of conquest! Besides warring with other players, you’ll also be going up against Lazarus Kappa, a devious computer virus which happens to be sentient and a master strategist. Will you be able to prove your strength and dominate the world? Play BattleCell now and find out!
Gameplay
Signing up for the game is a simple and boring affair in most games, but for BattleCell, it’s a uniquely interesting process. Instead of just inputting your info and starting the game, this game presents a rather humorous start, such as asking you to press multiple buttons and having a witty introduction. It does give you a special kind of impression even before you even start playing the game.
Once you’re in, the humor doesn’t stop there. The tutorial, conducted by your very own “Jarvis” (Hint: Mr Stark’s AI entity) a.k.a. Lazarus Alpha, is riddled with funny phrases. It’s a breath of fresh air in the MMO strategy genre.
BattleCell is also very unlike every other browser-based MMO strategy game that you’ve played. This is because the map in which you’ll be spreading your influence on is the same “map” you’re currently living in – Earth! The game utilizes the world map that is so helpfully provided by Google Earth and separating each landmass with equally-sized grids... or cell coordinates, as the game calls them. Every cell on the map generates in-game currency called local credits, and you’ll need these credits to buy yourself an army, as well as important military items and buildings.
However, you will be starting off in this game with no land to your name. So, you might want to first claim a cell. Cells that are not owned in this game are transparent (not colored). Once your main cell is set in place, you can then buy cells that are within the vicinity of it or you could choose the “random cell” option when buying a cell to buy a random cell that can be located anywhere around the world.
Now that you’ve owned a cell, you can construct buildings on it via the cell menu... if you have the credits, of course. Some of these “buildings” include fortifications, missile silos, or nuclear traps. Any structure built on any of your cells can be upgraded, and naturally, although the game provides a rather limited range of buildings at first, more options will become available as you gain more cells and upgrade your empire. There are many empire upgrades that you can buy with local credits, such as field hospital, missile laser, navy boot camp, inertial navigation and more. With time and the necessary empire upgrades, you could even choose a cell to establish your own capitol, a command center that will help you to coordinate the war effort.
Another important feature that you should learn about when you start playing BattleCell is the map views. There are 4 map views on offer, namely political, military, altitude and financial. Each map view highlights a different aspect of the game and depending on which aspect you want to view, you should choose the map options accordingly. There is also an info panel on the right that will show you important details such as troop count, altitude and credits produced when a cell is selected. For more details, you can refer to the blue HUD on the right as well. The green HUD, on the other hand, displays critical information about your entire empire.
It may seem a bit confusing at first, but the controls in BattleCell is very straightforward and simple. It just may take a bit to get used to. That being said, this game is not a mere building simulation game. So, building up your empire is merely a means to an end... which in this case, the “end” refers to defeating Lazarus Kappa, a virus that has grown into a military AI presence, as well as any other players who stand in your way of world domination!
Combat in BattleCell is pretty interesting. Most games with gridded maps often use a turn-based combat mechanism, but for this game, it is played entirely in real time. To start expanding your range of influence as well as getting rid of the pesky red-colored Lazarus Kappa cells surrounding your “home-cell”, you’ll first need some troops.
Soldiers can only be recruited using in-game credits (local credits or, its premium version, global credits). Each cell can hold as many troops as you can afford, but once your troop count exceed 20, you will suffer 1 fatality with every move you make... even if the troops are stationary in the cell. Not to mention, any military presence will also decrease the productivity of a cell, reducing the amount of credits generated per minute. Thus, due to this, it’s best not to leave your army standing idly by on a cell unless you need them to defend that cell. Furthermore, there isn’t any troop variety, so outnumbering and overwhelming your enemies is your best strategy in BattleCell.
As mentioned, you’ll be moving your troops fairly often in this game. There’s a waiting time associated with every troop movement you make unless you use the transfer troops option after every successful battle. This waiting time can be really long even if you merely want to shift your army to an adjacent cell.
In addition to the battles on the main map, you can also challenge yourself or polish up your skills by playing BattleCell’s arena mode. You can choose either to play against bots or another player. Basically, the arena mode is very similar to the fights on the main map in terms of gameplay, but of course, there are some rules. Each arena game is timed and depending on whether your opponent is an AI or a human, the time allocated changes. The condition for victory is fairly straightforward as well – you need to control the most cells in the much smaller map provided in the arena game in order to win.
There are many more goodies for you to play with in arena mode, such as free nuke traps (that turns the map into some form of a Minesweeper game) and cannons that will automatically fire at nearby enemy cells, decimating the ranks of the defending troops. You can also buy ships to transport your soldiers a bit faster than usual. The arena mode is very interesting to play, but there’s a tiny bit of bother though... you are forced to play the game in fullscreen or the bottom part of the interface will be blocked.
Your victories in arena mode, along with the number of cells and troops you control on the main map, will contribute to your empire rank on the leaderboard. Show your might by climbing up the leaderboard!
Community
The community in BattleCell is rather small at the moment as it’s a rather old game. However, you would be surprised how many players regularly return to this game to expand their empire – let me give you a hint... it’s a lot more than you think! There is also a chat panel on the left that auto-hides itself to avoid blocking your view, which you can use to communicate with other players in the game. The game even feature a guild-based system, called "federations", which allow players to share resources, communicate securely, enforce alliances, assign player roles and many more. It's a great way for you to band together with the other players in the game and watch each others' backs.
Graphics/ Sound
In terms of graphics, BattleCell might not be the best example, even for a text-based game, as most of the graphics – the maps - are actually taken from Google Maps. The HUD looks very decent though and it suits the sci-fi theme of the game. For sound, there isn’t a lot of it either. There are a couple of sound effects here and there, and well, that’s about it.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, BattleCell is a very special text-based MMO strategy game that fully utilizes the Google Maps integration feature to its advantage... also, who doesn’t like being able to play a war game on an actual, but digitally-rendered map of the Earth! Recruit soldiers to form your mighty army and capture as many neighboring cells as you can – doesn’t matter if it’s a cell previously controlled by Lazarus Kappa or a fellow human player. Dominate the area, the region, the state, the country, and subsequently, entire continents today in BattleCell!
BattleCell Blog
New Game Added: BattleCell
by Aethyna
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