Arena Wars

Arena Wars is a 3D real-time strategy game that combines strategy with action elements. It was developed by the four-person Hanoverian development team exDream in collaboration with Ascaron . As publisher enters Take 2 Interactive on. The press agency Between Us takes care of the press ! .

Although the game has innovative features such as B. offers webcam support , was highly praised by the trade press and received several awards (see awards ), the great commercial success failed . This is probably due on the one hand to a lack of advertising and to the unusual mix of genres, which was not well received by the broad mass of players.

Action / gameplay

In the year 2137 a military training simulation was transformed into a sport, which is named Arena Wars. In the simplest case, 2 players compete against each other, in multiplayer battles 2 teams with 1 or 2 players. At the beginning each player has 2 buildings, a power plant that supplies the base and radar with energy, and a teleporter that teleports new units into the base after completion.

At the beginning, each player has € 1000 . (Here Arena Wars takes a special position compared to other games, the currency of which is usually either dollars, credits, a fictitious currency or resources such as gold and wood.) With this money, the player can order units that are transferred to the base after completion by the teleporter be teleported. The units cost between € 50 and € 175, depending on the type.

If a unit is now destroyed in a fight against enemy units, the money that was spent on the unit is returned to the player, which makes other resource extraction unnecessary and at the same time limits the number of units to a total value of 1000 €.

The cards are designed so that you fight on many fronts at the same time, in that bases and tactically important points are well distributed and networked through many paths. The defense of the power station is also particularly important, as it can regenerate itself if it is destroyed, but this takes a few seconds during which the radar and troop production are disabled.

Game modes

Although Arena Wars is a strategy game, the game modes are borrowed from popular action games. In general, the goal of the game is to win points by being the first to achieve a predetermined number of points. The way to get points depends on the game mode.

Capture the flag : In addition to the 2 buildings mentioned, there is a flag point on each base on which the flag is placed. The aim is to get to the enemy base, to steal their flag by picking it up by any unit and to place it on the flag point in your own base in order to gain a point. If the unit carrying the flag is killed beforehand, another unit of its own can take over the flag like a baton. If an enemy unit succeeds in doing this beforehand, the flag is reset to its original flag point.
Double Domination : In this mode there are two neutral domination points that are similar to the flag points and are distributed across the map. In addition, a domination key is available in your own base, which your own unit can collect. If this key is placed on one of the points, the point changes to its own team color. The key disappears and a new one appears in the base. If the opponent places his own key on his own point, he in turn conquers the point. The goal is to capture both points and hold them for 20 seconds. If this succeeds, one receives one point and the domination points become neutral again.
Bombing Run : In each of the bases there is a bomb point on which a bomb can be placed. This Corpus Delicti is in the middle of the card. The aim is to place this bomb (there is only one) on the enemy bomb point. If this succeeds, a countdown of 20 seconds begins in the bomb. If the enemy succeeds in picking up the bomb, the countdown stops but is not reset. In the course of the game, the bomb gets hotter and hotter, because every time the bomb is placed on a point, the countdown continues from where it was stopped before. So it is theoretically possible to leave the bomb on your own point until it is down to 1 second, and then to advance to the opponent, who has no way of doing anything against the countdown, which becomes a brilliant one Explosion and 1 point for the bomb placer leads.

units

In comparison to other computer games, Arena Wars manages with a surprisingly small number of unit types, namely only 6, which are the same for every player. In return, exDream refrained from using mass units, also due to the 1000 € limit, and gave all units special skills and the game a rock-paper-scissors-principle. Unit types can also be upgraded by upgrading an upgraded building.

unit	costs	Special ability	Good against	Bad against
Buggy (light, but manoeuvrable car with MG)	50 €	Kamikaze (storm into the enemy army, then suicide to cause as much damage as possible)	artillery	artillery
Spider (small four-legged mech with missiles)	€ 75	Missile Storm (shoots 15 missiles at once)	Walker	Berserk
Walker (medium bipedal mech with laser)	100 €	JumpJet (low-level flight over the site)	Destroyer	Spider
Destroyer (heavy but slow tank)	€ 125	Teleport	Berserk	Walker
Berserker (similar to Walker; throws throwing star-like spikes)	150 €	Energy storm (shoots lightning bolts from the sky)	Spider	Destroyer
Artillery (artillery gun on armored transport)	175 €	BuildUp (heals nearby units, but also enemies)	buggy	buggy

It may seem strange that buggies are both good and bad versus artillery, and vice versa. This is because of the position: if the buggy is engaged in combat or for other reasons is far from the artillery, the artillery has an advantage because of the projectiles. However, if the buggy gets close enough to the artillery, it has a clear advantage due to the minimum range of the artillery, because it cannot shoot the buggy at such a short distance and is therefore defenseless.

Arena Wars Reloaded

On June 22, 2007 a new edition was released under the name "Arena Wars Reloaded".

Awards

1st place in the "Innovation" category at the German Developer Prize 2004
2nd place in the "Mid-Price-Game" category at the German Developer Award 2004

Web links

Official website