Shell Shock Live: Steam Review
"Demolish your friends with hundreds of upgradable weapons shot from your customizable tank in this action-packed online multiplayer tanks game"
Shell Shock Live is an "Early Access" game like just about all other indie titles on Steam. On the plus side, it has received very positive overall user reviews which are a good sign on how the game is being received by the community. Shell Shock Live has been published and developed by kChamp Games who have a long resume of creating Flash games. For the relatively low purchase price of $6.99US on Steam, the game comes ready for single player, online multiplayer that supports cross platform play and a slew of other features.A super easy way to describe Shell Shock Live is to liken it to a very popular game of similar style. The game play resembles the game 'Worms' very closely, but it manages to do enough to make it very much its own game. Each player controls a miniature tank on a large scale battlefield and the ultimate goal is to blow up the enemy tanks. Similar to Worms, you will have to work out trajectories in order to get your shots on targets. However there was an absence of any sort of weather conditions at this point in the game's development that could mix the game play up a little.
The game play is set synchronously after each play has finished inputting their shot. Once the last player has set their trajectory and pressed "FIRE", all of the tanks in the game will fire their shots at the same time. Whether you hit or miss are sometimes more ass than class.
The strength that comes with Shell Shock live is in the customisation abilities. While there won't be much of a visual change, the behind the scenes upgrades and tinker ability is substantial. You can upgrade your tank's chassis, tracks, gun and luck abilities and there are 25 different slots to upgrade for each of those sections. On top of the plethora of tank upgrades, there are over 250 different weapons to unlock and use. Once again, similar to Worms, there are big and powerful weapons, small and accurate weapons and also the ridiculous ones there too, such as the "Guppies" which fires out bouncing splatting explosive fish.
"It's a bit ridiculous. Unlock, upgrade, and master over 200 unique power-packed weapons, from the intimidating 'Seagull' to the ever-powerful 'Mega-Nuke'. The best part is that we're building and adding more daily"
Shell Shock Live is built on a simple graphics display, however the simplicity in this game is a thing of beauty. The high contrast colours with darkened backgrounds looks beautiful with particle effects a plenty. This game is sure to run on most rigs and look good wherever you play it. When taking bang for buck into consideration, Shell Shock Live is a neat and tidy little game that will exceed expectations from a game of such a price point. This is definitely a good choice for those scouring the massive wastelands of Steam, looking for something cheap and easy to pick up and play.
Lucas Aurelius
Aussie Gamers Express