Tank Wars
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Tank Wars was made in 1990 by Kenny Morse, a year before Scorched Earth, and was quite popular at that time; yet, surprisingly, not so many people today know that this game appeared before Scorched Earth, and hence Scorched Earth was inspired by Tank Wars (not the other way). Tank wars version 1.x and 2.x were released before any version of Scorched Earth was released. There is also a similar game on the Commodore Amiga computer system called Scorched Tanks, written by Michael P. Welch (who also made Pocket Tanks). The things that stand out in this game compared to Scorched Earth is that Mr. Stupid is funnier, The Twanger AI when bouncing walls are turned on, the sound effect of the nukes, and the colorful backgrounds that also animate/move in newer 2.5x and later versions.
Tank Wars is 320x240 256 colors only. It prefers 286 and 386 computers and is playable on 486 and slow pentium computers. Versions 2.0 and 2.5 seem to be optimized for the 286 PS/2 computers that were handed out to schools in 1988-1991. Versions 3.0 and 3.2 are optimized for slower 386 machines. Tank Wars runs under Windows XP, but the keyboard controls are unplayably fast and there are graphic glitches that prevent you from seeing your angle/power settings. Try running it under the DOSBox DOS-PC Emulator.
[edit] External links
Multiple versions of Tank Wars / Bomb32 (1.2,2.5,3.2), Scorched Earth (1.0,1.1,1.2,1.5), Charred Dirt (.99c, .99cR2, 1.05src), and Howitzer (0.95) can be downloaded at http://www.GreatInca.net/download.htm.
There have been many games created as remakes, clones, or games inspired by Scorched Earth, many of which are as follows:
3D games:
- Scorched 3D - 3D Scorched Earth game with authentic cloned gameplay
- Scorch an Island - 3D Scorched Earth remake with 2D gameplay
- Shelled! - 3D Scorched Earth inspired game with fresh gameplay
- Scorched Present - 3D Scorched Earth inspired game with some additions and weapons
- Scorched Earth 3D - 3D Scorched Earth inspired game that was never completed, but is functional and playable.
2D games:
- Scorched Earth - The official homepage of the original Scorched Earth.
- Charred Dirt - Gameplay similar to the original game which also includes online multiplayer. This is the best 2D tank-artillery game that has had fairly recent releases.
- Atomic Cannon - Scorched earth type gameplay. For Windows, Mac, Pocket PC, and Smartphone.
- Pocket Tanks - popular 2D remake with all new weapons
- Scorched Earth 2000 - 2D remake with emphasis on online play. Although the gameplay is drastically different from the original.
- Tanks - a Scorched Earth-inspired flash game
- Dome Wars - a popular clone for the Macintosh with a weapon editor
- Howitzer - a Scorched Earth clone with SVGA and Adlib/Soundblaster support. Nukes are mushroom clouds and have flashpoints rather than large round explosions. Requires some DOS geekdom to get most of the features that make it better than Scorched Earth to work. Has better weapons inventory than Scorched Earth.
- WarHeads - another, yet innovative, clone; Scorched Earth in space
- Death tank - real time tank battle, with up to seven player on screen at once. Similar to Scorched Earth
- GroundFire - another clone, This one is inspired by Death tank From the Sega Saturn, Real time
