GunBound
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| GunBound World Champion | |
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| Developer(s) | softnyx |
| Publisher(s) | EUR GOA |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release date | INT June 2005 [1] CAN USA July 2006 |
| Genre(s) | Artillery |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
| Media | Download Only (113 MB) |
| System requirements | Intel Celeron 300 MHz CPU, more than 150MB hard disk space, DirectX 8.0a, dial-up Internet access, 64MB memory RAM, Video Card with 16MB memory RAM and 3D accelerator support. |
GunBound (Korean: 건바운드) is a free-to-play, turn-based, room-to-room, multiplayer online game with many similar features to the popular Worms game series.
GunBound was developed and is maintained by South Korean developer Softnyx. It is currently in its second major release, subtitled World Champion internationally and called GunBound Revolution in North America with ijji as its host. The first major beta release was Thor's Hammer.
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[edit] Gameplay
GunBound has a turn-based artillery gameplay, bearing properties of two-dimensional games and ballistics-simulation games. In GunBound, players are assigned to two opposing teams which take turns firing at each other with vehicles called "Mobiles" in GunBound parlance. Each "Mobile" has three unique weapons, labeled "1", "2", and "SS" (Special Shot).
Factors like terrain condition, wind currents and elemental phenomena force players to continuously change their aim and trajectory power setting while rethinking their strategy at the same time. GunBound also implements a 'delay' turn system which is influenced by the Mobile, the weapon and/or item a player uses - using items or taking time with actions results in a longer wait before the player's next turn.
[edit] Avatars
A user's character can be equipped with clothing and other items, termed Avatar Items, which provide additional statistical bonuses that will assist players in the game, except on specific servers where avatar bonuses are disabled. This adds an element of customization for players. Gold (the game's currency) earned from battles can be spent on these Avatar items. Avatars can also be bought using cash which can be bought using money from a credit card or cash using PayPal or mail (Gcoins). Most common avatars can be bought by gold, and very strong avatars by G Coin, but some can be bought with both.
[edit] Mobiles
The game has nineteen Mobiles in total. Every Mobile falls under one of three different defense categories: Mechanical, Shielded, and Bionic, and one of four different attack categories: Laser, Explosion, Impact, and Electrical.
Different mobiles have different defenses, attack and health levels, delay, angle ranges, bunge (land damage) ability, and moving ability. The 19 Mobiles are Armor, Mage, Nak, Lightning, JD, A.State, J.Frog, Kalsiddon, Trico, Bigfoot, Boomer, Ice, Turtle, Grub, Raon Launcher, Aduka, Phoenix, Dragon, and Knight. Choosing Random (which randomly picks a bot) is the only way to obtain the Dragon or Knight mobiles; the other bots can be chosen at any time prior to a battle.
[edit] Game modes
[edit] Solo
Each player has only one life during game play. Once dead, the deceased players access a three-in-a-row, rolling slots game in which they can gain gold, alter wind conditions (affecting the shots of still-living players), or drop randomly-chosen items or bombs from the sky.
[edit] Tag
Tag mode is similar to Solo mode with only one difference: Players are allowed two Mobiles at the beginning of a match. In this mode, each player is permitted to switch once per turn between his or her chosen primary and secondary Mobiles, each with its own health value (Initially, secondary Mobiles only have half of its total health. This, however, can be mended using Healing items). Players cannot switch Mobiles once dead.
[edit] Score
In Score mode, the objective is to kill or bunge opponents until the enemy life counter reaches zero. Bunging is when you can destroy the land around the opponent's area and cause him/her to fall. The lives allotted in Score mode relies on the amount of team players participating in a match. For a team composed of n players, there are (n + 1) lives. Lives are pooled between players in a team. A team wins if the opposition's life counter reaches zero, or if there are no more opponents left on the field. Dead players, upon dying, have a choice of their drop location and drop at that point in the field in a set amount of 4 turns after the point is chosen. Should a player not hit land, he or she will continue to fall and the team life counter will not go down, but instead cause the player to reselect the drop location and wait another 4 turns. The player's drop location is slightly affected by wind conditions.
[edit] Jewel
Participants are required to eliminate targets called Jewel (seen in the form of Raons). Each Jewel is assigned a point value for being destroyed. Point values include -5, 5, 10 and 25. Shots fired at the enemy will not cause damage, but can destroy land. Teams win the game by rounding up at least 100 points, or bunging (hitting the land underneath them until they drop down) their opponents until none are left.
[edit] Powerball
Same as Score mode, except that only the 'teleport' item is available. Instead, Powerballs representing the various items drop from the sky. Collecting the Powerball grants the corresponding item's ability. Different effects can be stacked. There are five Powerballs: Thunder Ball, Dual Ball, Gold Ball, Force Ball and Bomb Ball. The Thunder Ball will cause thunder to strike where the bullet lands when it is shot as if it went through a thunder storm in other circumstances. The Dual Ball acts as if the player had used a Dual item but does not affect delay. The Gold Ball increases the gold earned from completing certain feats. The Force Ball increases the damage done when hitting another player. The Bomb Ball is the only non-beneficial Power Ball and deals 100 damage to whoever it hits. The damage can stack when multiple Bomb Balls hit a player. Each player is allowed to have up to 4 bombs stacked at a time.
[edit] Forces
In Gunbound, there are 11 force icons which could affect the projectile path or damage of a shot. These forces: are lightning (a circle with lightning symbol), tornado (a hurricane symbol), force (a sun symbol), thor (a thor symbol (that looks like a gun)), wind (a comet symbol), land (an ice pellet symbol), protection (a crescent moon symbol), ignorance (an eclipse symbol), dark force (a purple tornado symbol), joker force (a question mark symbol), and mirror force (a trapezoid mirror symbol). These forces cycle throughout the match and the number of times they appear depends on the map.
Lightning, force, mirror and thor add damage to your shot(s). Mirror also reflects any airborne shot that makes contact with it. Protection allows every player to gain some health. Mirrors (unlike other forces) do not reach from top to bottom. Instead, it starts at the bottom and its height depends on the map. Tornado changes the projectile's path. Wind changes the strength and direction of the wind. Land increases the destruction of land although the land icon is not in any of the current Gunbound maps. Ignorance disables the use of items and shield recovery while that icon remains active. Dark force decreases the damage of your shot by 50%.
The number of turns equals the number of player's shots before the next icon cycles through (including opposing players rounds); 1 vs 1: Every two turns; 2 vs 2: Every four turns; 3 vs 3: Every six turns; 4 vs 4: Every eight turns. Even if someone leaves the room it will still be the same number of turns before the moon disk changes.
[edit] Critical reception
The UK edition of PC Gamer magazine gave Gunbound a rating of 83 out of 100.[3] Netjak gave Gunbound a rating of 8.3 out of 10.[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Gunbound World Champion OPEN!. softnyx. Retrieved on 2007-04-11.
- ^ Gunbound Europe (GBEU) is on!. softnyx. Retrieved on 2007-04-11.
- ^ PC Gamer (UK). March 1, 2004
- ^ Netjak. February 18, 2004
[edit] External links
- GunBound - Official list of servers
- Softnyx - Developer's main site
- GunBound ijji - Official gunbound website (new)
- GunBound Australia - Official Gunbound Australia website (new)
[edit] Official GunBound server websites
- GunBound International - GunBound International Website (Softnyx)
- GunBound North America - GunBound North America Website (IJJI, NHN)
- GunBound Europe - GunBound Europe Website (GOA, France Telecom)
