Mechanized Assault & Exploration

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M.A.X.

Developer(s)	Interplay Productions
Publisher(s)	Interplay Productions
Designer(s)	Ali Atabek
Platform(s)	DOS
Release date	1997
Genre(s)	Turn-based strategy/Top-down
Mode(s)	Single player, Hotseat, LAN
Input methods	Keyboard, Mouse

M.A.X.: Mechanized Assault & Exploration is a turn-based strategy game released for DOS in 1997. The objective of the game is to colonize various alien planets by building eco-spheres for your colonists to live in and defending them against enemies.

1 Plot
2 Appearance
3 Style of Play
4 Game mechanics
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Plot

The Concord, an alliance of aliens called the Star Lords, have drafted humankind to fight their wars of planetary control for them. When a dispute over a planet between two or more Star Lords arises, the conflict is settled by mechanized forces and the victor's colonists can live on that world. The player assumes the role of a M.A.X. Commander, a human brain in a robotic shell designed to command robotic fighting units to take control of a planet and it's resources. There are eight human clans that the player can choose to command, each with a specific in-game advantage.

[edit] Appearance

While SVGA mode was already commonplace by 1997, the quality of M.A.X.'s graphics was superior to most 2D games available at the time. It was fairly unique among strategy games to offer a continuous zoom, letting the player start at a planet-wide view and descend smoothly until a few tanks fill the screen.

[edit] Style of Play

Before each game, each player is given an amount of gold with which to purchase and customize some military units. When the game starts, each unit is placed in one grid square on the map, and all control and unit placement throughout the game is done on this grid system. This layout, combined with the fact that any given unit's maximum movement and firing ranges are known to both players, introduces an element of strategy and planning ironically missing from most games in the strategy genre.

[edit] Game mechanics

M.A.X. featured a level of complexity not seen in today's strategy games. The game can be played in a turn-based mode (with or without time limit), or simultaneous mode (all the players take their turns at the same time), and features combat in air, land, and sea. Three resources are present on the maps- Raw Materials, which are needed to manufacture units, structures and ammunition, Fuel, which power generators need to function, and Gold, which is used to purchase upgrades. The player typically begins a game with a mining station (The game's primary structure, which extracts a certain amount of resources per turn) and a constructor unit. All of the game's units have specific requirements. Combat units must have their ammunition replenished and construction units must have their materials restocked or they will be unable to build structures. All structures require power. Power generators can be constructed adjacent to structures or can be connected to them ultimately through simple connectors. Units can resupply if they are adjacent to any structure that is ultimately connected to a structure containing the supplies.