Gunrox

Gunroxis a MO turn-based strategy "squad tactics" game that just finished its beta testing and is now live (end of 2008). The game was created by Enkord, a company known for their addicting flash games, and already has a strong Brazillian following.

Squad tactics are what make Gunrox quite unique from other games in its genre. This type of gamy play follows closely along the lines of other offline PC games such as Fallout Tactics, the Jagged Alliance series, and Arcanum. It reqires the gamer to command multiple units (3 for Gunrox), each of them with their own abilities or "perks". Gunrox allows each squad member a certain amount of action points to be spent each turn. With these points, you are able to shoot guns, move across the landscape or behind barriors for better positioning, plant mines, throw grenades, use med packs, etc. The combination of unit placement within your own squad, along with the tactical possiblities with playing team games, makes for an amazing chess-like strategy game with great animations.

Perks are specializations that each unit is able to train in as you begin to win games and advance through the different Gunrox locations. There are many things to choose from, each with advantages and some with disadvanatges. The perks you can choose from, cover a wide range of things, from extra health or damage resistance, to specific gun specilizations. You could choose to specialize in "Shotguns" ONLY, which would allow you to eventually use better and better types of guns. (first a double barrel shotgun, then a Benelli, eventually a Neostead, and so on) However, if all your units are shotgunners, you will most likely have a hard time against those who have units with sniper rifles. There's trade offs to each "spec".

Turn-Based Strategy is simply the requirement of each player to take turns in succession rather then all actions happing in real time. Gunrox ties this playstyle to a time limit per turn, which is set before the game begins. The most common time limit is 1:00 per turn. Someone starts, makes their moves within their time allotment, and then ends thier turn. Their units now remain "locked in place" while thier opponent make his moves.

Diversity is prevelent in Gunrox. Currently the strongest contingent would be Brazillians, who make up 38.7% of all subscribers. Others players hail from Turkey, USA, China, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Poland, Italy, United Kingdom, and many other locations world wide.

A Chat room is provided for each "location" on the Gunrox World Map. This allows people to converse and discuss things before, during, and after each game that is played. This is standard with many games of this nature but is not always done in a way that makes it easy. World of Warcraft has one of the most "feature-filled" chat systems, allowing for personal, audible, regional, auctioning, and even worldwide chat to take place. Gunrox is not this elaborate, however it still manages to be simple and user friendly.