TimeWasters highlights many of the excellent Web-based/lightweight downloadable titles that you can dive into within the space of a lunch break. This week, Chris Gampat explores Steambirds.
Steambirds is the best TimeWaster I’ve played in a long time, no question. From the epic music, to the intelligent gameplay design, to the re-playability, this is a game that I can say I truly love to play and haven’t stopped since.
Steambirds is a turn-based strategy game that takes place during World War II. You command a squad of British fighters pushing farther and farther into Nazi Germany. You need to figure out ways to overcome the odds of being outnumbered and outgunned throughout the course of the game, which will cause you to rack your brains for long periods of time.
Steambirds is perhaps one of the best strategy game I’ve had the pleasure to play; I actually wish that the developers made it for DSiWare so that I could take it on the go. It’s a very mental game where the computer mucks with your head. As soon as you think you’ve got the computer beat you probably won’t and it will be because of a maneuver that you’re overlooking.
The turn-based play forces you to predict where your enemy will go depending on what units they have. You only have one type of fighter plane, but each individual plane has have different abilities. For example, you can fly faster, shield, do a 180 spin, spray smoke, fire missiles, bomb etc. You can’t choose what planes you get beforehand (they’re randomly given to you by the computer) so that makes gameplay even more interesting: especially in the bonus levels. You get bonus points for the less damage you receive.
The music is nothing short of epic. Think Day of Defeat, or Call of Duty: World at War if it were combined with HAWX. You really will feel like a World War II fighter pilot when playing this game and the plane and battle sounds suit the game well.
The graphics are nothing too special: just top down view with a brown background and the planes/airships being different colors. What’s really cool though is the gas trails that some planes will leave behind to damage others.
Steambirds is one of the best TimeWasters I’ve reviewed– give it a try yourself.
