Broiled Earth

Did you know that the first tank ever made was simple called the ‘Mark I Tank’, with the word apparently chosen to keep the true intentions of the machine-o-death hidden from the German forces.

Likewise, Broiled Earth’s name may be a play on the classic Scorched Earth, but the weapons it packs under its plate of armour are surprisingly powerful for a Windows Phone 7 indie title

The idea behind Broiled Earth should be familiar to those who have played the game it's based on (or, indeed, Worms - one of the descendants of Scorched Earth).

You play a single piece of artillery, while up to three other computer or human opponents sit at varying distances across a single-screen landscape.

Each player takes it in turns to pick a weapon, choose the the power and direction of his shot, and (hopefully) judge the wind speed correctly to land a direct hit on the enemy.

Any explosions cause the ground to disappear, altering the landscape so that steep inclines and pot marks litter the ground. Whoever is the last man standing wins the game.

There are six ‘levels’ to play on, with each providing a different setting, from Arctic to Grassland, while the computer opposition comes in four flavours of difficulty (in practice, shot accuracy).

There’s no Campaign or Story mode, which is a disappointment, but the facts that: a) there's an increasingly deadly arsenal of weapons that unlock during the course of a single game, b) landscapes aren’t random, and c) cannons can’t move restricts the possibility for a structured single-player mode in the first place.

Instead, Broiled Earth relies on the one feature that both Scorched Earth and Worms did so well in their respective times - multiplayer. Or, in this case, online multiplayer.

Yes, online multiplayer - something even Microsoft first-party games like Full House Poker are seemingly incapable of performing.

Broiled Earth comes with both offline and online play for up to four players, with customisable taunts (for when your opponent misses) and even persistent online ranking, stats, and leaderboards.

Alas, the server was completely devoid of players for the entirety of my testing session with the game - no doubt a result of the lack of exposure for WP7 Indie titles when compared to their Live peers.

Stripped of its secret weapon, Broiled Earth ends up being a fun distraction for a few minutes, but nothing more.