Weather War II

Bring it on!  Let's see what you got, Commodore!

Everybody is familiar with the old artillery game that's been around for about as long as video games have.  You know the one.....where you face off against a friend, each of you on opposite sides of a computer screen (yep, that's right kids!  Back in the day multi-player meant you had to cram in around the same computer monitor!) and you had to fire artillery at each other, plotting trajectory according to wind speed and the terrain and such.  The Worms series of games took that concept and brought it to a whole new level, but that's the basic concept.

Here's an interesting take on that well worn battle game:  Weather War II by Bob Carr.  Published in 1982 by Magic Carpet Software, WWII puts you in command of your own weaponized cloud.  The aim is to completely destroy your opponent's castle.  You can choose to attack him with rain, hail, lightning or even a tornado!  Much like the old artillery game, you must factor wind into the equation in order to land the most devastating hits on your opponent.  Rain is the weakest of the attacks.  Tornado's will to a fair bit of damage if you land them just right.  Lightening does the most damage, but is quite difficult to control.  Hail is the weapon that you will find yourself coming back to again and again.

Prepare to die, Computer Castle!  

I open up my attacks with a torrent of rain.  Not the most devastating attack, but I'm testing the waters so to speak.

When the game begins, it's quite easy to land hits on your opponent, but as the rounds wear on it becomes more difficult to target the tiny bits of castle that remain.  There is absolutely no physics engine when it comes to the destruction of the castle.  If you were to blow a chunk of the upper corner of the castle out, anything above the damage will remain floating in space.  It becomes quite a pain in the ass to try and target little floating bits of castle sometimes especially when they are scattered about and you really need to land as much damage as possible.

Round 2 see's me getting pummeled by a tornado.  Well played Computer!

As you can see, harnessing the power of lightening can be quite devastating!

This game can be played in a 2 player mode, each player naming their castle.  If you wish to play a solo game, simply name player two as computer and the CPU will take over.

This game certainly isn't for everyone and it's really not going to hold your attention for too long as a one player game.  If you're having a two player game and perhaps having a few drinks (maybe even turn it into a drinking game.....chug a beer when your castle is destroyed or take a shot when you take damage) I could see this being quite a bit of retro fun.

It gets tricky trying to aim for those loose floating pieces!

By Round 11 it becomes apparent that we're both in deep trouble!

Wanna see all the pixellated weather madness in action?  Look no further friends!  Watch me battle it out with the Commodore.  Who will win?  Who will have some serious rebuilding to do?  Watch to find out!