The game play is simple: Two teams battle in a classic game of tank warfare, where you control the type of shot, angle, and power (as well as position) of your vehicle. The winner depends on the kind of game you are playing. There are 4 game types: Score, Tag, Solo, and Jewel. In Score mode each team has a set number of lives and dead players may respawn. In tag mode each player can select two bots, one with full life and one at half life, and may tag between them, but death is permanent. In solo you have one bot and one life, if you die you are out. In jewel battles, point markers fall from the sky and land on the ground. Shoot them and inflict enough damage to destroy them and gain their point value; first to 100 wins.

Gunbound spices things up by using a very wide variety of vehicles. There are 18 vehicles in all, 14 from the original Gunbound, 2 special bots which are awarded for playing “random,” and 2 new bots that were added in the World Champion update. Each vehicle has three shots: two regular and one super-shot. Each vehicle’s shots are completely different from one another and are strongest against different bots in different scenarios. For instance, a lightning-type attack can inflict “splash” damage, not only causing direct damage to the person it hits, but also hitting anyone near the landing area. This means the lightning mobile works best when the enemies are near each other. Super shots are special weapons you can use once every 5-6 turns. For some bots it is a high damage attack, for others it is something more special. Each SS has its uses. To further add strategy to the play, each shot comes with a delay, which is basically how long you have to wait before you fire again. Plan correctly and, by using short delay attacks, you will get to attack twice at an opportune time, eliminating your opponent before they can cause serious damage to you.

To add even more depth, there are a huge variety of maps and some bots perform better on certain maps. Map choice can’t provide a direct advantage, as in a bot will do more damage on certain maps, but by using tactics and positioning you can avoid the attacks of other bots. For instance the lightning bot, who has a lightning attack, can’t strike enemies that are under a ceiling. In certain maps you have the opportunity to start under a ceiling, thus eliminating your risk from that bot altogether.

Next there are also items that can be used in game. Each player starts with 6 item slots, and the room owner assigns what items can be used in the game. Most items take up two slots, but some require only one; this means while you have 6 shots, you may only have 3 items. Items give you a certain advantage at the cost of a higher delay. For 600 delay you can fire twice (called a dual), for 250 delay you can use a dual plus also fire twice, but the second shot will fire the alternate firing method (if you are firing shot 1, it will add 250 delay and then fire shot 2), for 100 delay you can bandage your bot and heal some life back. Each item has its uses, and usually has bots that work best with it. Because the Jfrog’s attack 1 and attack 2 roll in opposite directions, for instance, taking the dual plus is not going to help you much, since one shot would roll towards your target and the other away from him.

Finally there is equipment. Equipment is how Softnyx makes money from Gunbound. While some of it can be purchased with gold you win from playing, other equipment items are available solely by cash purchase. The cash items are, of course, the best, and buying cash has other advantages, such as increased gold and game point gain per game. The nice thing about equipment is that there are two servers that are “avatar off,” which means that nobody’s equipment counts. For us that play on free accounts, we tend to hang out there a lot more. The advantage to playing in the avatar on servers is you get 10% more gold and game points. Equipment, besides making you look groovy, adds to a number of attributes. It can add to your armor or health, your attack power, your shield regeneration, your delay, your land destruction, your mobility, or even your gold gain per game!

In the end, Gunbound is looking to be a timeless classic, with its cartoony graphics and incredible replay value. There are some minor problems that plague it, though. The first problem is that Gunbound has a huge community with 10s of millions of accounts created. Their payment plan of play being mostly free doesn’t give them a staff able to handle such volume. This causes occasional outbreaks of hacking and a complete cut-off of game developer to player relations. Second, the servers are somewhat world wide. While Gunbound does have country specific servers in some regions, the server US players play on is played worldwide. While I have nothing against other cultures, it can be hard to communicate when your team doesn’t speak the same language you do. Sometimes teamwork is the best way to pull off a clutch victory, and having even a single member of your team not able to work with you can hamstring the entire experience.

Gunbound. Play it. Love it. Blow stuff up.