F.U.B.A.R – A New Type Of Home Game
by Burbie52, HSM team writer
F.U.B.A.R. is nDreams’ new addition to their repertoire of gaming experiences in Home. They already have several diverse games; from the Trap-O-Matic, which is the simplest, to the much more time consuming ones of orb collecting and sky fishing. Recently they have added Blimps, a type of tag, and Fight Until Blood And Ruin, or F.U.B.A.R. for short. This game is one of the latter category and it is going to take a long time to play.
I went to x7 to try my hand at this game the other day. I have tried similar games in very simple forms on the internet, usually attached to a TV show like the one they had used to promote The Tudors on Showtime. It was a tower defense game, and these have been around in various formats for a long time I hear. I find them to be mildly amusing, but nothing I would spend much time and energy on.
That being said, I do like F.U.B.A.R so far. It’s simple interface and short daily play format is fun and easy to grasp and won’t take a lot of thought or time to play out each day, much like the other games in Aurora. In fact, out of all the games nDreams has produced so far I think this one will keep my attention the longest. This is partially due to the creative abilities of building your own military base and also the fact that you can do so at your own pace and besides it is amusing, like the other games of this genre I have played.
You can play this entirely for free, like all of the other games from nDreams, but the penalty of course it that like the others it will take a very long time to finish it. I don’t know what the end reward will be for completion, but I am sure that by the time people get there it will be a good one.
When I got to x7 I went to the store where I found a free Helipad to use as my gateway to F.U.B.A.R. They also give you one of these during the course of the game, but I think that is for when it goes public in two weeks. The helipad takes up seven furniture slots so that isn’t too bad when considering where to place it.
Game play itself is quite simple, all you do is play a daily base defense mission from what is called a Security Checkpoint. This is automatically placed at the front of your grid in the military base you are building. Once placed you are given the option of playing the mission or replaying it if you have already done one that day. This is a good idea for those who want to practice their defense tactics and feel they need to hone their skills. I am sure as the game progresses it will become increasingly harder and the maps of each mission will get more complex to defend. Placing your defensive units is done with a simple click of the square button to bring up the grid and an X to place them.
They give you a helicopter pad early in the tutorial that allows you to pick three people from your friends list each day to go visit. This earns them two points to spend on their base building. Once there you can do a few different things. If you have a combat range installed you can actually train other peoples soldiers or you can attack their base using the Security Checkpoint they have. If you win the attack you receive two points and your friend gets one, or vice versa.
There is no actual play involved here; it is all computer controlled so you just sit a minute and let the green attack bar fill to get your results. The training mode has a target pop up which you hit the X button and shoot as quickly as possible. Depending on your reflexes, you score points here as well both for you and your friend, I got five and so did he.
I think this feature of the game is going to make it a much more social building one than the other nDreams games previously offered. All of these are single player, except for the new Blimps game, but this is the first one that will allow us to interact with friends directly and also help each other with the game itself.
There is one more feature in the visiting mode called the Truck Storeroom, this is essentially a gifting mechanism that allows you to give your friends additions to their base. It is called a mystery gift and it gives you two points once again for use in your own game, I sent some of my friends these and they got ammo boxes and flower bushes. I also got some of these from friends and when I completed an objective for sending out a scouting expedition the game itself gave me some metal flooring as a gift.
There are war-bucks packets to purchase premium buildings from the in-game store feature accessed from the triangle button, these range from .99 cents for ten of them to $15.99 for a thousand. I can see where you could easily spend the full $15.99 if you are into this type of game so it is by far the best choice if that is the case. The types of building are wide and vary from Operational ones like a post office you can use to invite your friends to visit, to a cheerleader tent and combat range.
The cheerleader tent idea is a hoot, owning this increases the amount of points you earn because it helps the morale of your troops. They have decorative items like ammo boxes, bushes, flags and pieces of road to build with, but all of these cost war-bucks. There are Morale boosting items as well. like a gaming shack, bowling alley, TV room, strip club and game console room. They unlock during the course of play as you level up like the rest of the choices.
There are some rewards to obtain by finishing objectives. I have seen a few of them, they are furniture items, mostly decorative. There are also costumes you can purchase that look like soldiers from the game, block shaped and rather alien looking.
There is another thing that is attached to this game worth mentioning here, that is the personal space you can get for $4.99. The best advice I can give you there is don’t buy it until you see one first, because if you aren’t into a wide open field, you won’t care for it. The area in the center is a mini replica of your base and when I say mini I mean it. Standing there made me feel like I was Gulliver and had found a Lilliputian military base. My friends and I had a little fun setting things out to show the scale and stage fake monster attacks using various costumes and furniture pieces, but other than that I think coming here to see another persons base on a regular basis will be like watching paint dry. I know the base at the center changes as you build yours, but as the pace here is slow and daily, I don’t see the appeal, at least for me.
All in all, I like the game well enough, it has a lot of potential and seems to be free of bugs so far. The transitions from friends places back and forth to my own is flawless and quick. The store works well both for in game and buying war-bucks to use for purchasing more premium items for the game. I think this new game will be a popular choice because of the ease in play and the fact it takes little time to play. NDreams is on the right track here and while the game style is new, it still keeps in line with previous offerings.
I love this game. At least so far. It doesn’t take much time and is easy to play and win (so far). Play for a few minutes and then come back the next day.
The missions on the map one chooses a mission and waits 4 hours to 50 hours or more and the user does absolutely nothing. This might not be of liking to some but it is to me.
For those who aren’t good at shooters (Hello :() this game might be well liked. Or those who don’t like to spend a lot of time.
As for the space, it is a small desert with a few hills in it. That’s all you need to know as far as to how it looks. The hills are pretty good for skating on.
In the center is a miniature replica base itself which looks just like the one you build. KInd of neat. I put a miniature helicopter model right on top of the base so it looks like it’s flying. Also, the new Heavy Strike flying helicopter is a natural. Add in a tent and some other things, some goofy like a wooden soldier being shot at by another miniature soldier and it is fun to decorate. But that’s personal taste. You get nothing as far as I know for owning it as to game playing.
I’m sorry to say I don’t remember if I bought any War Bucks. I don’t think I did.
It won’t be enjoyed by all but it will be loved by some. Sometimes you just have to take a chance.
I forgot to say that while it might seem the Deluge Rain Lamp would be a natural for the FUBAR space, such is not the case. While it does work and one sees rain and hears the thunder, one also sees the invisible walls that encompass space.
This game looks fun. I have made a “gateway” apartment in the free mansion garage space we all got for free, and put in the aurora gate, Dragons green and Lockwood gift machine and I’ll put the gate for this there.
Great review!