Tank sims have not had great
attention among game developers in recent years. Tanks don't seem to have the
glamour of jetfighters or gunships, have not had a Top Gun or Airwolf
equivalent (let's not even bring up Tank), and do not ignite such battle
cries as "lock and load" or "need for speed." Many big game developers, the
Hasbros and Microsofts, shy away from tank sims in lieu of flashier subjects
(like train simulators). Thankfully, independent developers often turn to un-cornered
markets. In the case of Steel Beasts,
Shrapnel Games and eSim
have come together to produce a tank sim that now can be considered THE tank
sim. In fact, Steel Beasts is quite possibly the definition of "hard-core sim."
The reason that simmers are
turning to independent developers is due to the passion that these smaller companies
have for their work. Painstaking detail and technical accuracy are a compulsion,
not a goal. Simmers recognize that those who produce the game were invested
in the concept and the genre, not simply to sell product, but to do what they
enjoy. This is very apparent upon installing and loading Steel Beasts. Programmed
mainly by Al Delaney of eSim along with the crew from Shrapnel Games, Steel
Beasts is as technically detailed as has been seen in any tank sim to date.
I wonder if a large developer would have taken the same aggressive attention
to realism.
Steel Beasts could be named
Abrams vs. Leopard, because it focuses on the US M1A1 Abrams and German Leopard
2A4 battle tanks. There are missions, instant action, and a full suite of tutorials
for each tank. Steel Beasts allows you to take seat as gunner or tank commander,
with the ability to switch between roles, and between tanks in a platoon. There
is no tank driver role but this is basically handled through designating routes
and waypoints and, if needed, by simple commands to turn left, right, speed
up, slow, stop, or hull down (prepare for engagement).
To call a "game" a "sim" requires
a great degree of realism and attention to real world modeling of the object
of the game. Using this as our hard-core sim-ometer, Steel Beasts ranks near
the top. For those who have little exposure to the workings of a modern tank,
this sim is an amazing examination of how tanks shoot, the mechanism by which
they fire, and the process of tank combat. You'll learn the role of the gunner:
first identifying a target, then lasing the target (using the laser rangefinder),
tracking to account for the automatic lead, and finally firing the round. Damage
to any of the automatic systems, LRF, stabilization, lead generator, etc., does
not leave the modern tank defenseless. Instead, the gunner can switch out of
the gunner's primary sight (GPS) to auxiliary site or gunner blocks to manually
account for superelevation, distance to the target, and lead. Knocking out a
few automatic systems shows just how important they are to the gunner - the
process of manually firing a projectile from a moving vehicle at an evading
target is frustrating and ineffective. There are also important differences
between the Abrams and Leopard, which only underscores that the US currently
has the best combat tank in the world. The Leopard's automatic systems are mostly
a step behind the American counterpart, and it quickly shows on the battlefield.
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