Combat Zone is an MMO strategy app. It has players organizing armies of thousands of soldiers to take and retain control of land, villages, and oilfields. Players join alliances and organize armies of thousands of soldiers, while upgrading their HQ and keeping a close eye on other players.
Pros: Relatively deep strategy for a Facebook app, teamwork greatly encouraged (but not necessary), no paying elements (helps game balance), protection for players under Base Level 4
Cons: New players often start surrounded by more experienced players with more developed bases, lack of direction when not in an alliance, unbalanced game between old and new players, many players invite friends just for territory (many players are inactive)
Combat Zone is a turn-based strategy game. Players are given a maximum of 4 "Turns", regenerating 1 every 20 minutes. "Turns" are used to move soldiers from one place to another. More distance needs more turns.
"Action Points" are different. They are used for "Missions", which give your soldiers experience and makes them fight better. To do Missions, you also need to trade oil for weapons at "Victor's Shop". Better weapons make for a higher success rate.
Upgrading your base is very important. HQ upgrades do many things, like raise your soldiers Attack and Defence. They also enable special abilities, like snipers that eliminate all your opponent's low-ranking soldiers, artillery do heavy damage to enemies on your territory, airplanes that can drop your troops into enemy territory, and even UAVs (Unmanned Air Vehicles). These are all game-changing factors, and add an interesting variety to the game.
On the other hand, new players often start the game surrounded my more powerful players, and it's often nearly impossible to do anything about it. When more developed players have all the fancy nukes and UAVs and you don't, it's really hard to develop your base. Many players get their friends to make an account (and even create accounts) just to gain more Battlefields and increase their ranking.
But their is a solution to all the imbalance. If you join an Alliance (like "clans" in many MMOs), especially one with many players close to your position, you will be relatively safe from attackers. You'll have a whole team to back you up. People can still paratroop into your territory, but you and your allies will most likely be able to repel them. And after all, you are totally safe from nukes and other special abilities until Base Level 4. And you only have to go to Level 4 when you want to. But until you do, you won't have access to many of the game's interesting features.
Score: 8/10
Combat Zone takes a long while to get started. Gameplay is kind of slow for the first weeks, but the pace does pick up. If you're willing to sit through a few days of clicking once an hour a few hours a day, it really does get better. And it does so a lot quicker if you're in an Alliance.
Screenshots:
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| Combat Zone profile picture |
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| My territory |
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