We were nearing the end of the demo with little time left, yet much of the town was still standing. Bring on the nuke! Sensing our tension, Cece fired up the same level, but in multiplayer… with unlimited tactical points. Tactical points equal sweet, sweet nukes - and in this latest build of the game, up to three can be launched at once.
These babies will devastate the environment, as every one of the 350 different building types is destructible. Yes, you read that correctly - 350 different buildings and elements are included in the game, each of which crumbles in the face of explosive force. Before Cece satisfied our uranium urges, he demonstrated just how destructible everything is with the other tactical support weapons. The first was a fuel-air bomb known as a Daisy Cutter. "Great for clearing out a forest" said Cece, before using one to fell half a forest, and incinerate the poor saps underneath it.
Next up was carpet bombing, delivered courtesy of the mighty B-52, or BUFF as it was affectionately known (Big. Ugly. Fat. F!$%&$). As the name implies, it's like rolling out a roll of carpet. Except this carpet isn't shagpile… it's plastique. Three B-52s zoomed over the town, laying waste to an entire block.
Nuketastic. Nukeorific. Nukegasm.
Finally, it was time. The finest weapon we've ever seen in an RTS was ready to be deployed.
Click.
From the horizon we spotted the small glow of the rocket engine as the tactical nuke was launched. It was relatively tiny compared to everything we'd seen in the previous hour, yet its effect on the map was not.
Boom.
In a blinding flash of white, the nuke detonated. As the mushroom cloud began to form, a shockwave roared across the landscape, flattening anything in sight. As the fireball within the cloud died out, replaced by choking black smoke, a light snow of fallout covered the level. The Geiger counter started clicking, and we began to feel guilt at the joy of watching this town become the ashtray of God. Not so guilty that we didn't immediately get Cece to launch several more nukes though…
