Destructive Derby

How many times have you been playing, say, Need For Speed, and been thinking to yourself, "gee, this is kinda cool, but it just isn't violent enough!"? Is Mario Kart just too cute for you? If so, Tread Marks, the latest from LongBow Digital Arts, may be the game you're looking for. In it, you get to race tanks through 3D terrain, and the motto is "if you can't beat 'em, destroy 'em."

7-tank pileup

This tank is landing on me

A test version (pre-alpha) of the game was just released, and we at FiringSquad are here to give you the scoop. The test version is non-optimized, buggy, and not nearly fully-featured, but it does give you a sense of what's coming, and darn, does it look cool! Tread Marks is all about being fun and crazy. There's no pesky realism to get in the way here (when was the last time you heard about a bunch of army boys cruisin' the desert in some stolen tanks?), just gonzo action. These tanks can hit speeds up to 150 kph (that's ~93 mph for you English system users), fly off cliffs, and just wreak havoc in general.

Insanity

No problem, just rush hour

What's in the test?

The test version of Tread Marks features two tanks, one course, LAN networking, and the ability to try out both game modes. The first game mode is in race mode, where tanks can't be destroyed, but can have their turrets blown off. The other option is, of course, battle mode, where the sole objective is to blow everyone else into itty bitty little tank bits. Repeatedly. Both modes can be played against humans, computer opponents, or a mixture of the two.

Lots of tanks getting air

Someone's always shooting

What isn't?

No menu interface yet (it should be fully 3D and very impressive once done).
Controls are not yet configurable.
Force Feedback is not yet implemented.
Networking is LAN-only at the moment, and choppier than it will be.
Weapons are limited; there will be a LOT more in the end.
No player name and chat interface for multi-player.
Battle Match bots are very dumb right now.
No mouse control yet.
No support for Compiled Vertex Arrays (may provide speed boost).
Object to object collision physics should be improved.
Full single player game interface not yet implemented.
No multi-colored terrain or object lighting yet.
Missile trails should be improved (especially for Swarmers).
No splash damage yet (only direct damage).
No long-range leader-killing weapons yet.
No hover/invisible/invincible/speed boost/etc. power-ups yet.
No object shadows.
DirtBall is useless in Battle Match (we'll fix this).
"Graves" are often dug under weapons (we'll think of something).
Difficulty is fixed at "hardest"

Tanks flying everywhere

Boom.