Second Look—Smash Up Digital

It wasn’t long ago that Smash Up became available via Early Access to Steam. Since then I’ve had some time to play and see how it compares to the physical game. Smash Up is free to play, giving you 3 factions,  Dinosaurs, Ninjas and Geeks, to play the game with. All the features of the game are available in the free version. The only reason you’d need to pay at this point is if you want more factions. There’s a $9 Starter Pack available that gets you Zombies and Aliens now, and then Pirates, Robots, Tricksters, and Wizards when the game leaves Early Release.

So how does it play? Ultra smooth. The interface is a bit different than what I would have thought but works extremely well. Your cards are laid out on the bottom of the screen while scores are on the left and the rest of the screen is taken up by the bases. Each base is represented by a row with its card to the left, played cards on the line, and number totals to the right.

The way the screen is laid out makes it extremely easy to know what’s going on with the game at all times. It only takes a glance to see what you have, where your assets are places, and where you stand with all the other players. Overall the experience is extremely pleasant and makes the game that much more enjoyable to play. Having all the bookkeeping kept track of by the game is awesome.

Even though it’s in Early Access, Smash Up still boasts an incredible level of polish with a great tutorial and a slew of different features. Here’s the list detailed on the Nomad Games site:

• Play with 4 players or solo against the AI
• Online play against opponents from across the globe
• Add-on faction decks, including the base game set and more
• Random or manual faction selection
• Save game function for storing progress on the go
• Fully automated scoring
• Tutorial system plus ‘Step Through’ and ‘Review’ modes to help players learn
• Leader-boards and Achievements
• Three free to play factions

I was already a huge fan of Smash Up, but this steps the game up a notch. Being able to play solo, and have the bookkeeping taken care of, means that I’ll be playing this one much more often than I do now.

A copy of the Starter Pack DLC was provided free for this review by Nomad Games.