Scorched Earth, Sort of-Livestream Highlight Shell Shock Live


Welcome to my livestream highlight from Shell Shock Live! In this highlight I play Shell Shock Live for the first time, experiencing failure, victory, and fun!
Developed and published by kChamp Games, a one man studio based in Southern California, Shell Shock Live began as a simple flash based game published on Newgrounds. The game was published on Steam as an Early Access in November 2015 title and is currently on version 0.9.6.15. The projected full release date is late 2017.
My initial interest in this game came from nostalgia. The game has many similarities with a DOS game I played back in the early 90s, Scorched Earth. Like Shell Shock Live, Scorched Earth is a artillery combat simulator with a wide selection of weapons.  My sisters and I spent countless hours playing together as kids.
I don’t know if the developer took inspiration from Scorched earth but I wouldn’t be surprised. Shell Shock Live is a fun game with solid mechanics, intuitive controls, and high replayability. The game uses bright colors, energetic music, and generous fanfare to keep the player engaged. A leveling system adds goals for the player, rewarding them with tank customization options and a arsenal of over 200 weapon types.
Though Shell Shock Live is a good game it is not perfect. The tutorial does a great job of teaching basics controls and mechanics but the advanced aspects are left for the player to discover on their own. The greatest hindrance for the player is a complete lack of tool-tips for the many weapon types. The weapon loadout is completely random for each match which often left me wasting time and turns discovering what weapons I had and how to use them.
Shell Shock Live is a multiplayer game first, however there is a single player option for those who enjoy it. Unfortunatly that single-player content is blocked behind a very steep leveling gap. Leveling, while fun, is a lengthy process that requires a significant time invenstment.

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