“Bang! Howdy” pretty gall-darned nifty

Penny Arcade screens everything they advertise, so when I saw a banner full of cowboys pop up, I figured I’d check it out.

“Bang! Howdy” is a free, online tactical/real-time strategy game. It controls like a tactical game, with each unit moving X squares and firing Y squares away on its turn. But instead of each player taking turns, each unit has a timer. This brings the fun of a turn based game, but mixes it with the excitement of an RTS.

The game starts with you choosing a custom avatar and picking one of three “big shots.” Big shots are your strongest unit and will have special purposes in certain game types. Outside the strategy portion, this game is about collecting stuff. You use winnings to buy power-ups for games, new big shots, new units, and even new clothes to customize your avatar. An interesting twist on the purchasing system is that each item takes cash and gold, where gold can be bought at the bank with a fluctuating market price.

Playing the strategy works really well. Each unit has a range, speed, and a unique special ability. Mixing and matching units and playing to their strengths is an important part of this (like any other) strategy game. Good choices don’t just depend on the unit interplay, but also on the mission type and map you are playing, as well as the number of units you are allowed to choose.

This game contains a huge number of maps that are selected based on the number of players and adapted to the play style. This gives the game a lot of variety, since people are strategizing on all these different levels. Cattle rustling plays entirely different from capturing towers, which again plays very differently from collecting and stealing gold nuggets. Not to mention that the back and forth style of the gameplay can feel completely different based on the number of players you have in a round.

And even though it’s an online game, you can always play. The game has a decent AI that will fill out the desired number of players for a game. The game also will match people based on rank, so you don’t get pwned for being a newb.

Speaking of pwning newbs, this game has a feature I really love: it translates internet shorthand! No more do people “lol”, but they actually laugh. “Woo” becomes “Yeehaw”, “gg” becomes “good game”, and “newb” becomes “greenhorn”. So now people who swear a lot look like they are the most into roleplaying as cowboys!

The roughest part is that the company has to make all their money somehow, so all the unlockables and collectables take a lot of work to get…. unless you want to get out your credit card. Then you can buy the advancements and clothing items much quicker. So mostly this just drives cheapskates like me to play more, so I can save up to buy my cowboy hat. But there’s another whole town in the game with a whole new set of unlockable units, collectable clothing, game types, and maps that you have to save up a huge amount to get to.

But if you want something to distract you while your prof lectures, or your Christmas gifts disappoint - this game is worth checking out.