Art For Artillery's Sake: Cannon Brawl

I love a good artillery game and Cannon Brawl just might be a great one. As well as measuring angles and projectile strength, the gorgeous RTS hybrid from Turtle Sandbox has players managing resources and locations across its 20 single player missions. I played an early version and found it absolutely delightful. It's challenging, inventive and rewarding, and allows you to fire drills from a cannon. Even the early stages allow for flexible strategic approaches, and it's possible to succeed either by playing offensively or defensively. A fine balance is obviously preferable but levels aren't laid out like puzzles with a single correct solution. The launch trailer below was fired onto my screen at a 67 degree angle at 45% power.

Out now on Steam, with a 25% launch window discount running until September 26th, it'll set you back £8.24, with a double pack available for £11.24.

I've been playing artillery games since I found Gorillas (play online here) in the school computer lab. Do schools still call them 'labs'? It always seemed odd, even back then when I was ten years old. My dad worked with computers and he described work as 'going to the office', not 'the lab'. Maybe he missed a trick there - I'd have thought he was super cool if he'd worked in a lab.

Perhaps there's a better example of the genre than the mighty Scorched Earth but I haven't found it if so. I do have a fondness for the Worms games but there's something about the simplicity of Scorched Earth's graphics that keeps me coming back for more.