Supercell, the maker of insanly popular Clash of Clans and Hay Day mobile games, disclosed that its next game shipping in March is called Boom Beach. Observers of mobile gaming will watch this game extremely close because it will show whether Supercell, which had $892 million in revenue last year from just two games, still has the magic touch.
Above: Boom Beach invading force
The game looks like a World War II-themed, cartoon style variant of Clash of Clans. But rather than raiding Viking villages, you’re building up your base and assaulting the beaches of your enemies.
The game play should be familiar to Clash of Clans players. In that game, which generates the bulk of Supercell’s revenues. In Clash of Clans, you set up your Viking-era base and build up your army of cartoon-like characters. You set up defenses and production facilities, and then try to grow. Your enemies will attack you, and your clan, if you join one, will protect you. The attacks happen in an asynchronous way when you are not online. The enemy places their units on the battlefield and then proceed to attack the base as effectively as they can. They either win by destroying all of the buildings in the base, or you successfully defend against the attack.
You can seek revenge on those who attack you and try to raze their base in a counterattack.
With Boom Beach, you build a base next to a beach. The graphics are in 3D-like style but are still two-dimensional. You land your soldiers on a beach via landing craft and bombard the enemy from your ships. The infantry charges ashore and tries to take over the base. It looks like a lot of fun, and the graphics are beautiful. If Boom Beach is anything like Clash of Clans, it will likely get a hefty and loyal following. We’ll find out more in March. The game is currently being tested in Canada and Australia, where it has risen very high in app-store ranks.
Above: A Boom Beach invasion.