There is a certain satisfaction that can come by observing the success of other people.  It is a selfless joy that when you see someone succeed, you feel a certain level of happiness for them and their accomplishment.  Forts is a physics-based RTS where this type of feeling can be experienced, because seeing another player construct an impressive, structurally sound fort elevates our own level of happiness.  Of course, this happiness is simply a result of knowing that we are going to do our damnedest to turn that sucker into a pile a rubble, but it is happiness nonetheless.

To sum up Forts in the simplest way possible, the goal is to build up the biggest fort possible, outfit with ridiculous amounts of firepower, and blast the other fort until your fort remains and the other fort is nothing but a pile of rubble.  The description is not inaccurate per se but leaving it as that oversimplification.  A unique aspect of Forts is that in addition to the standard placement of defensive and offensive units is the forts constructed need to have a solid foundation.  Incoming lasers and missiles can shake the foundation that fort is on.  This translates to gameplay by making it not simply about destroying every aspect of the fort but being strategic about which parts are destroyed.  If the player is able to take out the support beams or get a good blast into the base, the fort can come tumbling down.

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Of course, it wouldn't be much of a challenge if just taking out the base was an easy task.  Firing a missile directly to the base of the fort seems like a no brainer, but thanks to anti missile machine gun turrets and armor that is not as easy as one would hope.  Plus it is possible to use ropes to reinforce the standing structures.  I question how well tying ropes to the back of a giant fort would work in the real world, but the basic physics of it seem to make sense on paper, just don't do any of the actual math.  The multiplayer component allows for up to eight players to take part into two different teams.

While the real fun of this game comes from battling against your friends, there is an impressive single player campaign for those who prefer playing with themselves.  The single player campaign is a three way battle for control over oil between the United States, China, and Russia, where the enemies increase in their tactical fort building as the story progresses.  For players looking for a quick match, players can enter into the Skirmish mode and take on towers powered by AI bots.

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Forts is a welcome return to competitive artillery shooters with added twists to make the experience feel new.  It features pick up and play accessibility, but it will take some time to master some of the finer points.  The key to winning at Forts is to put as much emphasis into building a structurally sound fort as they do with loading up the tower with weapons and armor.  Building up the fort will grant access to different parts of the screen which may grant access to bonuses such underground missile silos.  The player can choose to build a tall tower equipped with unimaginable firepower or keep the fort low to the ground to emphasize stability.  Whatever approach is chosen, success will be based both on creating a battle ready tower and applying some physics-based architectural knowledge.