Launching in Vietnam last April under the name Chien Binh CS, it’s been five great months for this very first TPS game from Vietnam. In preparations for expansion into a larger market after some success in Vietnam, JOY Entertainment decided to give Chien Binh CS an international makeover. That is how Captain Strike’s was born, and the game is now publishing its alpha test for both Android and iOS.
Captain Strike has to be one of the biggest “made in Vietnam” shooting game releases of the year. The interesting thing about this cross-platform game is that it has so many Filipino players despite originally being from Vietnam. The publisher has even had to switch its Alpha open event into Philippine times. With that in mind, we can see that Captain Strike developers may want to use the Philippines as the first step in expanding its business throughout Southeast Asia, and soon to be global market. In addition to the surprising Filipino fanbase, Vietnamese gamers are already playing Chien Binh, the Vietnamese version of the game.
This game is free to play and of course has in-app-purchase. What first stood out to me about this game was its smooth control interface. I had no trouble running and shooting enemies at all. With a 3D shooting game like this, graphics and audio are important, the developers have clearly been aware of this and constructed the game’s sci-fi and futuristic vibe accordingly. If you are a Ghost Recon fan you should check it out. After logging into the game and finish a short tutorial, you’re good to go fight your enemies immediately. Overall, Captain Strike is a futuristic based military shooter that has a little simulation aroma added for taste without being too heavy on it.
(See: Ghost Recon Phantoms review: a true tactical shooter)
However, the general gameplay does not offer lots of uniqueness when compared to other shooting games. Most of the time, it will give you a Counter-Strike feel, in that it’s quite old school and straight to the point. Basically, you just have to sneak towards the enemy positions, scout out the area, mark enemies and overwhelm them quickly without a big firefight. If that’s not your cup of tea, you can always bring them down with a big gun fight—it’s quite simple. Captain Strike also offer lots of events in game like hunting clowns, killing sprees, giving away gift codes, etc. As I mentioned before, you can also buy and upgrade your gear through in-app purchase store.
Captain Strike was developed by a team of 14 young engineers working at JOY Entertainment. One of the special thing about it is that they create their own engine and source code which they called Skylitch. Within 2 short years, JOY Entertainment has became one of a few games studio in Vietnam that can make their own 3D game without using engines from other countries. The release of this game promises a new standard for Vietnamese 3D games to come this year. However, expect these games to be only on mobile for the time being, as most studios in Vietnam are not focusing on PC or console games.
The game has not officially been released on Google Play or the App Store yet, but you can have a “sneak peek” of the Alpha Test here for Android and here for iOS. Having said that, we won’t have to wait too long to play the official game. JOY Entertainment said that the game will appear in the App Store by next week. They will also be posting updates to Facebook as the game’s release draws near.
