Play Scorched Earth in Your Browser

About Scorched Earth

Scorched Earth is an artillery game that Wendell Hicken wrote and released as shareware for MS-DOS in 1991, using Borland C++ and Turbo Assembler. Each player controls a tank on two-dimensional terrain, and battles are turn-based: before every shot you set the angle and power of your tank’s turret, then fire. The game kept the familiar artillery formula and added two things to it: terrain that can be destroyed and a range of extreme weapons. It has single-player and multiplayer modes.

DOS.Zone’s description fills in more of the detail. Your one goal is to turn your opponent to rubble. The arsenal runs from ordinary shells all the way up to nuclear weapons, and a second set of tools, such as shields and parachutes, helps you survive when napalm is heading your way. You can fight computer opponents or take on a friend hot-seat style, passing turns at the same computer. The description adds that critics reviewed the game well, praising its gameplay and its low price.

How it runs in your browser

When you press Play, DOS.Zone’s Scorched Earth page opens in a new tab. js-dos, the site’s open-source version of DOSBox for browsers, emulates a PC there and runs the original MS-DOS game. DOS.Zone hosts the files, so there’s nothing to install, no copy of your own to supply and no account to set up. The site carries no ads.

The listing sits under Strategy for MS-DOS and the IBM PC, credits a DOS.Zone user named Carter54, and has a rating of 4.5 from 17 player reviews. It doesn’t say how saving works or whether any settings have been changed from the defaults, so check the page if you plan a long session.

Controls and devices

Scorched Earth is listed for keyboard and mouse. DOS.Zone doesn’t list the keys for aiming, setting power or picking a weapon, so read the game’s own screens when you start. Click inside the emulator window first, so it picks up your input. Hot-seat games need nothing extra: you and your friend share the same keyboard and mouse and take turns.

On phones, DOS.Zone shows virtual on-screen controls. The game was built for a keyboard and mouse, though, and a desktop or laptop suits it better. Chromebooks haven’t been confirmed.

Tips

• Play a few rounds against computer opponents before inviting a friend, so you both know the controls.
• The terrain can be destroyed, so the ground between you and your target won’t stay the same for the whole battle.
• Weapons aren’t the whole game. Shields and parachutes are there to keep your tank in the fight when heavy fire comes your way.
• Adjust angle and power a little at a time between turns, and watch where each shot lands.

If you like turn-based battles across a destructible 2D map, Worms Armageddon is Team17’s 1999 take on that kind of game, and it runs on DOS.Zone too. For something different from the same years, try Arkanoid, Taito’s block breaker.