19-Jun-2004 In the future, mankind will protect itself with huge walls made from nuclear-proof jelly. Missiles, lasers, and alien suicide bombers will be unable to penetrate this barrier of indestructible Angel Delight.
How do we know? 'Cos we've been there, and you can come too in Perimeter, a real-time strategiser that dares to be different and anyone with a brain for tactics will go all wobbly for.
Mould Breaker Set in the far future, mankind have fled Earth to a newly discovered galaxy and is so technologically advanced they make us look like mere monkeys scratching our arses and touching our winkies. But as well as competing factions of humans to contend with, this galaxy is populated by a deadly alien race known as the Flood. Sorry, Scourge. Yadda, yadda, yadda...
But as soon as you actually get stuck in you'll notice why Perimeter stands out among the endless hordes of PC strategisers. No need here to set armies of workers out collecting energy - instead, you just have to flatten land and build energy towers. Nor do you build masses of units to send off to conquer your foes either - you command a maximum of five, but each one can consist of a battalion of little nano-bots with a massive variety of specialisations.
Hell, you don't even have to decide what kind of army to build - you can morph your robo troops Transformers-style into anything wherever and whenever you want - tanks, fighter craft, underground tunnelling attack ships!
Los Galacticos Both gameplay and graphics feel light-years ahead of the pack, from the awesome-looking jelly-like defence shield your base generates to the brilliantly thought out systems of terraforming, energy collection and unit morphing.
The downside is it can all be a little tricky to get your head round. Morphing your army at the flick of a switch can make battles feel a little disorganised, and the tactics for success seem a little random. On top of this, many battles degenerate into slow advances of defensive structures like missile towers and laser turrets.
Overall, though, this is an original and brave effort that sticks two fingers up at strategy convetions. Wannabe sci-fi generals will love immersing their heads in this strategy flavoured dessert.
Unusual, challenging, and slick looking with fresh ideas and top-notch presentation. Well worth a look if you're tired of the usual strategiser clones.
One of the best features about Perimeter is the terraforming system. To construct buildings and collect energy to power your base you need to create flat land - a bit like that daddy of old-school strategisers, Populous. The system works beautifully since your clever builder units go ahead and flatten the best sites. Cheers!
...And when this happens, your structures stop functioning and your energy network is disrupted
...Flat land can become uneven through alien attacks, natural disasters and enemy assaults...
Energy towers built on the flat land extract the power to run your base. But beware, as...
You mark out the terrain you want to flatten in green, and your nano-bots get to it
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