Review: Greep Corp

This post actually has a duel purpose. First is to test to see if this post will integrate to my facebook correctly and post a link on my wall for those to reference. As of recently I haven't had any real urge to continuing being on facebook due to a multitude of reasons (feels more like acquaintance book each day and status are basically a big tweet being the two major factors) and figure this could be a workable even ground. Dropping it all together would be a bit extreme (though I'm fairly close to that point update it once a week) but without any further ranting lets begin.

Background:

Greep Corp is a game that was released fairly recently by a developed by W!Games who are also responsible for another title known as 'My Horse and Me'. For those already familiar with Greed Corp this may seem a bit odd. At least for me it seemed that way as one is a turn based territory destroying RTS while the other game involves tending to your horse. In either case I guess the first game was a springboard to see how could handle developing games while Greed Corp is definitely a leg up. I would assume this though as I have not played 'My Horse and Me' and have no intention to do so. Though it is notable that this is another developer from European region which as of late it seems that spur some of the greatest ideas for game design.

Initially Presentation:

When loading up the game (via Steam at least after the whole installing Direct X for the billionth time) your brought to an intro which shows the world falling about and explains the plot how several groups of people are attempting to strive, survive or profit in the current set of the world. The animation style in itself is pretty 'quote' in how the creatures kind of have a pixar robot feel to them. Equally the title screen is pretty inviting as there's two options that stick out in the middle of the screen 'tutorial' and 'how to play'. How to Play is basically a text based version of the 'tutorial' while the 'tutorial' gets into the dirt and details of how the game as a whole functions. I spent a good solid hour in the tutorial learning all tips and tricks. None the less the game definitely has an inviting feel.

Gameplay:

As mentioned previous the game plays like a turn based RTS where its your objective to basically eliminate any opponent. If your the person to finish off the opponent you reap the benefit of some of their resources. There's several based units such as Harvests (which gather gold) and Workers (which are used for attacking/defining). The methods of winning combat are far from RNG and based on if you have more units then your opponent, if you do you win the space (<3 Hexigons) if you don't they keep the remaining units there. If its a tie you claim the space but can not use it (equally even if you claim it you can't use the space till the following turn).

That's basically the combat portion the resource portion involves the Harvest which basically gather gold from each hexigon around it along with lower the terrain around it by 1 height. As a result of Harvesters being on spaces eventually the territory is destroyed and the player has to make sure to keep their own units off of it when its destroyed. There's also a strategy of self-destructing it to destroy near by enemy units or buildings. Speaking of buildings there's 2 types one I can't remember the name of that produces units while the other is a cannon which can have have shells loaded into it to attack units on other islands (due to the Harvesters).

The last bit is a utility device/unit which allows the transport of units from one location to another. Though it can be fairly expensive to purchase one and maintains ones defense. This is basically everything you learn in the tutorial. Minus the basic strategy that can be used against the beginner opponent which is dump as bricks but you can't let up on them or they will make some kind of silly plan to counter attack you from an island 5 spaces away.

That's the title as a whole.

What's left to be desired?:

Similar to Swords and Soliders there's definitely a lack of hotkeys that need to be avaliable. There's of course a quick and easy way to move a large amount of units at once however there's still a good it of clicking going on. The plot is definitely immersing however I do wish what they describe at times matched the scenery of the area your fighting in. Its hard to imagine that your in a swamp or by a river when a lot of the combat has a 'jetson' up in the sky sorta feel. Those are my main griefs after finishing the first campaign but everything else feels pretty solid.

That's about it for my review and test post now time to publish and see the results :).