sci-fi

One thing good about Perimeter is that the graphics is stunning. However it is pretty weak in the following areas. If these weaknesses annoy you, you may want to think twice before buying the game.

1) The storyline is bad. Perhaps I am spoilt by Starcraft and Warcraft whereby the storyline is very engaging. After each mission, I would eagerly looking forward to the next mission. The storyline of SC and WC is as good as reading a book or watching a movie. But Perimeter is very bad in the storyline. Each mission you travel from one world to another (they use the concept of Alpha and Omega gates to go forward and backward in between each world) and each mission you will be given a certain technology upgrade. Each mission is critical and after a while, I just don't bother about the storyline anymore.

2) The game is at times tough (even if you set to easy level) and you will probably win by "remembering" what the attack or defense pattern does the computer plays. I do play RTS games quite often and most of the missions in Warcraft for instance I do not need to keep replaying. If you read the forum for perimeter, it is not surprised that if you'll need to replay it 5 or 10 times before you win. And there are quite a no. of people out there who are stuck at the game. And the annoying thing is that in order to win the game, you will have to "remember" what is the attack sequence is going to be. To me, it is not a true strategy game.

3) Strange AI. First of all, if you accidentally (or if you don't know as it is not documented anywhere in the manual) ask your solder units to cross over the ocean, they will all rush into the sea and die. Simply because solder units cannot swim. Huh? Why do they jump into the sea in the first place? Well, another school of thought is that it is nanotechnology and these creatures are not supposed to have intelligence. Another thing is that I am so used to the Starcraft/Warcraft's way of holding your units at one spot and attack only if enemies are within firing range. For Perimeter, there is no such thing. You can switch from Attack mode to Defense mode (and to me I don't quite see a different) or you can ask the unit to stop whatever they are doing (and after a split of a second, they will resume the attack). So for instance, I ask my flying units to guard something very precious at one location and while my attention is doing something else, my flying units will wander off and chase after some enemy units. And whatever they are supposed to guard will be lost for obvious reason. So, what I need to do is constantly move the units back to the spot whenever enemy is in range. And what happens when multiple units are wandering off to chase after enemies? Good luck to you.

4) Poor Tuitorial. Gamers don't read menu. And good game is designed to teach gamers as they proceed through the game. For Perimeter, there is not much in-the-game tuitorial. And the most frustrating is that the manual is very lacking in providing details that I need. So, I learn through pain (like my soldiers who died drowning) and through failing missions. What a way to learn!

5) The background music is boring, so is the video transmission. Nearly all the recent RTS games I played, the background music has variety. Even back in the old days with Command and Conquer, the music gets more upbeat when the battle begins. Perimeter is very boring in music. As for the video transmission where gamers are being briefed with the mission, you usually see a 3D-ish figure with animated facial expressions. For Perimeter, it is just a picture with speech. Very low-tech it is.

I am a big fan of Real Time Strategy game and Perimeter is in no way near to their tagline "Real Time Strategy Reborn". If you are the type who don't mind playing the same mission again and again and you don't mind not having an engaging storyline, Perimeter may be for you. It does have some unique features (such as the defensive shield, morphing units, and terraforming) but that's about it.

I originally bought this game because it was strategy and I was bored and wanted something to pass the time. I was pleasantly surprised! It takes a while to get used to. This is NOT command and conquer or warcraft! This is very different! There is much more strategy involved in this game. You have your unit cap like in older games, but the difference in this one is that your armies can morph to take on whatever task you need them to. It makes the game take on a level of strategy not often found in games today. You have to think about what could attack your armies and what could possibly happen to them while out there. Also, from the demo I noted that the single player AI was lacking but the multiplayer AI was much harder. All in all, this is a great game that is worth a try. Not the best out there but definitely worth a try if you are into strategy games. :)

If you are wondering if you would really like this game, go download the demo and try it out. It gives you an ok idea of what the gameplay is like and will certainly help you decide if you'd like to buy this game or not.