I’ve long bemoaned the lack of classic real time strategy (RTS)
offerings in recent years. The fact that
Starcraft 2 is one of the only contenders in the field says a lot about the
state of the genre; I’m not even talking
Heart of the Swarm but, rather,
Wings of
Liberty. Yes, there have been some
attempts with titles like
Company of Heroes 2 or
Planetary Annihilation, but
the former focuses on strategic point control (and frankly isn’t very good) and
the latter was a botched Kickstarter that enraged its backers. Sure
Planetary Annihilation released eventually, but when you
offer early/beta access for as high as $99 USD then discount the title as low as $5 after launch you tend to piss
some folks off. With competition like that it's really no surprise I guess that
Starcraft 2 remains the dominant RTS title.
Petroglyph Games takes
aim to end the long RTS drought with their latest game
Grey Goo, presumably named
after the hypothetical
end-of-the-world scenario involving self-replicating
nano-machines.
In true RTS fashion you must gather a resource (catalyst),
build bases, and construct and manage armies while staying under a supply cap to
complete objectives in the single player campaign or crush opposing players in
online (or LAN) multiplayer. There are 3
factions: Beta, Human, and the eponymous Grey Goo. Each of these possesses
their own Epic Unit and, while there is some overlap between the Beta and
Human, each is more varied and unique than you might suspect, with the Goo being
wholly unique.
The Beta are space faring aliens stranded far from home
and looking to return. They use modular hubs
of varying sizes to build and power their structures as well as any subsequent add-ons (tank/artillery/air). Each add-on only confers its benefits to
structures attached to the same hub. These hubs have no real restrictions on
where they can be placed other than you need to have vision of an area large
enough for placement. The Beta’s
primary unit production structures are factories, with small ones producing single
units and large ones producing three units at a time; these units can all be the same or
all different and these options are based on what add-ons are attached to the hub the
factory is. The Beta employ everything
from foot soldiers to big stompy mechs in their fighting forces. For static base defense the Beta use a combination of walls and posts
which can be mounted by some units.
As you might guess, this faction's strength is derived directly from its adaptability and flexibility
in positioning. For example, say you need
to protect your base from an early rush, but all you have is infantry. You can mount
them on the wall/posts and they can soak up a bunch more damage. When the enemy
pulls back you're free to dismount and give chase. You
can also swap what units are mounted as you please at no cost versus being stuck
with, say, the wrong type of static defense.
There are also three air combat units: scout, fighter, and bomber, all which require
the construction of a hanger. Each
hanger can support four aircraft in a way that might remind you of the
Command & Conquer (C&C) series, rather than the
Star/Warcraft series in which the number of aerial
units is independent of the number of structures produced. The Betas' Epic Unit is the monstrous Hand of
Ruk, a giant floating mobile weapons platform surrounded by a ring of posts,
similar to those found on Beta’s walls, which can be mounted in the same manner
to bolster the Hand’s already considerable firepower.
The Humans appear less Human than one might expect, as their
units consist primarily of drones and fully automated defenses. Their build structure is more limited than
that of the Beta in that every structure must be powered and connected to your Central
HQ via conduits which act as roads/power couplings of sorts. This makes rapid expansion far
more difficult than with the Beta who can build wherever they see fit. Human structures can, however, teleport to any
available space as long as it’s still connected to the conduits you’ve laid
down. The Humans
use assembly bays, which function similarly to the Betas' factories, the key
difference being that if you are careful you can have a Human add-on apply to
multiple unit-producing structures where this functionality is impossible for Beta due to the
shape of their hubs.
While the Beta had
versatility in their base defenses the Humans arguably claim defensive superiority by virtue of their superiority. Unlike their Beta counterparts, the Humans
have more traditional “turret emplacements” that come in 4 flavors: Anti-Heavy, Anti-Air, Artillery, and
Detector. The ability to safely build
these defensive structures in the heart of your base and then teleport them to
anywhere along your conduits can be an amazing asset and the ability to create
dense clusters, as opposed to the long thin walls of Beta, make them incredibly
deadly and effective. While it is true
enemies can try to cut power to such an arrangement by destroying key links in
the conduit network you’ve laid out, Sentinels can always just teleport to
another powered section, or eventually be upgraded to function even if
disconnected from the conduit network entirely. Human air units, while differing in stats and appearance, work much the same
as Betas' in role (scout/fighter/bomber) and hanger dependence. Finally, the Human’s Epic unit is the Alpha: a massive construct that can absorb and redirect damage back at foes.
 |
| A pack of Goo units falls to the mighty Human Alpha |
The titular Grey Goo - Stands? Sits? Rests? What does a giant blob do exactly?
alone. It is truly unique, not only to
this game but to any other RTS I’ve played. The goo player starts with a single Mother Goo which can not only absorb
catalyst like the other factions to grow, but can also absorb enemy units and
structures, or even other bits of Goo as well. When the Mother Goo reaches a certain size it can break off a chunk of
itself and, depending on the size of the piece you break off, you can make
anything from clusters of small units to singular hulks or even more Mother Goos
to explore the map and seek out more food (food being anything that isn’t already
Goo). While the Goo has a tech tree and
various upgrades, it does not have the same requirements and restrictions on things like the Add-ons of the other factions. All the Goo needs is sufficient
material and mass to spawn whatever it is you are trying to make. There is no base-building to speak of. Rather, the Goo is always on the move, hunting for more matter and catalyst to
incorporate into itself. To facilitate
its endless quest of hunger, the Goo is not bound by normal movement
restrictions and can cross any terrain, even that which normally would not be
accessible to the other factions. With
unparalleled mobility and the ability to spawn infinite copies of itself (given
enough resources) the Goo is a survivor and a powerful foe that is extremely
difficult to eradicate fully. Some
larger Goo units can even be upgraded to create lower tier units when
destroyed. The Goo’s Epic unit is the truly
monstrous Purger. Made by combining
multiple Mother Goos, the Purger can, of course, ignore terrain restrictions but also dish out massive area-of-effect damage at extreme ranges; its only weakness is
a lack of anti-air capabilities.
 |
A Mother Goo spawns a copy of itself while I examine some Tech upgrades.
The UI feels a little large at times but you get used to it. |
But enough about the technical aspects on each faction,
“How
does the game play?” The answer to that is this: similar to how you
think a game would if you put
C&C in a blender with
Starcraft
and pushed the difficulty all the way up. While the single player campaign does a good job of introducing you to the
nuances of each faction as you play through each race in turn (Beta/Human/Goo), I
felt the difficulty curve was a little odd. I routinely had to downgrade myself from Normal to Easy during the Beta campaign
but often found I could edge up from Normal to Difficult on the Humans. Overall though the game feels challenging in
a good way, as I personally feel too many games these days do too much in the way of hand-holding. One of the more interesting aspects
Grey Goo has added into the equation is along with normal Fog of War and
cloaked units, there are terrain features like jungle and dense brush that
block line of sight and elevation effects, which allow some interesting ambush and tactical
possibilities.
Petroglyph didn’t skimp on the frills either. Every unit for all factions has fully voiced
and unique barks and, while hearing that, “Your refinery is under attack!” for
the 10,000th time might get obnoxious I found it no worse than other AAA RTS titles. The levels themselves are designed
fairly well and the soundtrack is pretty good. The video cut scenes, along with the fully
animated and voiced mission briefings, are easily on par with anything ATVI/Blizzard
can put out. The story itself isn’t the
most original, but it’s enjoyable enough for a fan of science fiction and personally
I enjoy the involvement of
von Neumann Probes.
The campaign is not quite as long as I would have liked (5 Missions per faction from a $50
larger studio title), but the difficulty ensures it’ll take you a few days to
get through it and, without getting into spoilers, it does end on a cliffhanger that implies there’s more to come. Currently
people seem to still be in the learning stages and I’ve had multiplayer matches
range in experience from a bumbling tug of war for control of the map to brutal
routs where it’s over before one player can even find their footing. That is,
when, I'm able to stay connected to all members of a match. Frustratingly, the online multiplayer is
not where it should be considering this is not an Indie title/release. I'm not the only one as the Steam forums seem to have a decent number of others complaining about similar situations or random drops and disconnects. Paradox claims they are working on a fix, but I have yet to see one implemented.
The bottom line though is that Grey Goo is a breath of fresh
air for anyone who felt the RTS genre that had gotten stale on shoddy AI,
lackluster single player modes, and price gouging microtransactions or DLC. Even if the story can’t hold up to the
sweeping epic of Warcraft 3, the gameplay itself certainly can and does. I strongly recommend anyone who is a fan of
the RTS genre to pick up Grey Goo as soon as they get the chance.
