8-Bit Armies = Awesomeness

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

This month (June) GOG had a huge summer sale where damn near every game in their library was on sale. With the wife and kid away for the next two weeks and having the house all to myself, I splurged. Since I'm not one to go into intimate details when doing game reviews (there's about 50 million of those on Steam) I like to keep them short simple and to the point.

 

When I was a wee lad there were 2 games in particular that got me into PC/Strategy games. Those being C&C (RTS) and X-COM: Terror From The Deep (TBS). When Westwood Studios was bought out by EA (Spit) I found trouble finding a RTS in the vein of Command & Conquer. Sure there some noteworthy titles out there such as; Supreme Commander, Age of Empires III, etc. However, there was an itch that none of these games could scratch. When EA had announced C&C: Generals 2, I was elated and was willinging to give EA another chance after the bastardization that was Command & Conquer 4. Then they announced that Jon Van Caneghem (Creator of the Might & Magic/Heroes Series) was the lead designer I literally almost joined my daughter in shitting our pants. Then EA changed the name to...Command & Conquer, turned it into a Free-To-Play game and then later cancelled it outright. Needless to say I was eventually banned from the EA forums. Now some of you might start to understand why I hate EA, but there's plenty more but that's for another time.

 

From the original creators of Command & Conquer comes a fun and challenging RTS called 8-Bit Armies from Petroglyph Games Inc.

They're known mostly from their Star Wars: Empire at War series as well as Grey Goo. The majority of the staff are the original members of Westwood Studios (RIP). This game is essentially Command & Conquer Lite.

 

Pros:

 

Bright and vibrant colors

Well produced sounds (explosions, machine gun fire, etc)

Unique 8bit animations

Paper Rock Scissors-like units (Armored Cars are good against Infantry, Rockets are effective against Tanks)

The game's music is produced by known other than Frank Klepacki who created 99% of the music in the C&C Universe.

 

Cons:

 

No FMV (Full Motion Video)

Units do not currently have VO but according to the developers they are working on it as of 06/17/2016

Small number of Skirmish/Campaign/Multiplayer maps (this could change later)

Little to nonexistent storyline (It does have a small one but isn't gripping nor memorable)

Units only have one function (no base capturing, no alternative firing modes, no garrisoning buildings, etc)

 

 

If you're a fan of the original Command & Conquer you'll love this game. Note that Petroglyph made this game with indie-like quality in mind and was not intending this to be a big budget triple A release. There are plenty of 'Let's Play' videos out there to see the game in action. I highly recommend this to RTS lovers and C&C fans.

 

-NoX

[silencer_pl]

If you're a fan of the original Command & Conquer you'll love this game

 

Nope. Still would prefer original C&C.

[Space Voyager]

Last time I tried this game it was a bit too frantic, too clickety. Will try again, it is one of the very few modern RTS' that works on my comp.

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

Nope. Still would prefer original C&C.

Well as long as EA holds the rights to the C&C franchise 8-Bit is about as good as it gets. EA has already buried C&C, they murdered it with 4.

[silencer_pl]

And I thought they murdered it with the online version. And speaking about C&C, I've noticed they have 75% discount on whole collection, which was sort of ~5EUR !

 

BTW, do you know what happened to Dune? I can't find any Dune game anywhere.