Perimeter Hands-On

Codemasters and Russian development team K-D Lab were prepared to give us a taste of their upcoming strategy game, Perimeter. Forget conventional resource gathering, meaningless unit mass-production and similar things you've seen a million times in other real-time strategies. Perimeter is a bit different than what you're used to witnessing in run of the mill RTS games. It actually expands the strategy genre by throwing several new elements to the table. We've spent the last couple of days getting to know the latest build of the game and we were pleased with what we saw.

Somebody crush that mountain! It’s blocking my view!

These birdies are about to get scorched by my mighty shield.

The game opens with a number of tutorial missions that ease you into the game play and help to promote you into the leader of your people. The story gradually unfolds, revealing more about the history of your race from the very roots of their civilization to the present day when they are forced to fight for their existence. The path to freedom, peace and prosperity, won't be easy. Some of your fellow humans organized their own factions and will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. At the same time you'll be required to colonize and prevail in extreme conditions. To make the situation worse, almost all systems in the galaxy are infested by the Scourge, gruesome aliens that relentlessly destroy everything in their path.

Regardless of your previous experience with real-time strategies, completing the tutorial is absolutely essential to learning the game's basics. Mastering the initial lessons regarding terraforming, energy consummation and unit production, will ensure your success later on. If you want to complete the main objective, it is crucial that the base and units receive enough energy (energy is the key resource used for manufacturing). Almost all planets are contaminated with the Scourge which tends to attack constantly, so I had to establish strong defenses to secure my vital buildings before I could head out to finish the task appointed to me. The epicenter of my settlement is the Frame, a solid pyramid-shaped structure that's home to all the colonists - it can also be used to transform certain units.

The universe is not a friendly place. No matter where I tried to establish a colony, I was "greeted" by numerous hostiles so, naturally, I had to think of defending my people as best I could under the circumstances. The biggest problem is conserving energy. Without sufficient energy sources, my buildings were pretty darn useless. A copious amount of energy was also needed to emit a huge defensive shield around my base to protect all citizens from approaching enemies. Amongst other things, the gameplay centers on these two matters, balancing the energy and using the shield only when necessary.

To make any progress whatsoever I needed to manipulate with several basic units: Brigadiers, Build-masters, Nano-soldiers, Nano-officers and Technicians. Some of these units bring forth a unique gameplay concept. Brigadier units cannot fight, but even so, they helped me against waves of enemy attacks thanks to terraforming. This was actually the fundamental point of each mission as it gave me the freedom to alter the topography in real-time (a most gratifying feature especially when you're outnumbered by foes). One of the basic purposes of terraforming is to level the ground and make it suitable for various structures. To do this you simply have to drag the pointer and "paint" across the area which you think needs to be terraformed. The process is straightforward and intuitive, hence players shouldn't have any problems modifying the landscape even when they have to do it in a hurry. But naturally, there's more to it - it's even possible to dig trenches around the base to prevent the alien scum from getting close to your buildings. Changing the landscape in order to expand your base and fortify your position also creates a variety of possibilities in terms of tactics that can help you defeat the enemy more effectively.

Nano-soldiers and Nano-officers represent basic fighting units - they were my knights in shiny armor. These units aren't very helpful unless they are assembled to make a larger and more powerful unit. For example, you can use several Nano-soldiers and Nano-officers to form so-called Sniper units (they burn foes with accurate laser fire) and Rockers (they fire self-guided missiles). At one point in the game I drained every last morsel of energy. Consequently, I wasn't able to activate the shield and I remained helpless against potential attackers. Luckily, I was saved by a group of Strafers which I had trained earlier on. Strafers are flying units and can be of great help through many dangers, though their construction is somewhat expensive (5 Nano-soldiers and 4 Nano-officers).

This looks like a perfect place for our new settlement.

Look ma, I’m flying over the volcano!

The gameplay is considerably different from what I've experienced in earlier real-time strategies. By the way, changing the shape of the region won't always be the player's doing. Certain disasters, such as earthquakes, can destroy the land and everything you've built, unless you're able to evacuate on time. In one mission, the Frame (my homebase) and all the units had to be on the move constantly to evade a devastating earthquake. Fissures in the land's surface were keeping up at a furious pace and wrecking every structure along the way. In the knick of time, I managed to bring the Frame safely to a portal which transported my colony to a less threatening system.

Visually, Perimeter exhibits the standard range of effects such as reflections particle effects, real-time lighting (the energy shield, in particular, looks great), etc. It was also nice to watch terraforming take place, as tons of cute little drones kept themselves busy in order to level the terrain. Each map features a diversity of colorful terrain patterns, all of which can be altered in real-time. Though we've played a near-gold version, we cannot emphasize any technical mishaps at this point.

The multiplayer component seems promising enough. We ended up having a lot of fun with the 2-4 LAN matches, but we have yet to see this one in action online. Terraforming should also make for a commendable addition to the gameplay. It will create a practically endless amount of possibilities in terms of tactics.

We are eager to try out the full version and from what we could tell, everything is falling into place at this stage of the game's development cycle. Be on the lookout for the game later on this month.