Perimeter Single Player Demo Review 3.5/10

Perimeter Single Player Demo Review 3.5/10
Posted :: Jun 3, 2004 by Impact

Produced by Codemasters
Full Game Release Date: July 1, 2004

Introduction:
I'm so glad I'm now writing about the demo and not playing it any more. That pretty much sums it up. While there are a few redeeming qualities to this game, I can't stress enough how few they are. The gameplay is lacking and confusing at times, the graphics engine is not impressive, sound is obnoxious, and there isn't a tutorial.

Computer Specs (Impact):

Processor: AMD XP2100+ cooled by a Koolance Water-Cooling System
Memory: 512M DDR PC3200
Motherboard: ABIT NF7-S with onboard 10/100 LAN
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster 5.1 Live!
Power Supply: Antec 350 Watts "SL350"
Primary Monitor: Generic 17" CRT
Speakers: Altec Lansing 5.1
Video Card: 64mb Geforce4 TI4200
Hard Drive 1: Western Digital 80gb (8mb Cache)
Hard Drive 2/3: 2x Western Digital 80gb (8mb Cache) Striped in RAID-0
DVD-RW: Sony 8x
CD-RW: 52x24x52x
Operating System: Windows XP Professional w/SP1

Main Thoughts:
The majority of this game is unoriginal; it is pulled together from many other games and given a new label. Much of the game reminded me of Starcraft (the buildings in particular and a handful of the units). Perhaps the most frustrating aspect was the complicated game play without any sort of tutorial to teach players how the game works exactly. Players are dropped into the game with no idea what the buttons do, how to gather resources, how to build units, or how to control them in battle. To top off the complications, most of the buttons are unlabeled, and their icons aren't very descriptive either. I had played through the first level and a half before I figured out how to expand my base (Terraforming - the main point of the game). Terraforming allows players to clear (some) mountains, and make land capable of supporting buildings. Once suitable land is available for building structures, players must provide power to the land using a combination of buildings. When power is available, then buildings can be built and operate in certain areas (think Starcraft Protoss pylons). Unit control in Perimeter is different than most games. Instead of creating units and then organizing them into groups, players build a Command Center (which allows you a group) which in turn allows players to build a unit group. Units can be built in three basic types, soldiers, officers, and technicians. These units (within a larger group) can then be combined to form larger, more powerful units. Each larger unit requires certain buildings along with a combination of different unit types before it can be formed. Larger units can be built, and dissembled, and then changed to another type. This is useful since each type of unit has a different, unique main ability. Some are good for long range combat, others for short range, some attack air, some attack buildings. However, switching between the types of units can sometimes become tedious though.

Screenshots:

How overdone is thousands of weak enemies coming straight at your well defended (shielded in this case) base?

This was the one redeeming aspect of the game that I could see: Terraforming.

Expand your base and build new buildings.

Conclusion:
The gameplay is nothing special, while terraforming may look fairly cool and add a new twist to the game, it's just that: an old game with a new twist. Once finished with the two levels included in the demo I was done. I didn't want to play any more, much less buy the game when it comes out. If you are a huge fan of Starcraft, and after reading my review would still like to give it a shot, you can find it here.

Rating on a scale of 1 (absolutely awful) to 10 (jaw-dropping)

Gameplay: 5/10
- One new thing, terraforming. The rest wasn't fun at all.

Graphics 4/10
- The graphics engine was nothing overly impressive.

Sound 2/10
- I found myself turning down my speakers to get away from some of the more annoying noises. As flying vehicles would go by I would sometimes move my view off-screen so I wouldn't have to hear them.

Replay Value 3/10
- I was quite tired of the game after two levels. I didn't even want to go back into the game to get screen shots. There is a multiplayer demo available, so that gives it a few extra points in this category.

Overall 3.5/10
- Terraforming is cool, but it's not worth downloading the game just to see it.

Links:
Codemasters Official Website
Perimeter single player demo download

All pictures are the property of their respective owners, in this case: Codemasters.