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Strange but awesome!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: July 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

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.

The best offense is an impervious defense

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: July 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

It's up to you Legate, the fate of the Exodus lies in your hands. Welcome to the world of Perimeter, the story of humanities escape from...itself in the 3rd millennia. Perimeter forces you to take a new look at your surrounding environment, as success lies in your careful manipulation of it. Level mountains and raise the oceans in your quest to find paradise.

Gameplay:
Perimeter brings a new twist to the RTS genre by their use of morph-able environments. As you travel through the sponge worlds on your quests, you'll need to terraform the land around you to a 'zero-level' in order to harness the energy of the planet. This energy is your only resource and as such, allows for infinite supply with proper planning. Should the land get damaged under any energy generators, they will take damage continuously until the land is repaired. This adds to an extra dimension in base management above what you might be used to. In reality, it is very similar to the construction system last used by Dune 2000.
It seems that the developers intended to remove some of the less-than-enjoyable micromanagement found in some other RTS' in their construction of the army system. Under a cap of 250 max units, you have the ability to split them into 5 squads. Within the squads, you can add any combination of soldiers, officers, and technicians. By themselves they are quite useless, but given the correct research, you are able to "nanomorph" them into more advanced units. This allows you to enter battle with a squad of flying laser interceptors, and given the right conditions, morph them into underground attackers to avoid static defenses.
Speaking of defenses, Perimeter centers around the defensive technology of the Perimeter - a solid force field that you can erect around any of your energy plants for however long your energy reserves can hold out. This game then becomes a turtles dream, as the key to many battles is using your defensive abilities as your main offense.

Graphics:
Though it can be a slug on some older systems, it truly is one of the more visually impressive RTS on the market. The engine boasts the ability to change over 1 million vertices per second, which is an important trait when you see your build-able land "grow" around your base. Because of the concept of 'bubble worlds' that are physical manifestations of instants in time, the levels themselves are unique and artistically rendered.

Sound:
The sound is very fitting with all the different units having distinct sounds, thereby allowing you to know what is attacking you and where. The music is what you would expect in a futuristic setting and offers enough variety to keep from boring you. Nothing spectacular, yet nothing to complain about.

Overall:
More time could have been put into the tutorial as it really doesn't explain much more than how to flatten the terrain. The first five levels continue this learning trend, but as such, are slow enough to deter many new players. They do, however, culminate in a mission that is fundamentally more difficult than any of the others preceding it, and sets the stage for the rest of the game.
Unfortunately, multiplayer is horribly imbalanced, and the game becomes a "whoever builds X first wins by default" scenario. Because of the turtle nature of the game, the online games tend to drag for those of you accustomed to other RTS'.
Yet, if you're looking for a good single-player RTS, this game is definitely worth a try. Its different approach will make you rethink your normal strategy and, hopefully, please you along the way.

Great Graphics but Bad Gameplay

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 14 / 19
Date: July 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

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.

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