I’ve tried to give a game which was an impulse purchase from an age ago a spin recently to see if it can hold my attention on the second attempt – namely Grey Goo by Greybox.
Though the title sounds like something aimed at very young people, it’s actually a gloriously retro tactical level RTS in the Starcraft vein of heavily armoured marines, ED-209 walkers and artillery tanks, even down to the old-school presentation of the cutscenes reminiscent of the days when Full Motion Video was an impressive feature of game storytelling.
The story immediately introduces the player to control of the military forces of a four-armed alien species in a race against time to escape their homeworld. The sense of urgency in the storytelling is superbly presented, written and acted by the standards of a lot of ‘clash of the sci-fi Empires’ games. I reached the point it had just introduced the titular race of what I’m presuming are some kind of nanotech-based AI during my last session, and am intrigued.
The presentation is perfect, especially for anybody who was impressed by Command & Conquer: Red Alert back in the day – more so than the actual game, which is a solidly familiar mash of ground and air unit assault and counter tactics. Stick it on easy mode and do a run of the storyline for enjoyment over challenge is my advice.
Worth a look, especially as it’s an older title often and on offer on Steam a lot of the time now.
