rey Goo is an RTS that came out five years ago and harkens back to the old school days of RTS. I remember it rallying a bunch of RTS fans who at the time were perpetually starved for content.
While the inspiration and influence of StarCraft is clear, it doesn't quite measure up to the giants of the genre. Three unique races/factions that play different with unique units and buildings, like SC. The cinematics, story and characters are beautiful and interesting, like SC. However the core selection of units is lacking, with only 12 base units (including one elite giant unit) and no way to upgrade them in any significant way the game often feels like rock, paper, scissors (with an occasional touch of lizard, spock). No matter what faction you play, you'll find yourself spamming the tank unit with a healthy dose of anti-air and artillery and gunning it at the enemy base. Compare this to StarCraft 2, released 5 years prior. It has RPG elements and units each with their own research tree, every unit can be upgraded to a new unit in a significant way that alters the gameplay and strategy immensely. However perhaps its unfair to compare a budget title to Blizzard, the game brings a few unique mechanics to the table such as the Goo.
Another feature I feel is sorely missing are hero units. It's understandable that the goo doesn’t have any, which is highly unique in its homogenised personality. But the other races had great characters that should have been utilized in the same vein of other RTS greats. This is highlighted in the Emergence DLC where you have Singleton (ironic name) as a character that you need to escort. The AI robot would have been so much cooler pumped up with some abilities, or being able to buff drones and rally units. They even gave him a dope sword that slashes out wind strikes Yasuo style. The game just ends up feeling like it's light in the RTS feature department.
Each faction has their hero with a b-cast.
Beta (a bit on the nose) are the native primitive race that 'still use bullets'. Maori accented Saruk aka Thrall is a convincing warrior and spiritual leader of the faction, leading his people through a warpath. Their base building is more traditional in keeping with their primitive background.
Human characters include that lady and the other guy, as well as Singleton, a data crunching AI companion similar in premise to Bishop from Alien. The faction lore interesting in that there's only Eve and Adam, as their entire army appears to be drones - though I suspect there are other humans offscreen. Base building is interesting, requiring pylons to power buildings. It reminded me of Anno 2070, which was fitting for a super advanced humanity.
Grey Goo, the most unique, novel and (unsurprisingly) fun of the three. The faction is a hive mind of matter consuming substance that can materialize (enemy unit) matter into goo and shape that into drones that carry out the hives bidding. All buildings are blobs (mothers), that split into other blobs, draining resources from the mother to grow or meld into drones. The original StarCraft factions are iconic but the goo captures the feeling of a hive faction even more then the classic Zerg. Everything can be consumed, melded, split or merged. Especially the Kaiju Goo which heals other mother goos and corrodes enemies (as do mothers to a smaller degree). Drag a goo around an enemy and the substance left behind will melt everything in its path. It's hard to describe how satisfying taking the reigns of an all consuming unknowable entity is. That feeling of utter consumerism is weirdly gratifying - like empty a full bin or clearing great meal from a plate. If I was to come back to this game for one reason it would be to play this faction. All of which is fitting given the game namesake.
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| Move any Grey Goo units next to a mother and they'll begin to repair and share matter. |
Singleton however is the without a doubt the highlight. The initial support character quickly becomes the protagonist to the story. This is fleshed out with the essential 'Emergence' DLC campaign which gives detail to Singleton merging with the Grey Goo. While superb in how it expanded the story, they should have wedged these 3 Emergence missions in between the Human and Goo campaigns to cement our robotic friend as the star character. Unification, the final mission tells of Singleton fighting the Grey Goo hive mind for control. They both want to stop the Reaper.. uhh I mean Shroud that's consuming the galaxy. However Singleton is less accepting of collateral and has a more strategic (player) intellect, while the hive mind is far more utilitarian and logical, lacking in emotion with a singular purpose. Stop shroud, prevent extinction. I think it thinks (or computers rather) as long as two humans live it's coding will consider it's purpose successful.
That being said, in execution it was the worst mission in the game. I understand what they were going for by locking off units as Singleton takes them from the hive mind and assumes control all culminating in a final battle against Kaiju Gooju. It was cool in concept. But it forces the player to Zerg a specific path of grey goo units that are effective, asap, and then either adapt cheap tactics (hidden units from afar) or spam endlessly and defeat the Big Daddy Jugoo Kaijuu through attrition. The boss one shots mobs, hides in mountains so you can't even attack it from a distance, you need scout units to reveal it at all times. There were several occasions where I'd attain the max possible units, throw it at any enemy and it would only dint it, receding into the tall grass to recover and regenerate. After several attempts (that often took hours) I dropped it to easy and was just done with it (or maybe I just played it wrong).
Grey Goo is a somewhat lacking RTS in the gameplay department, but great in its story and world building. If only the RTS features could content with the competition, this could have rivalled the likes of StarCraft, WarCraft, Age of Empires, Dawn of War - and I believe multiplayer would have stood the test of time and still be played to this day.
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