It`s a brand new year. We`ve saw so many top and good games last year across the board. From mainstream games and AAA games to ID games and games that were taking part of Microsoft`s new initiative in the Xbox Game Preview Program, we saw so many games that were good, bad, fantastic and ones that would do fantastically well. It`s always a quiet time of year at the beginning, as many games spread themselves out, and we don’t see the mad rush until the end of the year. This year we`re going to see the addition of new titles such as Crackdown 3, Sea of Thieves, and more, and the release of Project Scorpio, Microsoft`s console that they`re building up to be the most powerful console ever.
But, onto now, and recently, I`ve had the chance to play and review my first game of 2017, and it comes in the shape of Siegecraft Commander, by Blowfish Studios. Siegecraft commander made its way to the Xbox store this week, and is the latest instalment to the Siegecraft franchise. Siegecraft Commander is a tactical and strategic game, and offers a RTS (Real-time strategy) single player campaign and offers a multiplayer experience too. Is it a game though that`s going to do well? Or is it a game that`s going to flop? Well, I fear it`s going to be the latter.
If you like tactical games, then you`ll like Siegecraft. You`re going to need to work out and plan the route you`re going to take to wipe out your enemies. Building a range of outposts and other facilities such as libraries, barracks and mortars to wipe out enemy defences, you`re going to have to be strategic and work out the best way possible, as your enemies will not stop in any way or form to make sure that you fail. A tower defence is the approach that Blowfish appear to have taken in their game, and you`re going to need to attack enemy towers and in quick succession, as enemies will start to rebuild towers quickly and strengthen. You need to make sure you`re doing the exact same thing. However, as the game goes on you find that the game becomes even more difficult in terms of difficulty, simply at how quickly you can lose near enough every defence you have, but also as the game drags on, the slower and clunkier the game feels, meaning that it does become a little bit of a struggle to play. It`s not a game that`s going to be difficult, or nor is it difficult to pick up any of the controls, but the problem you have is that it does become rather difficult to stay focused throughout the game, as it becomes rather tedious, because that`s all there is to it. In every level. It`s not a game that`s going to offer anything different or new in the levels, and it becomes rather chorous after a while.
Small maps can prove to be quite beneficial. You`re not having to drag around everywhere to set up defences, and can work quite nicely for the close combat, but you`re also having to make sure that you`re not leaving yourself short and stuck. Strategic planning in each map, which does vary in terms of its terrain will leave you making sure you`re planning your attack and defences right in each map.
It`s difficult for me to comment too much on the Multiplayer, as I`ve had a pretty poor experience with the Multiplayer aspect side of things. In the fact that I`ve never managed to find a game. I`m not sure if it was the servers or I`d gone on at the wrong time of day, but I`d never managed to find anyone online. Perhaps I`m too early in the game`s life to be able to get into a game quickly. I did get some gameplay in locally though with a friend, and the objective is to hold out for the win. You`ll build your defences and attack the enemy the exact same way that you do in the single player campaign, only that you are playing against actual human beings, rather than the AI.
Siegecraft Commander is a game that will attract some gamers. If you`re a fan of tactical and strategic games aswell as tower defence games, then you`ll love this and makes a great addition to the genre. But, if you`re not a fan, I fear that it`s going to get lost. It does become a rather tedious game after a while, and becomes nothing more than a chore. As I`ve said, some people will love the game, and some people will rather dislike it, and I`m afraid to say, that I`m in the latter category.
A huge thank you to Blowfish Studios for supplying us with a review copy of Siegecraft Commander.
Game: Siegecraft Commander
Developers: Blowfish Studios
Publishers: Blowfish Studios
Genre: Strategic
Price: £10.71 (From Xbox Store)