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Russian developers seem to make rather strange additions to conventional genres. This is certainly the case with Perimeter, a new game from the people at KD Lab, which has arrived on these shores courtesy of Codemasters.
The game’s back box-art proclaims that you need to “wage all-out war as you take command of a civilization in search of a future for humanity.” That is probably all you need to know regarding the game’s story because if you attempt to actually keep up with it, well… you’ll lose. Even if you are unsure regarding the reason for all this mayhem, at least the fighting is fun.
In Perimeter, it is all about building your base (i.e. frame). There is only one resource in the game, energy, and you gather this resource by creating energy cores on your base. Of course, you’ll need space to build energy cores, so the game allows you to “terraform” land, which then allows you to use that area to gather more energy. Given the singular nature of the resource, the AI has been programmed to attempt to destroy your energy cores.
You’ll use said energy to create more buildings and troops, but also to activate your perimeter shield. That shield makes the entirety of your base impermeable but requires a good bit of energy to run. You can’t rely on it exclusively, so you’ll need to build a hefty number of troops, also. The troops in the game are awesome. They are three different types, which combine together to form cool units like rocket-launchers or tanks. Combining them is quite fun and interesting, as are the numerous weapons you’ll find in the game.
Powered by GameSpy, Perimeter has a fully functional adversarial multiplayer mode. Up to four players can fight it out in a number of different maps and although the game supports direct head-to-head (i.e. two player multiplayer), I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re comfortable with the ungodly large size of some of the maps.
The one area that KD Lab didn’t skimp on is the visuals. The game simply looks fantastic with incredibly detailed units and environments. The particle and special effects, in particular, deserve special commendation. Everything from the explosions, to the various weapon effects and the shield look excellent. The deformable environments are splendid, and add to the overall visual splendor. On the review system, we noticed occasional frame-rate stutters but nothing overly major.
Aurally, the game won’t “WOW” you, but it certainly does its job. The sound effects are crisp and powerful, and the voice acting is surprisingly good.
Perimeter is a very solid RTS with enough innovation to warrant a purchase. If you have been looking for a RTS and don’t want the “same old, same old,” then you should take a serious look at Perimeter.
Minimum System Requirements:
Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP, DirectX 9.0b, 1Ghz Pentium 3 or AMD Athlon processor, 256MB RAM, supported 64MB videocard, DirectX 9.0b-compatible soundcard, 2X DVD-ROM, 4.3GB hard drive space
Recommended System Requirements:
Windows XP, DirectX 9.0b, 2Ghz Pentium 4 or AMD AthlonXP processor, 512MB RAM, recommended videocard, DirectX 9.0b-compatible soundcard, 2X DVD-ROM, 4.3GB hard drive space
Minimum Compatible Videocards:
ATI Radeon: 7200, 7500, 8500, 9000, 9100, 9200
Nvidia: nForce 1, 2; Geforce 3
Recommended Compatible Videocards:
ATI Radeon: 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800+
Nvidia: Geforce 4, FX+ -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Aug 2, 2004
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