Hey! That troll just ate my Goblin!!! (Goblin Commander (PS2))

Member Name: Hawkimus

Product:	Goblin Commander (PS2)
Date:	21/03/06 (91 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Command and Conquer with Goblins

Disadvantages: Gets very difficult the further you get

I noticed this game in a backstreet game shop, after reading the box, I decided that £6.99 was a fair price to pay. (PS2)

The game genre is RTS or Real Time Strategy.

It is rated 12 and for 1 or 2 players (two player only in skirmish)

I have always been a fan of the command and conquer games, so when I saw a game of this genre but involving goblins, it really did appeal to me.

Story

The general story sees the united brotherhood of Goblins being led by a supreme master with the intent on building a machine which at this point its purpose is unknown. So we start in the mines with a clan of goblins then after a tutorial, the story takes over again and an accident in the mine leaves our tribe barely escaping and the supreme master being killed.

After this event, the rest of the tribes of goblins whom live in different areas on the planet believe that our tribe have killed the master and thus turn against us. So we set off on our quest to find out who killed the master while at the same time , winning over the trust of the now hostile tribes.

I shall say no more otherwise I will spoil the end.

Graphics

The graphics arent anything overly special but they are smooth and dont lag. There are plenty of environments and different types of goblins, armoured goblins and trolls etc... which look good close up. One thing I did like about this game was the camera, it allows you to zoom in and out and rotate it.

Sound

The atmospheric music is good and changes for different scenarios, whilst the goblins talk in their own language with subtitles, which sounds authentic enough. The battle sounds could have been done better though.

Gameplay

The gameplay works the same as C&C, you must collect gold and souls (from wells or killing enemies) to build and upgrade your goblins to stronger ones. Each goblin tribe has different men, ranging from archers, healers, melee and heavy archers heavy melee. Each tribe also has its own form of defence turret which you can place near one of your buildings. to attack oncoming assailants. Also at your disposal are a special 'heavy artillery unit' which range from trolls to blobs, although you can only have one at any given time.

There are also observatories which you can capture and then purchase moonstones from , which can be used on the battlefield to inflict damage upon your enemy, heal your party, do fire damage, ice damage, lightning damage.

There are also telport pads which need to be captured in order to proceeed further on the maps. These come in different colours and you can only teleport to corresponding colours.

Now to the actual gameplay, each tribe can have up to 10 goblins, 3 turrets , 1 heavy artillery (eg troll) and 2 moonstones. Once they have been used or destroyed, you can make more. You can split your tribe up and send them via waypoints throughout the map to explore, destroy and capture. At the beginning of each mission, you will have instructions on what must be done. When moving with a troll, you can control him and request that the goblins follow him, their AI for attacking is very good!

As the game progresses and you have more tribes under your control, you can make them follow each other or go at it alone.

It really is a game that you will need to plan and think hard about rather than going fists all in.

Overall

I did enjoy this game, it put a new face to the C&C genre, but after completing it in such a short time (3 or 4 days) I would recommend either renting it or buying it 2nd hand then trading it in when you are done.
So I would only recommend this if you like a challenge and like C&C.

Graphics - 7/10

Sound - 7/10

Gameplay - 8/10

Difficulty - 8/10

Durability - 4/10

I know i said it was a two player game but unfortunately I didnt get the chance to test that aspect of this game. If you do, please let me know what it was like.

I hope this helps you folks - Peace Out!

Summary: C&C with goblins works for me - it could work for you too!