Perimeter, the game that basically looked at everything that was strategy games, put two fingers up at them and went off and did their own thing. In a word it's weird. Weird being a good thing.
We would tell you about the storyline, but to be honest we didn't understand it. It sounds great with stuff like the Scourge being born of the imagination of the colonists, but still it was a bit much for our tiny minds; please feel free to explain it to us in the forums.
The thing about Perimeter that really makes it stand out from other strategy titles (though there is enough things to just make it odd), is its troop management. You can create a group of troops with a Command Center, you can have a total of five of these. To this group of troops you can add three different types of unit; Soldiers, Technicians and Officers. And here is where it gets weird: these troops can turn into anything you want. With a click of a button all the units in the group meld into a blob of mercury then separate and turn into something else. For example it takes three soldiers to create a sniper unit, while a rocket launcher costs six soldiers and three technicians. All this melding style action opens up the gates to the best in strategy. If a battle isn't going very well then just transform your troops into something better adapted.
On top of the weirdness of troop management there's the terra-forming. Perimeter could be described as a terra-forming-real-time-strategy. Before you can do anything on a level you need to put the ground at 'zero-level'. With little units that look like moles with big teeth you can turn almost any terrain into a flat silver bacofoil sheet. You need the terrain like this so that you can take you one and only resource out of it - energy. With the help of Energy Towers you'll be harvesting the all important energy soon-enough (it also makes the terrain that they're on all pretty and shiny).
The Energy Towers also make-up the points on the great Perimeter energy barrier, the shiny gloopy thing that destroys anything that touches it. Great against anything that attacks it but sucks up energy at a colossal rate. Also watch out for units which can burrow under the shield and destroy your terrain - therefore destroying your energy.
So break-out your gloopy things and get it on with the game that revolutionised real-time strategy as you know it.

Say what you think about this game
Chat about this game on the Forum