Greed Corp, developed by W!Games, was originally released in February as a downloadable title for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. While the title has been available for console since the beginning of the year, PC players haven’t been able to get their hands on it until the recent release on Steam. But with such a busy holiday season already underway, Greed Corp could easily be lost in the shuffle of major game releases. That would be a shame as the title is a chaotic turn-based strategy game that rewards avarice with crazy battles and mass destruction. If anyone finds themselves lacking in games to play with friends online this holiday season, Greed Corp is as lighthearted and rewarding as can be.
The concept behind Greed Corp is an interesting one. Players take control of one of four factions and compete against either A.I. opponents or other players in online matches. Players vie for control of hexagonal grid tiles while grabbing as much land as possible and gathering resources. Harvester structures can be built on tiles to gather credits which are used to build units, construct cannons to bombard enemy tiles, or transport units across the map. The goal is to destroy all enemy units and snatch all available tiles away from the opponent. This premise sounds like the description of an obscure board game and the game itself plays much like one too.
Greed Corp is very evocative of a tabletop strategy game not only in its visual style but also the game play itself. The strategy elements of the title are light enough to be easily accessible while also giving some tactical options to the player. Each of the four factions plays identically to one another and only differ in the appearance of their units. There is only one unit type and three different structures to be built. While this may make the game sound strategically shallow, the real tactical depth becomes apparent when dealing with the terrain itself.
When playing Greed Corp, players would do well to focus less on enemy units and more on the very ground their own forces stand on. Every map tile on the board has its own condition which deteriorates in response to the actions of all players in the match. Tiles of varying heights, and respectively varying “health” conditions, make up the board. As the game progresses, certain actions that take place will eventually damage tiles so heavily that they will crumble away. At that point, any unit or structure that was on the tile is gone with it and the tile itself falls away into the void that is the game’s background.
The damage done to these tiles can be caused by harvest structures, which automatically damage all adjacent tiles at the start of the owner’s turn, or as a result of cannon fire. As cannons are constructed and used on enemy tiles, both the units and the tile fired upon take damage as a result. Also, players can choose to self-destruct their own harvesters to damage adjacent tiles and use cannons can cause chain reactions by finishing off all nearly destroyed tiles that are connected. Since units are easy to come by but tiles are their own sort of dwindling resource, most of the tactics employed in winning a game come from trying to deny your opponent tiles while trying to protect your own.
The result of the game’s focus on the protection and destruction of tiles is ultimately pure, unbridled chaos. Greed is truly the name of the game as grabbing as much land as possible means being able to build more units, cannons, or construct harvesters on the precious few tiles still standing near the game’s end. Matches in Greed Corp tend to be hectic as the initial building of harvesters quickly leads to maps which look less like honeycombs and more like Swiss cheese. At the end of match, the forty or so tiles that once made up the map dwindle closer to less than ten and each action taken brings one of those tiles closer to destruction.
While all this may sound pretty overwhelming at first, Greed Corp features a fairly comprehensive tutorial to explain the dynamics of the title. Also the campaign does a good job of slowly ramping up the difficulty to a point where players will feel comfortable making difficult decisions late game. Sneakier tactics, such as dropping a unit off an enemy tile just to build a harvester and cause more damage, come naturally after only a few matches in singleplayer.
The campaign in the game boils down to a series of matches against the A.I. that are loosely connected by a paragraph worth of plot between each map. While players are given smarter enemies to fight and increasingly stricter time limits on their turns while progressing through the campaign, there isn’t a lot to it. It’s clear from the structure of the singleplayer that Greed Corp is generally meant to be played against other people. Unfortunately, it’s still difficult to tell whether the game’s multiplayer will pan out.
Greed Corp often feels like a party game for strategy fans, but like any great party it’s only memorable if there’s a good turnout of people. As of the time of this review, the multiplayer community for Greed Corp hasn’t really been established yet. The multiplayer leaderboards for ranked games show only a couple hundred or so names and finding an online match can take a great deal of time. However, it should be kept in mind that the title has only been available on PC for around a week so. The game’s multiplayer may come into its own, but it’s just too soon to tell.
Even without a flourishing multiplayer community, there is still a good chunk of game to be found in Greed Corp. The campaign itself spans around 25 maps and the game ramps up the challenge at a very enjoyable pace. Skirmishes against the A.I. can also be set up on multiplayer maps which are gradually unlocked through campaign progression. As always there are several Steam achievements to be unlocked and titles can be earned across all game modes.
The aesthetic and sound design of Greed Corp will also certainly keep players’ interest for a while. The game has a very steampunk appearance to it as little gears and pneumatic valves adorn structures and units alike. While almost all units share the same sounds as one another, the bipedal robots used by each faction have their own distinctive sound for when they take a tile. The music is a particularly odd and interesting assortment of jazz and ragtime music stylings. In most games it would feel completely odd of place, but in Greed Corp it ends up lending to the chaotic and fun tone of the game play. Unfortunately there are only a few music tracks in the game and you may find yourself turning the sound down when you’ve heard the same bombastic song three times in a half hour.
There are also some other minor quips to had with the transition of Greed Corp to the PC. While the highest of monitor resolutions are supported, the game’s camera is as close to the tiles as it is in the console version of the game. This means that larger maps can be a bit of a nuisance as it’s sometimes difficult to tell when the computer is making its moves and tiles are damaged. The ability to zoom in or out would have been appreciated. Also the PC port has not been 100% bug free.
The PC version of Greed Corp has a bit of a habit of crashing to the desktop on occasion. This reviewer ran into a game-breaking bug on the final campaign mission of the first faction in which the game would always crash. Another crash was also experienced during custom battles against the A.I. as well. While these crashes can be a nuisance, I’ve already been assured that the W!Games technical support has been informed of the issue and their eagerness to solve the problem is refreshing. However at the time of this review there is no patch available yet nor is there an ability to save mid-mission. I have been told I am the first person to experience this bug though so it could just be an issue on my side.
These minors issue aside, this is certainly a title to be recommended for strategy fans looking for a little more chaos in their lives. While the strategy employed in playing Greed Corp may be on the lean side, the game itself is fun, evocative of a party game, and a treat for anyone looking for something off the beaten path. However, like any fun party game it’s much more enjoyable when played with the right people.
Greed Corp is sold for only ten dollars on Steam and anyone interested would be wise to mention the title to friends. And as everyone knows, mayhem is always more fun with friends.
