Infested Planet

 
Developer: Rocket Bear Games
Steam Release: Mar 2014
Hours Played: 8.6
Similar To: Creeper World 3 / Mushroom Wars  / Protolife
Rating: 2/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY

Taking inspiration from a vast spectrum of games and genres, Infested Planet  offers a unique experience mixing real time strategy with tower defense. From the zoom feature of Supreme Commander to the behaviour of the zerg from Starcraft, and then from the push and pull mechanics of Galcon Fusion and Mushroom Wars to the gameplay of the Creeper World series, this refreshing offering from Rocket Bear Games mixes together all those ingredients to create a wonderful concoction. Throw in the combat of Age of Empires II but with an overpowered army of five and you get the idea. From a top-down perspective, a battle begins with your squad huddled around one node which are dotted around the map. There is no fog of war so you can strategise instantly over what should be taken and when. 

BALANCE & PACE

Nodes generally act as capture points like in Company of Heroes or Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War. Controlling these will immediately award you vital points to spend on upgrades. Your goal is to move your soldiers around the map to both quell the spread of the bug-like aliens and to capture and keep all the nodes which they themselves inhabited as nests. The all-important points can be used for a variety of upgrades to either add more marines; help strengthen their fire-power; lay down useful turrets or to purchase crates and buildings that provide various boosts along the way. The balance of the AI is fantastic! A real sense of achievement is felt as the tide of battle tips your way yet the aliens will always keep you on your toes by using surprise flank attacks. The placing of defensive turrets is therefore essential. 

PRESENTATION & DESIGN 

The game actually reminds me most of Supreme Commander as you'll be zooming out quite often to view the full theater of war. Unlike that game, the pan of the camera is smooth rather than sudden and jerky. The game is in top-down view and you control your five-man army just as you would with units from Starcraft or Age of Empires II. These guys take down foes in a satisfying manner. Upgrading units from rifle and shotgun to flamethrower and sniper, and up to the mighty mini-gun is a good strategy and you'll want one of them to be an officer as well. When at full strength the zerg, or should I say alien bugs, dot the map like multiplying bacteria or a plague of locusts creating a suitable sense of terror and menace. Nests, especially if clumped together in groups of two or three, can sometimes be a real challenge to take down.   
 

PROGRESS SYSTEM

First off, you'll want to dive into the main campaign or story. This consists of 30 levels of dots lining a path. The curved horizon of a mighty planet sits in the background for atmosphere. Blue dots (numbering 19 in total) indicate the main story path while yellow dots are bonus missions that you can farm to amass dollars. These can then be used at the shop to buy or unlock more powerful crates and buildings for use in the main campaign. There are four difficulties altogether but playing the campaign on the second hardest setting of normal is probably the way to go on a first playthrough. You can also do one of nine skirmishes ranked in order of difficulty or a weekly challenge.

CONCLUSION

Infested Planet is an extremely well balanced and well designed game. You'll be faced with many different ways to win not only based around which path to take but what to spend points on. From strengthening or adding marines in the ranks to purchasing turrets or buying buildings - these are all factors that quickly need to be considered. You are also given the option to sell unwanted units such as that obsolete turret or that useless building; something you'll need to do to earn points for the big guns in order to take out those pesky bunched up nests. Taking out batches of three nests can turn into tedious wars of attrition if you haven't got the power so finding creative ways to earn extra points becomes a necessity - but also makes the whole struggle an absolute blast!