What do you get when you mix a little DEFENSE style play with RISK?
When I first saw the trailer of this game, I thought, nice, another DEFENSE style game. I like those, especially if they are done up nice. When I started playing, I thought, how sad, a mouse-pinching mindless button masher game. However after about 5 minutes of game play, I realized that this is a very nice fast thinking strategy game (and you need to be a little fast on the mouse as well). It actually has strategy, and if you are not very fast and keep on your toes, all the while you are planning your attacks (usually against 2 - 4 other opponents) this game will be over in seconds! Think of Land Grabbers as RISK in high-speed!
Land Grabbers is published by NEVOSOFT and these guys are no noobs to the casual gaming world. Sporting many familiars such as SUPER COW, FARM CRAFT series as well as the popular MY KINGDOM FOR THE PRINCESS games, they manage to pull off a somewhat original game this time. I say somewhat original, only because, there is a "hint" of MY KINGDOM FOR THE PRINCESS in the look of the game, however, that is where it stops. While the Princess game is more linear, its all out what you see is what you get in Land Grabbers
The game objective is very simple. Conquer the current map and move to the next (well there is more to the story than that, but you can read about it). simple right? Well not really. Each level you start off with a building, each on has different characteristics, for instance, castles have better defense. As time ticks away, your building(s) create an army. A first level building can crank out 10. With each upgrade, you gain 10 more to a max of 50. BUT, and this is big, when you do upgrade, it cuts HALF of your current population in that building. So you have to decide if you want to use that building as an upgrade for a few seconds or send out what you have and upgrade after. That is problem one that you have to keep track of. Once you have enough men, you send them out attacking various other buildings to make them yours. Sort of like capture the flag - or if you are old school, its almost exactly like a game from 1996 by Virgin Interactive "Z" ( http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/z/index.html ). Same principle, capture all the opponents buildings. Once you capture that building it restarts at a 10 count. All the buildings can upgrade to a max of 50, but you can send as much as 150 men there. Now the down side is that you are getting attacked by 1 - 4 other opponents as well, and if they should take out your building, they get all the resources, and once you regain possession, it starts a 10 again. So hanging on to your buildings is definitely a must, besides, thatch how you win the level.
There are several buffs in the game from taking out all armies (yes yours too, so make sure they are in a building first before casting it), shielding your buildings, and a slew of other bonuses through out the game. Each building you take over has some bonuses as well, including nice towers that shoot out lasers at opponents, they can really pick your men out too, so make sure you over whelm them with over 100+ (btw, why is there a laser in a fantasy game, did they forget there were archers back then?).
The graphics as mentioned above are very nice. I am sure they used the MY KINGDOM FOR THE PRINCESS engine to design the basics. When you get a large army, and they come running out, it looks more like an attack of lemmings then an army. All the buffs have their own special effects. but the rest are sub par. However you will be so engrossed in the game play and strategy planning that you will most likely not even notice the graphics at all.
I really like the A.I. in the game. Nevosoft did a great job making the game feel as though you were playing against some really smart opponents. For the most part they keep you on your toes. I did find out that if you take them out fast enough, they cannot reproduce enough men fast enough to keep up and you can usually wash over them. So playing is great. You wont feel like your playing against an automoton.
There is little tutorial help, and it takes a min to understand what it is you are supposed to do. When I first jumped in I just showed me how to attack,after that, there was no clear idea on the objective. So the learning curve is a little high. However, it is easy to pick up. bottom line, fortify your front buildings with armies and use your hidden buildings to produce.. that is a good tip for beginners.
Overall this is a great game. I would not suggest starting it as a "time-waster" until your next meeting, or while waiting for your date, as it does have that "... I gotta do the next stage...." pull on you (or worse, ".. i can do it this time" if you loose). Once I got the hang of it, I was stuck on the dern thing for over 4hrs!! Just could not stop playing. I highly recommend getting this game as a break from the humdrum "HOG" games. Fast action, and yes lil johnny, you have to THINK in this game.
PS: My average time was under 7min for most of the levels time to beat is usually around 8min... there's a challenge for ya.
Skip Johnson is an avid game player. Both in the MMO world as well as the casual gaming community. He spends much of his free time working on his gaming site and contributing resources as well as reviewing new casual games as they arrive.
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