The production value on the voice acting, during missions and briefings are fantastic, and the game looks beautiful both during missions and during briefings. The story, with the threat of “the silent ones” hanging over all three races, is engaging.
It lacks that final polish games like Starcraft have received where each unit and race has been weighed against every other in terms of cost and utility. Nonetheless, it is a nicely crafted and presented RTS which leans towards the old-school mold.
A perfect RTS! Very similar to Starcraft with some differences, Starcraft is a sportgame (competitions), is about spamming units as soon as possible running against the clock while Grey Goo is designed "to be played", you can take more time to build an army and attack when you feel ready. The game is well designed, balanced factions, immersive cut scenes and beautiful environments. In synthesis: if you like Starcraft, Dawn of War, or Universe at War, you will love Grey Goo.
I've not experienced any problems in this game, and I've found it polished and fun. People might think that this is a Starcraft clone (Beta = Protoss, Zerg = Goo, Terran = Human) but it plays very differently. You wouldn't really compare C&C style games to Starcraft?
I also personally enjoyed the storyline, with great cinematics after every mission. The soundtrack by Frank Klepacki is also very good.
Grey Goo feels like a complete RTS package, built to spec in a time when enthusiasm for the genre is at a low. It helps show there's life yet in the formula pioneered by the likes of Command & Conquer and Dune, and while it might not have the weight to stand up against the likes of Starcraft 2, its own place in the contemporary strategic constellation is secure.
Grey Goo is likely the best traditional RTS not made by Blizzard in the past five years. The cinematic, exciting presentation of the campaign is a big selling point by itself, even if the mission structure and actual scenarios are less than revolutionary.
The titular Goo race is one of the freshest aspects of the genre in a long time, and I hope that Petroglyph has some more great ideas up its sleeves for the future.
Things that are great about this game:
1. Gorgeous graphics.
2. Goo race has some exceptional and innovative design (although the other races are very well designed as well).
3. Very importantly, this game is not an e-sport wannabe; there are no unnecessary chores: you don't build workers, there are no supply blocks; unit production can be set to automatically produce a certain unit; this makes the game focus more towards strategy, as opposed to unnecessary actions that uselessly complicate your experience.
4. Less frustration: units move more slowly and die slower than in other popular RTS games. There is no imba harassment to ruin the experience or overly weak defenses that promote great viewing experience to the detriment of good actual gaming experience.
5. The music is very engaging and the cut scenes basically rival even the best cinematics out there, as they have been created by the same guys that worked on Lord of the Rings trilogy and District 9.
6. The tone of the game is more sci-fi oriented, more serious, as opposed to cheesy, cheap and commercial (no corny love story **** in this one); it gives me the same feeling I got when watching a great Star Trek episode; it is definitely catered towards a more mature audience; and the characters are very believable and likeable.
7. The way in which you build structures and gain access to units is quite different from other strategy games, which opens up a lot of options.
If you want to play a good RTS when you get home in the evening, without worrying that you have to spam 200 actions per minute to stand a chance and focus on 10 repetitive activities that pointlessly complicate your gameplay or if you want to enjoy a good solid strategy game with gorgeous graphics and intriguing faction design, then this is the game you've been waiting for.
It's not bad. It just happens to not be fantastic either.
You can see the passion of the development throughout for the genre as a whole, but after a few hours of gameplay I was left yearning for a bit of innovation, rather than see the same old ideas rehashed.
I'll give massive credit for the hotkeying system on the fly, which is a nice touch, but the factions are hit and miss and have a very bog-standard story and overall execution. Graphically it's kept things safe by going for a dark, menacing colour scheme, but as such fails to impose a real identity of it's own when compared to games from the past such as Starcraft and C&C.
And it's the past that this game makes me hark back to again and again, as all it does is make me fondly reminisce about other great titles, rather than get excited about this one in its own right.
You won't regret buying Grey Goo. There's nothing wrong with it at all, and compared to most RTS games released in the past decade this stands on its own two legs as a worthwhile purchase, but... just don't expect miracles with it.
Classic, but for some reason, doesn't satisfy me. I thought it will be a bit more than completely bland with some good features but not enough. Overall, good game.
Man... is... this... a... slow... game... or... what?!
Don't buy if you're interested in classic RTS games like Starcraft/Warcraft/C&C... Grey Goo is super slow, with a termendously stupid AI. Tha campaign is well-made when it comes to cutscenes (art and voicing) but the missions are very uninspired.
Well polished with decent mechanics and balanced factions, Grey Goo manages to still be completely unappealing as a RTS to me.
Distinct lack of units, only one resource type to gather, and the factions - only one of which is distinct from the other two are bland.
You're better off playing chess.
SummaryGrey Goo is a real-time strategy game (RTS for short) with roots in classic strategy mechanics. Utilizing traditional base building as its core, the game aims to reinvent the modern standard of RTS gaming by placing emphasis on tactics over micro-management. By freeing players from having to issue hundreds of orders in a match, each deci...