From Futuremark Games Studio comes a new revolutionary “Tower Defence” type game. Here’s what the makers of the game have to say about it on their website:
“DANGER! Earth is under attack from a vast armada of flying saucers. Only you can stop the invasion of these relentless alien monsters – don’t let a single one through!
Get ready for a revolution in tower defense that will send you spinning. Defend the solar system by sending satellites into orbit around planets, moons and space stations. Create the perfect defense by rotating orbits to move your satellites into the best positions. Do you have what it takes to defeat the Gorg and save the solar system? Find out in more than 40 levels of thrilling tower defense action inspired by classic sci-fi films from the 1950s.” (unstoppablegorg.com)
Well … What is a Gorg you ask? They appear to be an alien right out of the 1950’s with a big head and a little body and yes, they are unstoppable but trying is fun. This game is incredibly simple and I will attempt to explain just how simple it is.
It is set up with a planet or base that you are protecting in the middle of your screen. Then there are several circles around the base or planet which indicate an orbit. There are drop points on the orbit in which you can put satellites to aid in your defeat of the “Gorg”. The satellites are divided into weapons (eg: cannon’s, missiles, lasers), generators (eg: solar which makes you money and research which can develop new weapons) and aids (eg: repair ships, bombs, radar). Satellites are chosen before entering the level and the number of choices you’re allowed is less than the number of satellites available so, choose wisely. The “Gorg” attack from mother ships on the outside of your screen via a dotted line which indicates a path to your base or planet, so it is clear what path they will take long before they get there. Your job is to generate money to place weapon satellites and move them around in the orbit so they are combat effective thereby protecting for people from the impending doom. I have pretty much explained the entire game, but in case you didn’t catch it, the first level is a tutorial which explains what I just did in not so many words and gives you a good grasp on what you need to do.
For an extremely simple game, it is quite difficult. There are four difficulty settings available in story and challenge modes: easy (difficult), moderate (Extremely difficult), hard (Impossible) and unstoppable (name kind of sums it up). There is also an arcade mode in which endless waves of “Gorg” keep attacking and you need to fend them off for as long as you can. In this mode you don’t need to generate money, it is awarded once a wave of “Gorg” is wiped out and there are no difficulty settings for this mode.
The cut scenes are Awesome.
Settings for this game include sound levels for effects and music, visual quality right from “classic” to “unbelievable”, resolution, full screen or windowed, subtitles, and language as the game is also available in German. So, the settings tab is a testament to just how simple this game is. On the game menu there is also a four page “How to play” manual which I didn’t understand until after I started playing (mostly because I didn’t believe it was that simple) and an encyclopaedia of all the crafts that encountered in the game.
I went into Unstoppable Gorg without even looking at what it was about. I had a feeling that I was going to have to kill an alien or two based on the game’s title but I wasn’t really sure what to think about the logo and I was worried it was going to be like that awful 1996 movie “Mars Attacks”. I was wrong, this game rocks my socks. This game captures the essence of the 1950’s Sci-Fi era in an elegant, fun and refreshing way.
The level screen gives a briefing and a summary of accomplishments
The thing I can’t get over is that for a game that costs $9.95, the amount of detail and effort that went into production seems to be immense. The first thing I noticed when entering the game is an incredible music score written by someone named “Stakula”, who is apparently from Finland and has written lots of other game titles (none overly popular). Then I noticed and loved the incredibly cheesy (and incredibly awesome) video sequences which apparently were recorded on real film cameras with miniatures. The makers appear as if they may have spent more time on the other parts of the game than the game it self but all that being said, I genuinely enjoy playing Unstoppable Gorg. It is important to note the graphics are not going to blow you out of your chair, it’s just pure fun and highly addictive.
There are a few things that I noticed that are not so fun in this game however. Once you get a few levels in, the “Gorg” really do prove to be unstoppable on any setting other then easy. It seems there is no way to generate money fast enough to upgrade the weapon satellites. Also, the “Research” Satellite which, I’m sure does something other than look cool (though I never really found out what) Is pretty much useless since money is always needed elsewhere and it takes up a slot in orbit which could be filled by weapons. Other than the little problems I have with this game, I enjoyed it and I rate this game 9 out of 10.
Sean Sullivan is a regular contributor to GameAspect.Com. He has a long history of playing PC games, however lately he’s turned to Xbox 360 to save his wallet from constant upgrades.
What Others @ GameAspect.Com had to say about this game:
James Sullivan – I am impressed with the quality of this game. The game play itself while good and quite addicting is complimented with excellent campy style cut-scenes which adds a bit of depth and purpose to the game. Lacking a multiplayer mode, lasting replay value is based solely on finishing the campaign on maximum difficulty (If you manage to do this send me a video or it didn’t happen) and playing the arcade and challenge modes.
I finished the campaign on the easy mode in relatively quick time. Perhaps 2.5 hours, however when upgrading in difficulty my frustration level peaked. The arcade mode and challenge mode do offer a fun spin on the game by changing the game play mechanics just enough to offer a new challenge. I may just pick up this game for my Ipad as well for the arcade feature. I give the game a 7.5 out of 10
James is a regular contributor to GameAspect.Com and also the operator. He’s primarily a PC gamer but enjoys the occasional console game.