Game Review – BOID

 

boid

When this title ended up on my review list I wasn’t the least bit trilled, and there are a couple reasons for that. Reason number one, I had not heard much about it prior to us receiving the review copy. Number two, I really didn’t like the look of the game, and number three, I’m terrible at real time strategy. Taking all that into consideration I jumped into this title with very little expectations and came out in love with it.

So what is BOID?

Developed by Mokus Games and Published by tinyBuild GAMES, BOID is a Real-Time Strategy game that sees you take control of multiple single cell type organisms on an alien planet. The campaign is centered around BOID, a Bio Organic Infestation Drone which crash lands on a planet, enabling the primitive life forms that inhabits it to mutate and develop special abilities. These life forms now have to fight for dominance.

boid-1

The campaign’s plot isn’t anything special, so don’t go into it expecting anything deep or philosophical. Your character is a young man who is trying to retrieve the BOID with the help of an AI. To do so you must control your own units to complete missions that range from escorting other organisms, to fighting for dominance over the entire map. So pretty much what the campaign offers is a collection of well designed stages with challenging AI to test your skills against in it’s unique RTS gameplay.

Gameplay_GIF (18)

Unlike traditional RTS titles where you are required to construct structures to supply you with troops and resources BOID does that tedious stuff for you allowing you to enjoy It’s quick decision making gameplay. Units spawn only in Spawner bases, which you must take over to enable you to have a constant supply of units to complete you missions. You then have class bases which when taken over allow for you to change a units class and gain special abilities. These classes include the fast Scout, the poisonous venom, the Leech how immobilize then drain their pray, the self destructing Kamikaze, the Crabs which are strong but slow, Guns that fire at targets at range and the Medics that heal your other units in close proximity of them. Each class is weak against one of the others while being strong against others, which adds a rock paper scissors type of gameplay system. It’s a system that works well and the reason also the reason I fell in love with the game.

Adding to that already great system you also have full freedom of movement through the maps, access to torrents, other special class units, and 3 special abilities which allow you to turn the tide on your enemy or they on you.

Use Freeze to immobilize a group of enemies.Teleport into an enemy base, or Revert enemy units back to Basic ones, making them more vulnerable.

This results in a RTS that feels much more rewarding and approachable to those that aren’t fans of the genre. A typical match consists of spawning with a handful of units, quickly deciding what your strategy is going to be to complete your goal, while at the same time countering whatever your enemy is trying to do. The game focuses on short, intense rounds, making it accessible to players of varying skill levels.

As for the graphics and music, I found both were pretty good, even on low powered systems. Screenshots don’t do the game any justice hence the reason I’ve included Gifs and videos in the review. This is one you’re gonna have to see in motion and experience for yourself to truly appreciate it. After some time with the game I found that I actually liked the look of it all, especially in motion as mentioned before. Partner that with the music and you have a game that most will appreciate playing aswell as listening to.

Final Verdict

It’s rare for me to strongly endorse a game of this nature, however I’m so in love with it that it would be irresponsible of me if I didn’t tell you that you should get the free multiplayer, play it, experience how great it is as I did, and if you like it then you can purchase the 10-hour single-player campaign as DLC for $9.99 ($7.99 at the time of review)

Qudduws Campbell

That messy hair bloke: Romantic, Food lover, Gamer, Sports Fan, Manga Reader, Tech Head, Podcaster... Pretty much do a bit of everything.