TECH2

I am so sorry. So, so sorry. I’m going to tell you about this game and you’re going to hate me for it.

Say goodbye to your free time. This is the most addictive game I’ve ever played (and no, you don’t need to have played the other two games, I didn’t).

Creeper World 3 is part puzzle game, part castle defense, part Real Time Strategy game. If you boil it down to the absolute simplest core mechanic, you build a base, defend it, then destroy the enemy.

This has been done countless times, sure. What makes CW III so incredibly fun and challenging is the enemy. It’s called, perhaps not surprisingly, Creeper, and it does exactly as its name implies: it creeps.

Or more precisely, it flows. Each map (worlds, in the game’s universe) has emitters that seep the Creep. It’s relentless. And like water, it finds any crack and crevice to your base, and if it touches any of your buildings, it damages them. Rapidly.

In the hands of a lesser developer this could get repetitive, perhaps even boring. Knuckle Cracker does a fantastic job of changing each map just a bit to keep you on your toes. Many of the early maps introduce some new key piece of technology, one that you’ll need to learn quick, and remember how to use in later levels.

The tools at your disposal are varied. Turret guns and mortars help keep the Creep at bay, while fighter planes and bombers take the fight to the enemy. Later maps introduce shields, cargo planes, and massive artillery pieces to help conquer different obstacles.

The Creep, too, has a few additional weapons, like launching spores of itself towards your base, or randomly spawning Creep nodes. What could have been a one-trick enemy ends up being brilliantly challenging and varied.

There’s even a interesting story, told through text. There are references to (I assume) the earlier games, but it’s not hard to figure out what’s happened.

If I had one complaint, it’s that the units and tactics aren’t that well explained early on. They explain them, sure, but there are gaps. For instance, when you have access to the Reactor, you should use that instead of the Collector, right? No, not at all. That’s a disaster I had to figure out on my own. Same with Relays, which move the energy around faster. Use those instead of Collectors, right? Nooope. They’re highways, and like the real world, you don’t build highways before you have roads.

You'll figure out the specifics as you go, but keep those tips in mind and it will be a lot easier for you than it was for me. Or, this is a good list, if you want better details than what's in the game.

The graphics are simple, and the music and effects can get a little repetitive, but I was constantly going… “OK, one more map.” Many a late night was had.

Highly, highly, highly recommended. And it’s only $15!