A base with fully charged power cores.

As for the enemy AI, Perimeter seems to use a scripted strategy for each mission. When facing the insect-like Scourge this always translates to mindless massed frontal attacks, but even the other races will follow a general pattern in each mission. This gives the missions an almost puzzle-like quality as you must determine the strategy the designers intended for you to use to beat the mission. While some will enjoy this puzzle aspect, it does hamper the replayability of the missions as there’s not a lot of room to develop and test new strategies. Once you get beyond the campaign the skirmish games are not too challenging and tend to play out the same each time and multiplayer support is lackluster and lagging, so the replayability issue is certainly a factor in your long-term enjoyment of the game.

I also had a few issues with the game’s interface. All of the controls on the panel remain blacked out whether they are currently selectable or not. The only way that you can tell whether or not a button is active is to move your mouse over it. Making matters more confusing is that some of these buttons are context sensitive depending on your selected building or unit. I can’t think of a single good reason why a game would want to hide its controls from the player and force him or her to memorize the precise position of each related button for every action and structure in the game.

Graphically the game looks really good as long as you have a high-end machine. The 3D landscapes are impressive and many of the maps include fanciful features such as giant monster skeletons, gargantuan tree stumps, or ancient ruins. The weapon and explosion effects are well done, and the perimeter shield is pretty cool to watch as it powers up and as it casts a blue aura when fully charged. And as I mentioned earlier, it is fascinating to watch the little terraforming robots moving earth, smoothing land, and breaking down mountains.

If you’re new to strategy gaming you probably don’t want to use Perimeter as an introduction to the genre. The interface and AI issues may leave you bewildered and overwhelmed. If you’re a fan of the genre, though, it is certainly worth a look. The innovative features will provide a change of pace from your usual RTS fare.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 74%.  It’s not without its issues, but innovative features make it worth a look from strategy gamers.

System Requirements:  Pentium III 1.0Ghz; 256 MB RAM;  64 MB Video RAM; 2x DVD-ROM;  4.3 GB Hard Drive Space;  Mouse.

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