Posted April 20, 2010
I tried to play this game in normal mode (not easy, not hard) and the first hours it was kind of fun. The idea is terribly weird, but the ambient, graphics and, above all, the main menu music are great and recall James Bond films a lot.
But while you are playing to have fun you discover you have to play to survive. Literally. With all the bad feelings it supposes. Your minions are stupid, the process of constructing rooms and creating an army is extremely slow and, worst of all, making money is excessively hard. You must use a stupid world map that shouldn't even exist in which you will lose lots of men quickly while you will get money very slowly. That world map is like an offline, breaking-action subgame that could have been avoided and replaced with stores for tourists or something like that. Sending minions to the world is also a very slow process that makes you lose money, men and fun. Every time you loose a minion, in the world map or in your base, your chances to survive decrease dramatically.
Your objectives are clear (well, not always), but you can't reach them because you have no money. And you cannot get money because you are discovered stealing in the stupid world map without even being alerted, loosing all your men. And you can't get more men because you don't reach your objectives. And also, your base is constantly attacked by immortal agents who will kill half your army in two minutes and your rooms cannot be constructed because you need the money to recreate your minions, who are so stupid that cannot kill ninja-style enemies until you have told them they are enemies. The traps you set up attack more of your minions than enemies. If you want to change a room because it's not big enough, you will loose a lot of time, money and workers. You can put all the doors or traps you want, but your enemies will make a trapdoor and will access your base anywhere, killing your minions, breaking your objects and stealing your treasures.
Too frustrating game. And it's a shame, because the aesthetics are right and even the original idea is funny when you get used to it.
But while you are playing to have fun you discover you have to play to survive. Literally. With all the bad feelings it supposes. Your minions are stupid, the process of constructing rooms and creating an army is extremely slow and, worst of all, making money is excessively hard. You must use a stupid world map that shouldn't even exist in which you will lose lots of men quickly while you will get money very slowly. That world map is like an offline, breaking-action subgame that could have been avoided and replaced with stores for tourists or something like that. Sending minions to the world is also a very slow process that makes you lose money, men and fun. Every time you loose a minion, in the world map or in your base, your chances to survive decrease dramatically.
Your objectives are clear (well, not always), but you can't reach them because you have no money. And you cannot get money because you are discovered stealing in the stupid world map without even being alerted, loosing all your men. And you can't get more men because you don't reach your objectives. And also, your base is constantly attacked by immortal agents who will kill half your army in two minutes and your rooms cannot be constructed because you need the money to recreate your minions, who are so stupid that cannot kill ninja-style enemies until you have told them they are enemies. The traps you set up attack more of your minions than enemies. If you want to change a room because it's not big enough, you will loose a lot of time, money and workers. You can put all the doors or traps you want, but your enemies will make a trapdoor and will access your base anywhere, killing your minions, breaking your objects and stealing your treasures.
Too frustrating game. And it's a shame, because the aesthetics are right and even the original idea is funny when you get used to it.
