too busy playing...

Bottom line, everyone should go and buy this game right now!

Agreed. Best game from the Creeper World universe.

Alas alas, played the demo, and it didn't really click for me. It's a good, interesting, strategy game. Technically. But it definitely lacks the elements that was really selling CW to me : that haunting liquid enemy. It was really striking my imagination in a way that these particles don't, and was giving an extra dimension to all that was happening on screen.

Now it feels like a decent tactical/puzzle game, but less involving for me. I beat a map. I don't feel as invested in "the story of what happens on the map" as I was in CW. The Creeper was genuinely creepy, its progression was something I could easily visualize "on foot level", and I think this unique aspect has been lost. Remains good gameplay (in practice very similar to CW), but more abstract, less special.

So, no. On my side, I still prefer CW and its thoughtless oppressive mass. Maybe it's a bit of a walking vs runner zombie thing. Or maybe CW was really playing on some old fascination of mine (when, as a kid, I was being hypnotised by the little floods of water on the cement around the hose), a very personnal chord that PF misses.

My impression so far:

Game is a lot faster then Creeper World 3 - greater unit mobility, faster unit speed makes it faster. It still has that CW3 tower defence like style when you try to push outwards against the endless waves of the particulate aka human made space version of Creeper. Campaign seems to be a lot easier then in CW3 - waiting to see if there will be more campaign dlc since the story ends quite abruptly and that is an understatement in itself. Definitely leaves you wanting to play more. Simulacrum adds infinite re playability with endless customizable skirmish maps where you can change more or less any important parameter. There is also a map and ship editor. Ship editor is very cool since you can field customizable fleets in every map game you wan't to play. So if you wan't a Super Star Destroyer then why not? Just remember that you need a lot more ressources and space to build it :)

Map modding is already on the way :) Already played a Star Wars map with modded Imperial units. At this point you already have 77 modded or non modded maps available online for download.

Additional Inception missions aka prequel storylike missions are a lot harder then the campaign. I only found two maps challenging in the story campaign and those were at the end of the campaign.

I think this is probably the best Knuckleckracker game up to date. But if you are a player that prefers more passive, slower gameplay then you will prefer Creeper World 3 more.

Warning: SPOILER:

Just noticed that the bloody prologue is actually an epilogue to the whole bloody game :) LOL

Talking about paradoxes.

While I agree it was already worth every cent, I think CW3 blew my mind more. And kicked my butt more. The story was a little on the easy side... I did a few exchange maps and had a great time (i.e. yelled at my computer for the stalemate I seemed to be in until I figured out the strategy).

(I discovered how great the lasers are at close range. The red line signifies laser range, I didn't realize this for quite a while. Take the carrier, if you have it, and sidle up to a pool of particulate. All 6 lasers will be able to reach the approaching flood and take out most of it.)

I was a little taken aback by the sudden ending. The encouraging part was that the game is called "Emergence", which sounds to me like it's the start of a new story.

I have to go back and play Inception, I finished the story and went straight to the Exchange.

I got the game this afternoon, directly from the developers/publishers.
It's a downloadable version with activation keys. You also get a Steam key with it.
Should you somehow loose your copy of the game you can email them and get a new one (with the receipt).

Man, I had forgotten how these games can really pull you in; I played it for 3 hours straight, after starting with it.
Time flew by like nothing; you get a goal, try a strategy, it probably fails, you try some more until you get a solution.
I'm only a few missions in, so this will be a lengthy for me as usual (I'm definitely no genius at these games).

I like how their games manage to feel both causal and challenging at the same time. Perhaps it's because the games are very easy to learn and get into. The mechanics are straight-forward and the interface very clear.

There's plenty of extra content in this game, with random maps, user maps and your own ship building. I enjoy replaying these games for the mechanics alone, but it's always nice to get extra stuff to play around with. I will definitely go into the randomized maps and user maps that's for sure. I usually don't play around with map editing in my games, but who knows, I might give it a go.

Anyway, I'm very happy with the purchase and the price (about $18 USD with 25% VAT included). I think it's great value.