Unstoppable Gorg is a new budget game with a new take on the old 'defend the tower' scenario. The basic premise of the game is that the human race, having ventured out into space, has roused both the ire and anger of the Lizard King Gorg, who, like Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon, now wants to conquer the earth.

The whole game has gone for a retro twenties/fifties look, taking visual elements from the science fiction of those two decades. Each mission is intercut with either stock footage or new footage which would not look out of place in the original Flash Gordon serial.

The premise of the game is simple in design, but often infuriatingly addictive in its game play. Each game screen starts with a central area you have to defend, be it a planet, or space station. Around this area are a number of concentric rings, with fixed points where you can place your installations. The rings themselves are rotatable. The enemy will send waves of ships through different routes to try and destroy your station. Your job is to decide which combination of installations will best defend your base.

Now, this all sounds easy and the game starts you off gently. You get a power plant, which also generates money, a research station, which allows you to upgrade weapons and of course a wide selection of weapons. The game is as much about resource management as it is about just banging in the biggest guns that you can afford and as the game progresses this balance between creating wealth and building the correct number of the right type of defence weapons becomes the crux of the matter.

The game can be played in three modes. In story mode you get all the new film material, as you progress the waves of ships become harder to kill, but if you’ve played through, keeping an eye on your research you will have access to better weapons. In Challenges mode you basically play a single match but with limitations on what you can do, the last mode, Arcade, just has you trying to survive against wave upon wave of invaders.

The personalising options are limited to sound, music, visuals, language (English or German) and subs. Which is a real shame as the game is a little limited with no multiplayer option or the option to create your own scenarios. There are verities within the game which will keep you playing right to the end.

The games graphics are pleasing and the whole thing can be run on a reasonably mid-priced PC, given that this will be priced as a budget game it’s well worth picking up to play for a few hours.

7

Charles Packer