Goblin Commander : Unleash the horde (available on XBox/PS2/GC, XBox version reviewed):

RTS (Real Time Strategy) games are popular on PCs, but relatively unknown on consoles—the last console RTS I recall seeing was a port of Command and Conquer on the PS1 and N64. The RTS format just doesn’t translate all that well to consoles, primarily because of the controller. There are many types of games for which console-style controllers are well suited, thus the proliferation of PC controllers that are basically rip-offs of the Dualshock or Controller-S, but RTSs are not one of them. An RTS cries out for a mouse and keyboard.

Unless, of course, you happen to be commanding goblins…

Goblin Commander is an RTS of sorts, but anyone expecting this to be Starcraft is going to be very disappointed. The designers of Goblin Commander have taken the essence of an RTS and molded it to fit well into the console format.

The story goes that a wizard had created five clans of goblins to help him build a “Great Machine” that would make both he and they wise and powerful. The goblin clans worked diligently towards this goal and their creator was much beloved. Then one day, in the presence of the leader of the StoneKrusher clan, something goes wrong. There is a cave-in and “The Master” comes out injured, saying only “broth… er” when asked who did this to him. The other clans believe the StoneKrushers responsible for the death of their beloved Master and refuse to listen to anything the leader of the StoneKrushers has to say. The leader of the StoneKrushers knows that neither he nor his clan is responsible and he wants to find out who is. If none of the other clans will listen to him willingly, he’ll make them listen unwillingly—mostly by bopping them upside the head a few times until they get the point.

Each of the five clans in Goblin Commander is quite different from the others, each has its particular strengths and weaknesses and each is particularly strong against one other clan and particularly weak against another. Each is made up of four different kinds of fighter units, one kind of support unit, one kind of titan, and one kind of turret. Any given clan can have a maximum of ten standard units (any combination of the four), one titan unit, and three turrets, and at any given time you can be in control of up to three different clans. As far as upgrades, each support unit can be upgraded three times and the fighter units can get three offensive and three defensive upgrades.

Translated, the number of units you have available at any given time is relatively small by RTS standards and the research tree is more of a research bush, and a rather stunted one at that. Resources are likewise somewhat simplified, with the resources you’ll need for buying units and upgrades being Gold and Souls. Gold you get mostly by busting things up. Buildings, ruins, boulders, just about anything is bust-upable and in most instances you’ll get at least a little gold for doing so. Souls can be gotten by defeating enemies and by taking possession of soul fountains that will provide a steady stream of souls (at least for a while) and can be found around the countryside. The way you take control of a soul fountain, or much of anything else in the game, is to eliminate any enemy units near it and keep some of your units near it for a little while. It’ll then be yours, but keep in mind that the enemy can take it back just by parking some of their units next to it if you don’t happen to be around.

With all this simplification going on you’d think things would be boring, kind of an RTS-lite, but you’d be wrong. Goblin Commander plays very differently from a lot of RTSs—it’s much more direct and “hands-on”—but a lot of the basics are exactly as you’d expect. On most levels you start out with not a whole lot and have to defend your clanshrine (turrets are your friend! Unless they’re enemy turrets, of course…) while collecting resources and building up a viable army(ies) with which to thump some heads.

What really makes Goblin Commander work is the control interface, Goblin Commander sports one of the most elegant control interfaces to grace a console in quite some time. Almost every available button and control is used, but controls are arranged such that it makes everything seem quite natural and easily learned. Three of the face buttons represent each of the three clans that can be under your control, the fourth face button is context-sensitive. The D-pad is used to pull up objectives, context-sensitive help, and lets you jump to way-points and ‘pings’. The left trigger allows you to lay down multiple way-points (including loops for goblin patrols) and issue follow commands. The right trigger blows up the mini-map for more detail. The left thumbstick either moves your control cursor, or, if you’re in direct control of a unit or units, moves them. The right thumbstick controls the camera zoom and rotation (the latter only if you’re in direct control of a unit or units). The black and white buttons are used to fire off runes or moonstones (single-shot powers of various kinds that can be found or purchased). Context-sensitive indicators on-screen help the player keep everything straight.

Gameplay in Goblin Commander tends to be rather fast and furious, the AI seems to enjoy harassing you and enemy units respawn at a prodigious rate. Fortunately your own goblins spawn just as quickly (assuming you have the souls and gold to pay for them), buildings are relatively cheap to repair or even rebuild, and once your army is fully upgraded the enemy is generally in deep doggy do-do.

The graphics in Goblin Commander are nothing to particularly write home about—big shock, it’s not like RTSs are exactly known for their awesome graphics—but aren’t bad, either. The various kinds of goblins are all detailed and quite distinct and the various landscapes are well done. The audio is likewise passable, with one minor annoyance. In the (numerous) cutscenes the goblins all speak in goblinese with an English subtitle, the goblinese gets a little annoying after a while and I wish they’d just recorded it in English instead. Goblin Commander does have a two-player mode, but it’s split-screen with no system-link or online option available. This seems rather a silly decision by the game studio, this is a game practically crying out for an XBox Live Option, my guess is that as a multi-platform game they just didn’t want to get into anything platform specific. Too bad, really, an online-enabled console-based RTS might just re-invigorate the genre.

Overall Goblin Commander is an excellent console RTS and a very enjoyable game. It would be an excellent introduction to RTSs for anyone who’s had some interest but been put off by the extreme complexity of many of the PC RTSs. It would also be a good choice for any RTS lovers who would like to have a nice distraction on their consoles. What it would not be good for is anyone foolish enough to be expecting to be playing AOE-II on their television.