Product Info

Platform

PC

Publisher

EarthWork Games

Developer

EarthWork Games

Genre

Action, Strategy/Tactics

File Size (Minimum)

1 GB

Release Date (NA)

Apr 19, 2017

Purchase From

Steam

Forts is a base-building strategy game that takes place in a fictional version of our world where world powers compete for oil. The story places you at the command of the Eagle Empire on a campaign around the world to protect the world’s oil supplies from the evil Dragon Empire.

Graphically, Forts is set with standard cartoonish 2D graphics with voiceovers and similar animations during the cutscenes which offer a pleasant parody on some political commentary.  The character designs take that parody to the next step by playing on a US vs. China theme.

Gameplay

Playing the campaign, you will be faced with an AI opponent while being presented with primary and secondary objectives, each earning you an Oil Drop when you complete them. In most campaign missions your objective is to destroy the enemy reactor, with your secondary objectives being certain ways to destroy it. During each stage both you and your AI opponent will start with a basic fort that you will need to build up and fortify to prevent defeat. While building you will need to utilize similar tactics as you would in real life, making certain that your structure is balanced and anchored properly.

Combat takes place at the same time you are trying to build and complete objectives, and your AI opponent has the exact same arsenal as you do. As if building, defending and attacking were not enough, you also need to gather and manage resources. You will need to make certain that your fort has enough power and metal to facilitate your building needs by constructing wind turbines and mines. Forts also has several support and defensive units that are deployed throughout the gameplay that will unlock more powerful weapons or allow you to upgrade units to a more powerful version. When it does comes time to attack, your weapons will need to be fired and aimed manually.

Each weapon has a different function and way that it fires. This is where the AI has a huge advantage, and was my biggest frustration with this game. The AI is able to build, repair, and fire weapons all at the same time — a feat that is impossible for a single player to accomplish.  This is annoying because some weapons have more complex systems than others, and you may need to alter the trajectory a little bit, slowing down the process. I would have liked to see an option to set your weapons to auto-fire once you set the trajectory, especially for the mortar weapons.

On top of the manual aiming and firing you also will need to worry about enemy missiles, which also need to be defended against manually (unless you are on Easy difficulty) by shooting them down with machine guns. Forts is a challenging game, especially once you get deeper into the campaign, and you need to start using the more powerful weapons with more complex building and firing mechanics. An example of one of these is the Swarm Missile Launcher. It can only be built in certain spots on the board, and it requires a separate sniper unit to be used to spot the target. If the sniper gets destroyed, you need to build another one if you want to use the launcher again.

Multiplayer

Multiplayer is really where this game is going to be the most fun, once you have completed the campaign. Forts has both Local and Online multiplayer, however I would not recommend the online multiplayer until you are completely familiar with all the upgrade and building dynamics in the game. The online multiplayer is crazy; it is a mad dash to craft and upgrade to the most powerful weapons, while gaining the most resources and protecting your reactor.  I did not do well in the online multiplayer and got destroyed every time I played. With that being said, I would love to LAN party this game with a bunch of friends and see who gets blown up first. There are tons of maps available to vary the gameplay, and if you happen to not have a map or if it is a custom map, you can simply download it by clicking a button in the game lobby.

Overall

Forts is a simple game with some complex mechanics in it. The game is hard and not forgiving which is both good and bad. You will find this game challenging and frustrating at times, especially on the higher difficulties. It’s a nice spin on the Base Building genre set, and the amusing social commentary helps to make it a welcome challenge. The campaign was short, and seemed mainly a stepping stone to understand the game flow for multiplayer. Pick this game up if you are into the base building genre, or are looking for a fun game to play with friends that doesn’t involve a ton of time to invested.

A Steam review code was provided by EarthWork Games for this review.