Particle Fleet: Diminishment

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Time to Beat: 11 Hours

Long ago I played the popular Creeper World series by Knuckle Cracker on Armor Games and Kongregate. Originally created for the Flash engines, these series featured a wave of particle like enemies, which oozed across the screen toward the player.

In Particle Fleet: Emergence the player begins with a flagship. This HQ ship has a few unique features. It is the only ship which is self powered. If damaged to the point of destruction it protects itself by automatically retreating off the map. During its absence, all player controlled power sources fail. After eighteen seconds the HQ returns, and power with it. The flagship is only one of two ships equipped with a Lathe, the only weapon capable of unlocking Energy Sources (among other things). Energy Sources are the source of all energy aside from the Corporate HQ (which can only use its energy to unlock Energy Sources). The power from an Energy Source builds the common turrets from the previous Creeper World, called Omnis. These can only be placed on land, which is pretty rare, as roughly ¾s of each map is open space. Energy Sources also build spaceships. To win each mission the player has to destroy the Particle Sources, which emit deadly red particles for which the game is named.
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On most maps the player starts in a defensive position with only one Energy Source nearby, and another nine or so spread around the map. The enemy and the player build their strength, with the player's main goal to establish a impenetrable defensive position. Once achieved, the player continues to build their fleet before beginning a slow but steady invasion of the particle territory.

Even built ships need energy to resupply, and each Energy Source has a limited range. A ship out of range will be unable to fire weapons or power its engines. Ships beyond the range of an Energy Source can be supplied by Tanker Ships which extend the range of Energy.
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There is a story in Particle Fleet: Emergence, and each mission builds upon it. Victory leads to the deployment of new enemy forces, like better ships, cannons, and particle beams. In reply the player unlocks additional ship models. Though each mission allows the player to use a custom fleet, winning with a player designed fleet doesn't unlock the next level. Only victory with the predetermined ships allows the story to advance. Fortunately, Emergence includes a variety of ship types, each with their own specialty. Aside from the HQ and Tankers, Emergence includes Destroyers, Cruisers, Lathe ships, Carriers, Battleships, and others. One ship, the Grabber, focuses and redirects friendly blue particles as beams to attack the red particles. The player also unlocks technology to integrate into their strategy. For each of the fifteen missions, the player is allowed to rechoose their technology.

But while there's an escalation of power on both sides, the story's energy dissipates. It's delivered in dully composed dialogue bookending each mission. The conversations between the ship's crew doesn't inform the player of anything worthy knowing for the mission. It satisfies only the barest purpose of a plodding story.
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The biggest weakness of Particle Fleet: Emergence is that once the player stabilizes in the first minutes of each map, it's nearly impossible to lose. The particle enemy doesn't attack as much as put a diffuse pressure on each part of the player's territory simultaneously. Once established, the player only needs to deploy their entire fleet as a concentrated power to destroy Particle Sources, and reclaim land with Omnis. One by one the enemy's defenses fall as the player methodically moves from one to the next. The first step is the hardest, but each becomes progressively easier. Each map doesn't lead from the easiest part to the more difficult, but the reverse, meaning that each map is beaten in the beginning.

In conclusion, one shouldn't expect more of Particle Fleet: Emergence, than of the Flash games of Creeper World it descends from. While the ships offer some level of variability, the levels all play out the same. Once the player finds an appropriate defensive position, the game is won, and then the player must play through a painful forty minute slog to complete the mission. Each mission doesn't have enough variability, and ends in the same way, with complete victory, and every objective completed. While Particle Fleet might have been suitable for a quick Flash game, it isn't enough for a full game.

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