Review of Warpips Growing up, I've had a fondness for pitting armies against each other in games, and watching the battles unfold. Skirmish in RTS titles, Tower Defense, countless flash games. The list goes on. It's generally a fun & relaxing experience for me. Enter Warpips. A game that delivers on your need for an Auto-Battler. I'll be honest in saying that I wasn't actually aware of the specific genre this game fits into. It's pretty niche as far as I can tell. In spite of some users on the discussions & the store page listing it as a "Tower Defense", that is not what Warpips is. Referring to it as a 'Tug of War' game also works. By managing your limited forces and support items, you'll face off against increasingly difficult encounters with your opponent. In wonderfully destructive pixelated action. Across two main modes, the Campaign & Endless. There's also a Quick Battle & Tutorial available. Auto-Battler/Tug of War The concept is quite simple. In the case of Warpips, you view the battlefield from a semi-isometric birds eye view. With your base on the left, and your opponents on the right. From here you can call in units. Upon doing so they'll spawn, and immediately start working their way to the enemy base. Engaging the opposing force along the way. There's also support items & structures you can place in designated spots. You don't have any direct control over your units. That, in essence, is what an Auto-Battler is. The "Tug of War" aspect refers to the fact you'll usually be pushing and getting pushed often. A stage is completed once you've successfully destroyed the enemy base. | Now that's not to say there's zero strategy. It's an easy to learn, hard to master type of mechanic. As while you may not have direct control of your units, you do have control of when & how many to call in at a given time. Within certain restrictions. Warpips' Campaign Easily the meat & bone of Warpips, is its main campaign. What's cool about this is.. well, a bunch of things. For starters, you're able to customize your army by giving it a name, a unique insignia, and coloring your units! It's a simple thing, but really fun. You can even customize the color of the enemy faction as well. Though I must say I was hoping the colors to be a bit more vibrant, some of the solid blue/red like colors are a little washed out when you're actually ingame. The Campaign map works not unlike a map painter. There's around four major islands to capture. Each island is separated into a bunch of small territories. Some of which have unique modifiers. The goal is to reach, and capture the main enemy base. Doing so moves you to the next island. This presents a little bit of strategy already. The way units work in the game is almost like a limited resource. You start with a handful of basic units when kicking off the campaign. Each territory you successfully conquer will award you with additional units & warbucks. For each subsequent battle, you get to choose a loadout of units & supports to help you win. Before entering a territory, it will show you what units the enemy will be deploying for that battle. Giving you a means to prepare a lineup to counter it. However, as you get deeper into the campaign (Specifically the final island), the enemy roster will be hidden. Not to mention a majority of your rewards also remain hidden until winning. | Meaning, you can shoot straight for the enemy base with your weakened units, and try to steamroll the island. Or, you can slowly take all territory and build up a collection of strong units and items. The catch however, is that for every battle you win, the enemy's readiness raises. Basically making them more powerful & aggressive. Warbucks, as mentioned previously, can be used to purchase permanent upgrades for your units. As well as coupons you can spend at the Arms Dealer for additional units & items. What's great here is that there's a huge variety of units the play around with. Most units having some sort of additional attack they randomly use as well. Unit caps, XP, ability points, and ranks also make battles more strategic. (I listed various units & mechanics here, but was condensed due to character limit) The campaign is highly replayable, as the enemy rosters & rewards are randomly generated each time. So no battle is alike on additional playthroughs. Battles themselves have a progress bar that repeats about 8-20 minutes on a loop. With varying levels of intensity, to give rise to strategy from the player. There's a few difficulties to choose from as well. With the hardest, General, giving you only a single life. Lose one battle, and the campaign is over. Endless Self explanetory, but a greatly welcomed addition. Before the start of Endless match, you spend as much as you can to create the "perfect" loadout. Then, face off against a never ending stream of enemy units. This mode is pure chaos, but really fun. The opposing faction's base is invincible. Attacking it simple awards you points. To make things a bit harder, the enemy base has access to a sort of screen clearer. When it activates, a turret on the enemy base will completely wipe their half of the map of your units. I think this is suppose to help give them a leg up, but in my opinion it's the only thing I don't like about Endless. Way too often, I lost all of my cash in the blink of an eye because every unit I deployed clumped up just past the half way mark right when the enemy turret activates. Amazing Soundtrack I couldn't forgive myself if I forgot to mention the fantastic OST for Warpips. It perfectly captures classic RTS games like Command & Conquer with heavy rock/metal. Balance & Other Issues Although relatively minor, I have run into a few issues with the game's balance. Most of your units have a set timer before you can deploy them, while others require you to unlock with ability points (Requiring XP). The enemy however.. doesn't care. There was one battle I played where it was less than 5 seconds in, and I could only call in a handful of Pipsqueaks. Meanwhile the enemy had already spawned 10+ foot soldiers, a hero unit, a tank, light armored trucks, transports, and also had access to watch towers and other defenses. Because your units aren't directly controlled by you, their AI can be a little strange sometimes. Specifically, the one map I can't stand; Canyon. It has an upper and lower bridge, but you have zero control which one your units will cross. Way to often did my units decide to run across the upper bridge, while the enemy crosses the lower bridge. Aside from this AI usually reacts naturally. Taking cover when under fire, or playing defensively or aggressively if you activate special buttons in battle. There's technically two factions in the game. But you can't play as the enemy faction, even in Endless mode. Which is a shame because they get units you can't use (Including Hero units).. and their tank is cooler. Conclusion (Pros & Cons) I played Warpips for the first time a couple years ago, and then again after it fully released. It was a great experience, albeit short for my tastes. Though thanks to replayability, I will certainly return for more battles in the future! Pros: +Satisfying Auto-Battler +Great pixel visuals & violence +Amazing OST +Fun campaign mode +Large variety of units +Good replayability +Steam achievements Neutral: ~Can't play as the enemy faction ~Some awkward AI pathing Cons: -Poor balance (Uncommon, but happens) -Canyon map Disclaimer Thank you for taking the time to read my review. Please remember, that this is just my opinion. We don't have to agree, one thing I love you may hate, and one thing I hate you may love. Hopefully this gave you an idea of what to expect. Review lengths have been greatly compressed due to the character limit. 9/13/2024
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