Golem Gates

Be sure to greet, Golem Gates, a fair welcome on your way in through the gate! Golem Gates, to my surprise, was a delight -- at first it looked like another at

Golem Gates is an innovative CCG/RTS mash-up that includes several game modes and benefits from great graphics and sound design.

There’s a good amount of content for you to plough your time into here, and besides the increasingly tough fifteen story missions there’s a batch of time sensitive Trials to work your way through that stick you into a set scenario. There’s also online modes for up to four players, but sadly there currently isn’t anyone playing for us to check it out.

Do you like real-time strategy? How about card games? How about stories about a technological apocalypse where you as a lone technomage must use your powers restore a ravaged world? Though this game certainly shakes up the normal RTS formula in many welcome ways, it definitely isn't going to be everyone's cup of nanobots.

Golem Gates’ main campaign will take you around eight or nine hours to work through, and a survivor and trial mode will give you plenty more to sink your teeth into, should you want. You can also play online 1v1, 2v2 or 4 player free-for-all matches. If you’re a fan of deck building it’s well worth a shot, but the fast pace might not be for everyone. It’s a little rough around the edges, but Golem Gates’ fantastic audio design and the fun deck building is enough to carry it through.

While I’m not the most experienced or seasoned RTS player, I can still appreciate these kinds of games. Trying to be as tactful as ever as I observe the units I have access to, attempting to do my very best in utilizing the map strategically to undo my opponent’s work. Golem Gates certainly provides us with all the goodness of a typical RTS but also with an added bonus of a CCG. While the blend of two genres could leave some red alarms in some eyes, it actually works together to form a mostly decent strategy game. That said, I do have many concerns.