Review by: William Abner

Confession time: I like playing real time strategy games, and have been at it now for over a decade, but I am notoriously bad at them. Sure, I can whack on the AI in most games, and toss me in a game with decidedly average players and I can hold my own, but I’m always leery of going online because unless I find another group of methodical thinking souls – I’m a dead man. I just cannot keep up with people who really know what they’re doing. In this regard, Demigod is exactly my type of RTS—or it would be if it wasn’t so obviously designed as a multiplayer game.

Demigod is part action, part RTS and part RPG. This blender method of game design rarely works, but Gas Powered Games has managed to pull it off. You basically control one unit – your Demigod, who is followed by waves of tiny little cannon fodder minions. Your avatar starts off as standard run of the mill half-god: pretty strong, semi-durable, and packing a small early level power. As the match progresses and your Demigod gains levels you get to pick new powers along your specific skill tree. There are also items you can buy which provide various upgrades which might boost health, armor, mana, speed, etc.

There’s a lot going on and there’s an almost immeasurable number of tactics to choose from depending on not only the Demigod you are controlling but also the Demigods who happen to be on your side; they play off one another and your strategy in one game, even if you are controlling the same unit, will vary greatly depending upon the make-up of your team. Yes, this is at its heart a team game. Each match is played out on a large arena-style map; there are various game types which task the team to do various things such as destroy the other team’s citadel, obtaining ten Demogod “kills” (your unit never dies; it respawns after slight death penalty delay) or destroying five enemy fortresses.

While the little minions scurry about the maps, whacking on each other and contributing to the ebb and flow of the battle, the stars of the show are, obviously, the Demigods. There are eight in all with the promise of more to come as separate downloads. It’s here where the game earns its stripes as the Demigod’s come in all shapes and sizes are more importantly – strengths, weaknesses, and play styles.