In this top down squad shooter from Triangle Studios (available on Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch and Steam), you control a convoy consisting of up to four combat vehicles and a large stationary cargo truck seeking out parts to repair your spaceship. Each vehicle has its own stats and weapons you need to keep an eye and you need to ensure your main vehicle doesn’t die while you collect the necessary parts to get your ship back in working order.
You’ll need to carefully balance your fuel and parts as you traverse the surprisingly big map. Run out of fuel-even though you might be able to scrape a little more out of your tank-and it might just be the end. Frequent visits to nearby camps will let you purchase more fuel, sometimes even better weapons or vehicles altogether.
The game happens on two screens. One is your over-world map where you wander towards your objectives, camps, radio signals and a plethora of other discoverable goodies. The other is where the action kicks in. Once you encounter someone who wants you dead, the game switches to a roadway where you’ll manually control each of your vehicles, repositioning and assigning them targets, hoping to take whatever opponent you face down before they destroy you.
As you roam, you’ll encounter a lot of things. Some good, more bad. In my time playing I found a mysterious person who disappeared in a flash, a metallic character that tested my knowledge of 80’s song lyrics, a safe with no context that blew up in my face and a reference to the deceased author Terry Pratchett.
As with most roguelikes, Convoy is a game of repetitive learning, doing things over and over and over again. You will die. A lot. That’s the whole point. As you die you unlock new things like different starting vehicles, or a different cargo truck.
The other thing that makes this such a fun game is experimenting. Do you keep beefy vehicles with armor and just use them as meat shields while you load your main vehicle to the brim with heavy weapons? Or do you form a mobile hit squad that can reposition to wherever they want and take down enemies with close range weaponry? Do you think you’re powerful enough to fight everything you come across or do you pick your battles and carefully move from place to place? The game won’t punish you for whatever you pick, it’s entirely up to you.
While some mechanics could have a little more explanation in the tutorial (like the ability to instantly switch between your vehicles with a tap of a shoulder button) overall I really enjoyed finding a new weapon or utility and having no idea what it would do until my next combat encounter.
Final opinion: A fun, difficult roguelike filled to the brim with easter eggs and hidden surprises. If you enjoy squad games like x-com, rogue likes like FLT, or pixelated vehicular combat this is a game you should play. With near infinite replay value (and everyone having a lot of free time on our hands) now is a great time to pick up this pixelated Mad Max shooter.
Final Score 8/10 – >
- Great graphics with everything bright and colourful
+Hilarious easter eggs
+Fast paced and satisfying combat
-Mechanics could use a little more explaining
-Some of the encounters can have a little too much to juggle
Image www.triangle-studios.com
