by Faith Marlow

Created on: January 23, 2009   Last Updated: January 07, 2011

Rating: 4/5

Imagine an island paradise, white sand and ocean waters that glisten like a rare gem in the sunlight and a beautiful princess to rule over its many peaceful inhabitants. This is the land of the Totem Tribe, the new game from Enkord.
Totem tribe is a sun-drenched take on the classic dreary Real Time Strategy (RTS) game where instead of the typical combatants, your soldiers fight to defend their land and their princess from such terrible foes as angry mushrooms and spike-spitting plants. But why has the forced these sun worshippers into war? Fire falling from the sky, the Tear of Heaven crystal has struck the beach and spread its influence on the creatures of the neighboring islands. It is up to the brave ruler Aruku to protect the people and lead her army to victory.

Gameplay for Totem Tribe includes the standard RTD flair. Construct your scout lodges, barracks, hunter camps and observation towers to build your village base of operations to vanquish the enemy threat and find some nice treasure while you are at it. Point and click is the name of the game here but you can grab up your warriors and drop them in the battle if their little legs aren't running fast enough. Gamers familiar with the RTS genre will find a more lighthearted experience here than in other RTS's but there is plenty of fun to be had by veterans to the genre and the novices alike. Yes it's cute but there has been plenty of serious work put into this title that shines through the cheery exterior.

Graphics and animations for Totem Tribe cover a wide selection of media. The initial artwork is quite impressive. Storyboards are beautifully rendered a hand drawn style reminiscent of illustrations of from a collection of fairy tales, although Aruku looks more like Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C. than Goldilocks. The gameplay graphics are detailed as possible, losing some detail to the miniature size of the combatants. However the environment and structures are quite detailed. The audio was just as well thought out. Pleasant music plays in the background, free of the stereotypical steel drum, and is emphasized by the crash of ocean waves, building and birds. The inhabitants will holler out if you pick them up and shout a battle cry when you order them out to fight. The game looks good, sounds good and plays good- making for a well designed game.

With 20 islands to explore and upgrades available for the structures, there is plenty of content to keep gamers busy. Enkord took a creative risk in placing their RTS in this environment and I feel it was a well taken chance. If you are looking for and strategy game free of influences of Napoleon or the Third Reich, then this is a title you should check out. I would recommend this title to anyone new to the genre and I plan on adding this RTS to my library.

Learn more about this author, Faith Marlow.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.