HomeTheXboxHub FeaturesOpinionsThey are Billions: Thoughts from the New Campaign Mode

They are Billions: Thoughts from the New Campaign Mode

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One thing that a good Real Time Strategy game needs, as far as I’m concerned, is a strong narrative to keep you pushing through the levels. Think Command & Conquer, and I immediately think of Tim Curry as the campest, hammiest video game character ever. Then, going back into the mists of time, Dune 2 had a strong story with multiple factions to champion, and so on. So when They Are Billions launched with only a survival mode, to me it was one of the more curious game design decisions, particularly as the PC version had a good 60 hours worth of campaign mode available. However, this omission has now been corrected, and campaign mode has arrived on console. Was it worth the wait?

They are Billions - Campaign Update - 1

The campaign mode is played out from the point of view of one of two characters; a man and a woman. The woman, Calliope, is faster and with dual pistols – The Devil’s Sisters – attacks fast and can run around trying to stay out of trouble. The guy on the other hand, he by the name of Caelus, has a massive weapon and hits hard, but is slower. His gun, The Destroyer, does what it says on the tin. With more armour, Caelus can endure more hits than Calliope, who is frankly a bit squishy. Each character has their strengths and weaknesses, and as the campaign advances it’s possible to spend points on perks for them, granting more health or faster attacks for instance. For my initial attempt I chose Calliope, and here’s what I found…

There are three distinct mission types to attempt in the They are Billions campaign. The first are the hero missions, which are set in derelict bunkers or bases, and require your chosen hero to explore the area, retrieve an artefact and then get out. As you explore there are bonus things to collect, and often it’s possible to find allies in the level who will team up and help out until you escape the location. 

The areas are divided into rooms, and scarily enough you have no idea what you are going to find until you open each door; finding yourself face to face with 20 Infected as soon as you tease the door is quite exciting. However, with care and discretion, it’s easy enough to make your way through these levels, as there’s usually just enough space to run away and let the enemies come to you. If you’re really lucky, some of the levels have defences that will target the Infected – leading a swarm into a room full of anti-zombie turrets is great fun.

They are Billions - Campaign Update - 2

The second type of mission sees you taking on a swarm of the Infected. You are given an outpost to defend, a quantity of Empire points to spend on either soldiers or defensive barriers, and time to arrange your forces and barriers before the zombies are unleashed. There’s usually over 300 baddies to take down too, and I’ve found it best in this type of mission to ignore the barriers entirely (usually because I’d position them and the Infected would wander in via the one direction I never thought they would) and have a huge bunch of soldiers stood there with bows and guns instead. That’s usually enough to persuade the undead to stay down. These levels can get pretty fraught, especially when there is what seems like a billion zombies bearing down on you, but remembering, for instance, to put soldiers in their armour in front of the fast but fragile Rangers helps no end.

The last mission type now available is most like the survival mode found in the base game. You are given a command centre, some objectives and a handful of personnel to start with, then left to build your base up and keep everyone safe. Some stages have additional objectives too, such as wiping out infected villages, or reactivating derelict gold mines. Getting the base built in the available time limit would be a challenge without the Infected presence, but with it it becomes absolutely brutal. In fact you will come to dread the words “Dozens of infected are approaching the colony!”, as no matter how many walls or soldiers you seem to put in the way of the horde, they somehow manage to steamroll through. If one zombie gets among the tents, then you can pretty much kiss the level goodbye. This is because if a tent gets infected then the inhabitants become zombies themselves, and the chain reaction that normally occurs tends to end up with the game over screen more than you’d like. 

With careful planning it’s entirely possible to defeat the horde, but the best way I’ve found is to create defences in depth, sacrificing space to wipe out the Infected. Building watch towers helps, as the soldiers can kill from a greater distance, but the issue I’ve found is how tight the time scales are. I’ll admit I’ve normally failed by not being able to build enough tents in the timeframe, as each tent needs so much food to be built, which requires Hunter’s Cottages, and so on. 

They are Billions - Campaign Update - 3

The difficulty in They are Billions, even on easy level, is very high and the learning curve is almost vertical, but that challenge becomes a massive spur to keep trying. Beating a level after failing dozens of times is an amazing feeling, and seeing your plan come together is immensely satisfying.

In all, the addition of a campaign mode to They are Billions has been, by and large, a success. The different mission types keep things fresh, and while it is brutal – bordering on the almost pad chewingly hard – the highs more than make up for the lows. If you have any interest in RTS games, then They are Billions on Xbox One could now very well scratch that itch.

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