They Are Billions

Platforms
Graphics
Genres
Labels
Publishers
A-Z

Login with Facebook

They Are Billions

by Mikhail Dec 11, 2019 | 1 Votes | 88 Played | 0 Reviews

Your vote

10 rate

Genres:

Strategy

Graphics:

3D

Labels:

Zombies , Steampunk , Post Apocalyptic

Platforms:

Publishers:

Numantian Games They Are Billions is a real-time strategy game set in a world using steampunk technology hundreds of years after a zombie apocalypse. Here, you’ll play as a general tasked with wiping out swarms of the infected while forming human colonies. Play through the campaign or dive into the survival mode! Play Now Similar Games Played Post a Review

People Also Played

Summary Plotline Gameplay Graphics/Sound Conclusion

Summary

Quality real-time strategy games on consoles are few and far in between simply because they’re not a perfect fit. After all, building bases and directing multitudes of units at the same time is tedious work with a controller. Most of the time, they don’t even support mouse and keyboard inputs. They Are Billions, playable on the PlayStation 4, manages to get over this hurdle with flying colors. It’s a masterful port of an RTS originally made for the PC.

Though the controls (when using a controller) take some time to get used to, it plays fairly well and after a few missions, you’ll be navigating through the menus, building structures, and directing units like clockwork. Plus, you can use a mouse and keyboard, making the experience similar to like them you’re playing on a PC. Even if the game has a few minor issues, it delivers a sublime strategy experience that stands out from the horde of RTS titles.

Thing is, would you want to dive into its post-zombie apocalypse steampunk world and try to save humanity by wiping out swarms of the infected? Before you decide, let’s check out what it has to offer first and find out if it’s for you:

Plotline

The modern world, AKA the one we live in today, is decimated by a zombie apocalypse. They Are Billions is set 200 years after this catastrophic event. Our weapons and technology are considered “ancient” while theirs branched to a different path from our own, resembling a Victorian-era steampunk world. With that said, the inhabitants scavenge ancient technology to further their cause in fighting against the hordes of the undead. They attempt to form colonies with limited success.

Without diving deep into spoilers, the campaign centers around you, a general under Emperor Quintus Crane, who tasks you with forming colonies outside his crater-protected city. Though the lore is something you don’t have to pay attention to, it’s still fun to keep up with.

Gameplay

They Are Billions has a gameplay loop of building a base/colony, expanding it, gathering resources (like food, wood, iron, and stone), upgrading to better technology, cleaning out existing infected in the map, and defending against swarms. This may sound cliche, but thanks to varying and well-designed maps in both survival and campaign, you’re given a fresh experience every time you start anew.

The game is extremely challenging. Neglecting a certain aspect, like wall-building and technology research, will kill off your colony before it can thrive. Meanwhile, ignoring or not noticing a lone zombie who ends up inside your base could infect your colonists’ living quarters, setting off a chain infection that will be impossible to stop. You’re required to be on your toes every second during your playthroughs. Thankfully, the game’s pause mechanic lets you stop the flow of time, enabling you to issue orders and build structures without wasting precious seconds.

The campaign gives out a varied experience thanks to the different types of missions including:

- Exploration. This is where you mostly earn empire points for upgrades. You’ll use your chosen hero, either Caelus or Calliope, to explore ancient human strongholds like communication centers and weapons factories. Here, you’ll gather new pieces of technology to level your hero up and to increase your research and empire points while cleaning out pockets of undead infesting the area.

- Building a colony. You’re tasked to build a colony/base and reach a specific population point and certain conditions like exterminating all zombies on the map. Unfortunately, once you’ve fulfilled all the conditions, reaching a population point is a little tedious.

- Attack Missions. This involves defending an outpost and stopping a huge horde of zombies using the empire’s soldiers. You’ll spend empire points for troops and barricades to be placed on the map.

The campaign is at times, imbalanced due to the difficulty curve that spikes up suddenly, especially in attack missions. In order to make things easier, it’s always best to go for exploration and building missions first so you can add more empire and research points to improve and advance your tech tree.

Apart from the campaign, there’s the survival mode. Your role here is to essentially survive for a number of days you’ve set and you can also customize the horde population. However, it’s important to note that the easier the settings, the lower your score. You need to reach a certain number in order to unlock more areas and biomes. Completing a single survival playthrough takes at least four to six hours yet offers high replayability because no maps are the same.

They Are Billions’ biggest draw is the building aspect. It’s pretty comprehensive and you’ll need to find a way to deal with swarms and ultimately, huge and unforgiving hordes. A single wall won’t cut it: your base needs to have several walled layers with defenses on each. Considering that you’ll have to work with limited manpower and food, managing resources is a crucial part of ensuring that your colony will survive. In any case, it’s fun to experiment on different building and defense strategies.

We can safely say that They Are Billions is a great console port. Though I haven’t played the PC version, the game supports keyboard and mouse inputs Using the Dualshock 4 takes a while to get used to, but you can move through the menus and command dozens of units like clockwork within a couple of hours.

Graphics/Sound

In terms of presentation, They Are Billions excels in the art style and textures department. The way the character models and the environments are drawn complement both the steampunk and post-apocalyptic themes. The voice acting is fairly decent, though more unit dialogue and voice lines would have been appreciated. Meanwhile, the music is excellent and they cue certain events like a swarm appearing on a map.

However, not everything is perfect as there are a few graphical gaffes. Graphic remnants that blur the screen and reduce visibility appeared in my survival playthroughs Though they disappeared after a few seconds, they negatively affected the experience. Plus, there are framerate drops when you zoom out of the map. There are also certain instances when the menu text is in Spanish (due to the developer being in Spain), but it changes to English in a blink.

Regardless, the game still runs fairly smoothly and these are minor annoyances than real issues. There are no lag or texture problems even when huge hordes of zombies attack you from all sides and you will still enjoy the game despite these.

Conclusion

Overall, They Are Billions is a shining example of a fresh and out-of-the-box real-time strategy game. Thanks to its unique setting, high replayability, deep gameplay, and varying missions, it’s a treat to every RTS player. It will take dozens, perhaps hundreds, of hours of your time which will involve you devising strategies, building bases, and managing your colonies.

Moreover, it’s also a shining example of how RTS games should be ported to console. Though it can be played on a controller, the keyboard and mouse support is heaven-sent and should be an industry standard.