Odin City... the last refuge of human kind against the resilient Creeper. It does what it can to collect energy and build defenses to keep the Creeper back, but it's always just a matter of time before the city needs to create a wormhole and travel away. Hopefully far enough away for a bit of respite, though that never lasts. You control Odin City in Knuckle Cracker's Creeper World: User Space, a real-time strategy game consisting of user-created levels from the level editor in the original Creeper World. Use your mouse to select a unit and click the area of the map where you'd like to build it, being conscious of keeping it connected to the energy grid (indicated by a green line).

The game is a delicate balance of energy flow. How many collectors do you need to counter your building/attacking needs? While collectors and reactors create energy for Odin City, you only see the flow of packets coming out. There's black for construction, red for ammunition and green for totem. The totems are green flower units spread across the map which you must connect to your grid and power up. Once all of them are energized, they will create a wormhole which Odin City will travel to, completing the level. While reaching out to connect these points, you must stay aware of the Creeper, which is represented by a blue area emitting from certain points on the map. The Creeper acts like water, spreading out until it has filled it's elevation (or below), then building up to a higher area. Being aware of the level of the creeper and what elevation it's at (indicated by gray and blue bars on the elevation meter) will be required in a good strategy to keep back it's touch. That's where your basic attack units come in: blasters for thin layers of Creeper and mortars for deeper pockets. And once you've cleared out an area, you can move the excess units to a better location... assuming your grid reaches that place.

Creeper World: User Space is a great introduction to the series. The interface is easy to pick up and the progression of levels allows you to figure out the finer points before it increases in difficulty. While the game has the potential to get boring since the goal is the same every time, at 12 levels, User Space is the right dose. And if you find yourself intrigued, you can always shell out the dough for the full game, or its sequel, at thousands of levels of destroying and evading the Creeper.

Play Creeper World: User Space