What GreedCorp might lack in variety is redeemed by its interesting concept, low price and surprising tactics.
The gameplay is quite simple compared to most strategy games. Players can build one of three types of buildings on tiles they control. Armories produce ground units and carriers, harvesters produce gold, and cannons are immobile batteries that can fire on nearby hexes when ammo is purchased.
Combat is exceedingly simple: ground units (walkers) can secure unaffiliated or enemy tiles by walking into them. If the tile is occupied by enemies, the ground units will slay each other man-for-man, with ties going to the attacker. Carriers are essentially items that let a unit attack any space on the map. Buildings on a secured tile can be used by those who won it. That's about it.
The harvesting/destruction mechanic is the heart of GreedCorp, and is what sets it apart from other common games. When harvesters are built, they mine gold from surrounding hexes each turn. As hexes are mined, they slowly sink into the abyss, eventually crumbling the tiles and taking everything with them. Since there is no way to stop harvesting once begun, and harvesting is the only way to gain resources quickly, this results in an ever-shrinking map. This mechanic has an effect of spurring the action forward, as tiny isolated islands are fought over by the survivors.
With less tiles on the map, more gold is allocated per turn, and players hop from base to base attacking each other with mortar shells and carriers. If the players reach an end game in a roughly equal position, the battle can drag on as players struggle to maintain control of the few remaining tiles. Attacking becomes expensive but advantageous (since attackers break ties) and mortar shells can damage or destroy remaining tiles. The game can become very tense. Even with such simple mechanics, one slip-up in a delicate balance of power and the tide could turn. You will sometimes have to stop and think, looking for weaknesses, hoping your opponent can't take advantage of yours... the mark of a good strategy game. It has that same sort of intensity that a really good game of chess or cards might, so if that sort of tension is what you're looking for, I say this game is up your alley.
For all the fun the game is, it does have its serious drawbacks.
The graphics are fine enough but not spectacular. This is the case for most strategy games though... the combat is so heavily abstracted there's no need for painstaking detail.
The big sticking point is the lack of variety. This game is a strategy game at perhaps its most distilled form... there's no difference in units, terrain type, height advantage, diplomacy, luck, or any of the other bells and whistles you might expect. The only variation comes in the initial configurations of tiles and player territories. The game gives you plenty of pre-set maps, probably more than you'll need.
There's multiplayer, of course, but I have yet to successfully join a game. I suspect not many people are playing. There's a couple dozen single-player maps to play if you're lonely, though. Just ignore the silly plot and you'll be fine.
The Verdict:
This strategy game has an addictive board-game type quality that I think would have a broad appeal. It won't hold your attention forever, but its reasonably-priced for the content here. I could recommend nearly anyone giving it a try.
The game isn't really complicated, but sometimes it can really make you stop and think, and then give you mere seconds to choose between rocks and hard places. I'm not too terribly optimistic, but I hope games like these will pave the way for meatier strategy titles in the future. In the meantime, I'll enjoy my bit of time with GreedCorp. It's an excellent choice for the neophyte strategy gamer, and will give the veterans a night or two of light entertainment as well.
+Really easy to pick up
+Interesting terrain destruction mechanic
+Surprisingly tense at times
-Lack of variety will hurt its longevity
-Can't find anyone playing online