I picked up Convoy during the Steam summer sale, because a game you have had your eye on dropping to $3 is kinda hard to pass up. I always see Convoy compared to Faster Than Light (FTL), but for me they feel very different, and not always in a good way.

For starters, Convoy gets massive negative points for its locked resolution, which on my ultra-wide screen, makes the playing window about the size of my iPad, resulting in about 75% of my total screen real-estate being black. I get that pixel graphics don’t scale up as easily (or at all) as more modern 3D stuff, but come on, at least a few options here?

Another issue I have is for a rogue-like, Convoy is pretty shallow on the randomness and replay value. After you beat the game once, or even get pretty far to the end, the next game will feel like a big repeat. Events will mostly be the same, the core quest IS the same, and the number of weapons and vehicles is limited-enough that things never get too crazy. It’s also a shame that most of the better vehicles are rewards for successful events, so when you find that event (and in most playthroughs, you will), you are going to want to try and complete it in such a way that you get that reward, ignoring the other options.

That said, Convoy is fun for that initial burst, and at such a low price, it’s worth it even for the short-term. The combat, where you must position and move your vehicles to take advantage of weapon reach and LoS blocking, is really fun. Pushing a tough enemy off a cliff or into a building is a great feeling, and many of the boss encounters are pretty unique. The weapons, though a bit limited in selection, do function differently and greatly impact your strategy. Your main vehicle being immobile and having a different set of weapons is also a nice touch IMO.

As mentioned at the top, to me Convoy doesn’t feel like a ground-based FTL, because to me FTL had a lot of replay options, and its main quest forced you to move forward. In Convoy, you can drive around completing all of the side quests at basically your leisure, and tackle the main quest when ready.

Finally, Convoy has a lot of its starting options (your main vehicle, your starting companion vehicles) locked, and you must beat the game many times to unlock things, often times in somewhat silly ways (don’t shoot the final boss, don’t use weapons at all, etc). It’s a lot of grinding and back-bending to open up more replayability, and I think this also hurts the game. Give me most of the options after I beat the game once or twice, and I’ll be able to experience more of the game in a non-painful way.

Convoy is worth grabbing due to its low cost and initial (5-8hrs) burst of fun. If it really clicks for you, you will get more time out of it. If it does, well hey, 5-8hrs for $3 is pretty good, right?