Battle Isle: The Andosia War Demo

Tactical games are not usually very popular with the big crowds, unless they manage to impress through certain aspects and rise above the other titles in the genre. The Blitzkrieg series is a good example of that, since it got a lot of attention from the public, even if the gameplay is not as straightforward as it generally is in most other video games out there.

Battle Isle: The Andosia War is part of the popular strategy series featuring intricate gameplay mechanics and a lot of options when it comes to the battles and the units that are involved. However, although the first few episodes used isometrics and a grid-based layout for the battlefield, this installment introduced full 3D graphics and added a real-time component as well, which might not sit that well with the old fans.

As far as the story is concerned, the Chromos planet is still at the center and the advanced society that inhabits it is still ravaged by war between the different factions fighting for territory. They have succeeded to colonize of the planet’s moons, however, which is yet another reason for the battles to continue. Thanks to the superior weaponry and the A.I. technology they possess, these fights usually require a lot of tactical planning and clever strategies.

The gameplay itself is quite different from what you may be used to, if you are familiar with the rest of the franchise. While the basic idea is the same, the lack of a hex grid and the newly-added real-time mechanics can make everything feel rather erratic, which is certainly not the desired atmosphere in a strategy game. However, if you give the game a chance and learn to love its new ways, everything should be well in the end.

Obviously, one of the biggest changes in this release is the implementation of the three-dimensional graphics engine, which is quite the big step. At the time of the release, the graphics did manage to turn a few heads, but it’s certainly nothing to write home to your parents about. It looks nice and it won’t distract you from the actual game, which is a good thing in this case.

Battle Isle: The Andosia War keeps a lot of its original atmosphere and feeling when it comes to gameplay, even if it may be unrecognizable at first. The tactical depth is still there, on the other hand, and it can be put to good use if you truly wish to do so.