Gratuitous Space Battles Demo

Space battles are usually represented with the help of lasers and mute explosions, not to mention the imposing battleship designs and the aliens that seem to live for war and destruction. Mixing these elements with real-time strategy mechanics can be risky, though, even if it worked really well in Homeworld's case and there's still plenty of potential left to be mined.

Gratuitous Space Battles may have a pompous name, but the concepts on which it stands are pretty powerful and enduring, not to mention quite capable to sustain a few interesting gameplay mechanics. Thus, real-time strategy does not necessarily have to adhere to the old rules and integrate base-building into the mix, especially not if the end result can be that much more enjoyable without the bother of looking after your main town hall, or in this case, mothership.

As far as the background story is concerned, you can go ahead and scratch that off the list as well, since the events that unfold on the screen are largely explained using bright colors and explosions, which is not a bad thing at all, in retrospect. In essence, it all revolves around the battles themselves, since you are encouraged to customize your ships using a variety of different weapons and body parts, in order to take advantage of certain weaknesses or just make it incredibly difficult for the enemy to kill you.

This simple, yet effective gimmick is what gives the game its flavor, because the customization palette is quite large and there are many different setups you can go with, each one of which has a different effect out on the battlefield. Although not all of these weapons and components truly affect the outcome by too much most of the time, they still make you feel like you've got an option and that your strategies matter when it comes to being victorious.

Visually, the graphics engine does not revolutionize much of anything, but rather chooses to play it cool and even drop a dimension in the process, thus becoming another 2D retro-style experiment. It does look very nice, though, with plenty of detail when it comes to the ships and a lot of color decorating the environments, especially when the battles get intense and the explosions occupy most of the screen.

Gratuitous Space Battles manages to score high by keeping it simple and spending its money on candy, rather than try to appear cool in fancy clothes. Thus, the sturdy mechanics and addictive gameplay are definitely worth a try, especially if you are a strategy enthusiast and you do not mind the 2D graphics.