SpaceForce: Captains Demo

Turn-based strategy games are either a hit or a miss, because no one really remembers the slightly good titles, but everyone remembers about Heroes of Might and Magic or Masters of Orion. However, even if they do not go down in history with glowing reviews, some of these games can still make a handful of people happy, as long as they have something unique about them.

SpaceForce: Captains is basically a HoMM clone set in space, with mostly the same mechanics adjusted to work with spaceships and lasers instead of dungeons and orcs. Your purpose is to build a base and expand your empire by conquering every solar system you happen to stumble into, while defeating the enemies standing in your way.

Story-wise, everything revolves around three powerful races that get into a conflict, namely the Humans, the Ord, and the Alreani. They each have a different reason to fight and they take advantage of different technologies, although they gameplay boils down to the same formula regardless of the race you play as. There are three different campaigns to choose from, one for each of the aforementioned factions.

If you played Heroes of Might and Magic, then you can figure out how SpaceForce: Captains works in about five minutes. Instead of a hero, you have a captain that can be customized with certain items and upgrades, as well as new abilities once he manages to gain more experience and level up. Your captains have a certain number of movement points they can use during a round, which can be used to explore the nearby systems.

Once a battle begins, the units take their places in the usual way and each one of them gets its turn to either move around a few spaces or attack a nearby enemy. Special abilities are available as well, depending on the skills of your captain. Unfortunately, the encounters are very repetitive and boring, which is why you might end up using the auto-combat function very often.

All things considered, SpaceForce: Captains could have done a lot more with what it had to work with, even if it tried to copy an old classic. With a bit of dedication and a lot more imagination, the same elements could have been used in much more creative ways.