Thunder plays: Battlefleet Gothic: Armada

By: Thunderheavyarm

I have to admit that there are three companies that definitely own parts of my soul: Blizzard, Paradox and Games Workshop. So I was excited when GW [Games Workshop] licensed out their old starship miniature game to developer Tindalos Interactive and produced by Focus Home Interactive; I immediately pre-ordered a copy and waited as patiently as possible for the release. With high expectations, and a few prayers that it wouldn't go the way of THQ, I launched it. The load screen alone with the amazing graphics of ships blowing each other apart in the depths of futuristic space.But I'm getting ahead of myself. There are those of you who don't know about the setting. I'll need to be brief since explaining the entirety of the universe of Warhammer 40K would take up several books. In essence, 36,000 years in the future humanity has spread to the farthest corners of our milky way. Extremely xenophobic and pious they fight large galactic system wars against those that aren't humans or faithful. The main enemy of the Imperium of Man, the galaxy expanding empire, is Chaos. Not just the idea, but demons from an immaterial realm called the Warp where dark gods dwell waiting to consume all of humanity. Thus to defend themselves they field massive armies and gigantic fleets to defend their borders from within and without.You begin the game as Spire, a Captain in the Imperial Navy stationed in the Gothic sector of the galaxy, dubbed Battlefleet Gothic. The intro movie paints an idea of current affairs, Abaddon the Despoiler wants to crush the everything. He's super angry about it not happening right now and not learning how to smash everything faster. Then the introductory level starts up and you're Captain Spire in charge of you very own ship. After you learn the basics of the game, you stumble across a giant enemy armada. You then are taught how to run away, and that's how the game begins.After a few more easy levels as you adjust to command of multiple ships with various objectives the real game begins, from escorting transports across the board to fleet assault actions and even a fun capture the flag style game. Each planet has a resource bonus that helps you maintain your fleet and losing any of them will hamper you in some way. Losing control of a planet, while not spelling disaster for your campaign, can definitely make things more difficult. Such as increasing the cost of ship upgrades, repairs, upgrades and decreasing the number of ship options you have for missions. There is even a chance you lose a world if you don't manage to rescue it in time. Remember that piety we were talking about earlier? The Imperium will employ scorched Earth and blast the planet off the map. It goes without saying, empty void generates no resources.I will admit that I am a bit prejudiced at finding a flaw for this game. Finding a flaw in a game that you actually like and are willing to overlook. But the main flaw of the game is the randomness of the system itself. Some missions will have you with gigantic fleets with minimal threat. While escort mission or planetary assaults leave you feeling deprived of points. And then there's the computer co-op levels. Those just cut what few points you would have and then the A.I pulls a Leeroy Jenkins with expected results. There are times where the computer does have a clue of what it's doing and does apply some semblance of support. But for the most part I dreaded these missions. Because it felt like the game was slapping me with a handicap.That being said, just as the game gets monotonous, suddenly appear what are basically bosses. Four enemy ships bristling with powers and armed to the teeth with broadsides and laser lances to do battle with. So far, I've only destroyed one of these ships, and received minor net gain. So don't think that these are cash cows, unless you impressively skilled or lucky. Graphically the game is stunning while still maintaining an impressive processing ability; despite the graphics even for my decade old clunker. I can't really comment on the story since I know how it eventually ends and all the twists the story takes. Since I had played the live action version several years before and there were multiple novels on the subject. They did add a choice system to pivotal moments of the game. So you can go against book if you want to see what would happen.Overall a fantastic game that I've already played for nearly a day according to my steam game clock. And I'm probably going to double that before I reach the end, not because the game hasn't given me the option for an ending. But because I got to get all these filthy aliens and heretics off of my space lawn! I highly recommend this game for those that enjoy games with resource management coupled with RTS strategy. Any old fans of the table top should also get a blast out of rebuilding their old fleets from their heydays. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a sector to save.