Galactic Reign Review: Conquering the galaxy on Windows Phone and Windows 8

Galactic Reign is a Microsoft game that was co-adult with Canadian developer Slant Six Games that pretty much came out of nowhere when it appeared on Xbox Windows Telephone 7 and 8 and Windows 8 and RT final calendar week. For gamers who have nonetheless to upgrade to Windows Phone 8, another Xbox game that runs on the previous Os is ever a blessing. And cross-platform multiplayer is something we tin can all appreciate, regardless of which Windows Phone we deport.

Concluding calendar week, nosotros posted an extensive impressions piece about the Windows 8 version of Galactic Reign. This calendar week, I'm back with a total review that covers both versions. Read on to find out whether or not this sci-fi strategy game has universal staying power.

Launching into multiplayer

Although Galactic Reign does have a pocket-sized single-player component, information technology's primarily a competitive asynchronous multiplayer game similar AlphaJax. As such, gamers must enable an internet connection to even play the game. It's odd, merely seems to result from the title's heavy reliance on cloud computing.

Thankfully the feel of creating 2-player multiplayer matches is largely effortless. The game supports both matchmaking and inviting friends via Xbox Live or email. (Check out our forum thread for people to invite!) Rather than using an ugly generic interface for Xbox Alive invites similar Battleship and several other titles, Camber 6 went the extra mile and crafted an interface that matches the remainder of the game. You can even jump to specific messages on your friends list, greatly speeding up the process of finding the right friend to invite.

After selecting an opponent, you lot'll choose the map and your multiplayer race. The game offers eight maps, each of which has a significant impact on the flow of a game. In games created past matchmaking, map selection is automatic instead of manual – presumably to foreclose one side from having an unfair reward.

Galactic Reign offers iii races to choose from. They differ in what units and equipment they can admission. The Zorn are the about unique of the bunch every bit their Factory units launch expendable drones in varying numbers (up to 450 from a dreadnaught) at the commencement of every battle. Thus a few high-level Factories can overwhelm an opposing force that hasn't prepared confronting drone strikes.

Battle beyond the stars

Maps consist of a series of interconnected planets. Both players typically start on opposite sides, although certain maps throw combatants right adjacent to each other. Initially, each role player owns a handful of planets which produce a quantity of resources each turn. One of your goals is to colonize more planets in order to increase resource production. To colonize a planet, you'll need to dedicate one of your iv armada units to the process for i turn, forsaking moving or attacking, besides as investing a portion of your precious resources.

Maps too contain three larger planets that produce not just resource but also Victory points. The outset player to reach 25 Victory points wins the lucifer, so decision-making as many large planets as possible is key. On top of that, you'll also need to research new units, build new units, and battle enemy fleets – all with the limited quantity of resource you receive each turn. Players don't retain unspent resources, so you'll ever want to build new units with the leftovers before submitting your plough.

Cloud atlas

Whenever one actor's fleet encounters an opposing fleet, the two sides disharmonism. But instead of controlling the battle, it happens automatically. Victory thus comes from a combination of superior numbers and having units that are strong against the enemy's units.

You lot can view the resource value of an enemy fleet earlier attacking them, simply not the actual contents of the fleet. Well, a number of icons next to the resources value correspond the fleet's makeup, merely I honestly tin can't brand hide nor hair of the icons. The devs should take allowed players to tap on the icons to view a fable or something.

The really unusual aspect of the battles is that they are computed entirely in the deject equally opposed to the game client. And rather than an in-game engine, the game renders the battle in the cloud. The results are then streamed to your device as a video. Players can cull to 'scan' the video, which adds tactical overlays and allows you lot to bound to whatever signal in the battle.

The actual creation of a single battle video takes several minutes. During that time, y'all tin play other multiplayer games or single-player challenges, and then you're not stuck staring at a loading screen for minutes on terminate. But the video creation is still far too wearisome to be practical. They're neat to watch a couple of times, merely the vast bulk of players will want to disable them in the Options carte before very long.

Boring academy

Left: Pattern choice occurs in both single- and multiplayer. Right: A multiplayer map

Galactic Reign's only single-player component here is the Boxing University. This way presents a serial of threescore challenges, all aimed at pedagogy players the relationship between the game's various ships and weapons.

Each challenge starts out with a fleet-building stage in which players first create blueprints for ships to utilise in battle. The assortment of ships and equipment they can be outfitted with varies from challenge to challenge. Once a blueprint or two has been selected, the ships can so be built. You go a certain amount of resource units to spend. Simply tap the plus-minus push on a transport or suit a slider until your points have all been spent.

Put merely, I establish Battle Academy extremely unengaging. The existent fun of the game is moving across a map and making choices, never knowing but what your opponent will exercise on the side by side turn. Instead of a dinky challenge style, the game should take included a proper single-actor entrada. If you lot're like me and don't care for Battle Academy, you can at to the lowest degree find solutions for it over at True Achievements.

Big screen, small screen

Researching new units unlocks them for the duration of the lucifer.

Call up how Skulls of the Shogun looked significantly amend on Windows 8 and XBLA than it did on Windows Telephone? Well, Galactic Reign doesn't take that trouble. Both phone and tablet versions await pretty much the same, although the Windows viii game packs more content onto the screen thanks to its increased resolution. For instance, the multiplayer game bill of fare lists six games on the phone screen simultaneously and 12 at once on PC. The UI is otherwise identical, making it easy to hop back and forth between ii versions with no actress learning curve.

The experience of jumping back and along is pretty awesome, actually. All role player data is stored on the cloud, so leaderboard data and player customization is shared between both games. Showtime playing a multiplayer game on the phone and you can continue it on the PC and vice-versa. I love that because when I'm working on the PC and a push button notification of a new turn comes in, I tin can just accept it right there without having to achieve for the phone. But if I'm non at the computer, the phone gives me access to the game. It'south an ideal setup for asynchronous games that Microsoft will hopefully go on supporting in the future.

Of course, the similarity between both versions means that the same problems that exist in one too plague the other. Neither version allows users to adjust the sound volume incrementally; you can only toggle music and sound effects. As a event, I take to turn down my computer's volume or my phone's volume every single time I play. Also, while the text such every bit tutorials and status letters reads fine on Windows Telephone, information technology stretches far too widely across the screen on PC and tablet, leading to eye strain. In that particular case, changing the UI up a bit would actually be for the best. Finally, there is no manner to communicate with other players in either version.

Achievements

While buying Galactic Reign on one platform unlocks all of its content on the other platform, you have to buy both versions if you want to earn both sets of Achievements for a total of 400 GamerScore. Information technology's not a perfect arrangement, but still meliorate than having to pay for each version no matter what.

As for the Achievements, some players will find it difficult to legitimately score 25 wins for 'Master and Commander' legitimately. Just it's super easy to boost with a friend since either side tin can resign at any time. Of grade, since the whole betoken of this game is multiplayer, boosting 25 wins and then moving on (every bit I've seen some friends so already) would be missing the indicate entirely. Yet, check out Arsenic17's Accomplishment Guide for tips.

Overall Impression

The strategic element of Galactic Reign is very well designed, making for an engaging multiplayer feel. Yous don't lose anything past really losing (unlike AlphaJax'southward awful ranking system), which keeps the game fun instead of loftier-pressure. And the power to play on phone, tablet, or PC makes checking in and completing turns peculiarly convenient.

However, a multiplayer game is only as proficient as its community, and that's where Galactic Reign has problems. Over the last week, most of the players I've challenged through matchmaking have yet to make their first motility. You tin can have up to 20 games going at once, but information technology takes 5 days before inactive players can be forced to resign.

See, Galactic Reign is a game I could play all day. Simply I'g completely at the mercy of my opponents – if merely one or two brand a motion in a solar day, and they don't make any more moves that twenty-four hours, that's all I get to play. A game like this needs a big role player base of operations that doesn't seem to be there. The demo allows total multiplayer access with a single race, but I'm non sure many people are fifty-fifty trying the demo. Microsoft has utterly failed to promote this game, so people who don't visit Windows Phone and Windows viii-oriented sites similar ours accept probably never even heard of information technology.

Galactic Reign costs $4.99 on Windows Phone (Store Link) or Windows 8 (Shop Link). Attempt a few multiplayer games and y'all might just go hooked.

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/galactic-reign-review

Posted by: sandlinbervelp82.blogspot.com

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