Galactic Assault: Prisoner of Power (PC)

Unlike MAN2, GA has a greater focus on a single player campaign, and this is quite a great failing. Where MAN2 played out like a game of chess GA plays out more like a generic RTS/Turn based strategy.

Much like massive assault network the difficulty is a little higher than your average strategy game. What doesn’t always help is that in some of the earlier mission the goals are a little vague.

Sadly the system does not work quite as well as it did with MAN 2. The intricate strategies don’t seem to gel as well as they did in the previous title. Where MAN 2 had you plotting surprise attacks and thinking many moves ahead, with multiple strategies available, GA is far more formulaic. Each mission plays out like the last with you relying on the same strategies time and time again. The game doesn’t challenge you to develop an adapting strategy and ends up feeling more like a middle of the road real time strategy game. In fact on some maps it feels like there is only one viable strategy and you are forced to conform to this via trial and error. In my opinion a game of this type should have numerous strategic options and really allow you to explore many different approaches.

Whilst I’ve been fairly critical of the game in this review there is still some fun to be had, especially if you are a huge fan of turn based strategies, or are a real time strategy fan and are looking for something with a little less pace. The sad truth is the game mixes turn based and real time elements and doesn’t capture the good points of either. It’s a great shame that the final product doesn’t work, MAN2 was a great game, taking the games engine and moving it in the single player direction is probably a mistake for the developer and hopefully they will soon return to what they do best.