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- [T.J.] The heavy gunner of my Space Marine squad
ran dry on ammo one turn
before I would have completed a tense hold-out mission
against the ravenous Genestealer hordes
of Space Hulk Tactics.
Without his suppressive fire obliterating any aliens
who dared to proceed down the long corridor
from their main spawn point, the nasties were able
to pick my battle brothers apart one by one,
the defensive position collapsing like a house of cards.
My plan had almost worked beautifully, just like this game.
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Tactics isn't the first video game adaptation
of the asymmetrical, turn-based board game
that pits slow Space Marines packing potent firepower
against swift and deadly Genestealers
who excel in melee combat, but it is the slickest-looking.
The terrain is detailed and readable.
Each creeping alien and hulking suit of power armor
is adorned with small touches that help them pop.
And whether you're storming the corridors
of a ramshackle ork vessel or an abandoned,
eerily pristine Eldar frigate,
there's plenty of cool stuff to look at and blast
into a million pieces in a panic to kill the oncoming swarm.
Mechanically, everything about the tactical experience
is expertly balanced and nurturing
to creative tactics and hectic long-shots.
Similar to the XCOM series,
deciding how to break up limited action points
between movement, adjusting your facing, taking shots,
and covering approaches with overwatch,
is the key and most interesting challenge.
Advancing quickly can keep you ahead of the mission timer
or save an ally in a tricky spot,
but it exposes you to vicious counterattacks
that could cost the entire mission.
If you're too conservative, though,
you risk getting surrounded and overwhelmed
or not getting to the objective in time.
The tension is a constant ebb and flow that rewards you
with cathartic moments of relief when a careful plan
or desperate gambit pays off.
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When playing as the Genestealers,
the atmosphere is turned on its head.
You always have the upper hand in terms of information,
numbers, and freedom of movement, but you're also forced
to be cagey and deceptive as a frontal assault
is more than likely to fail.
It feels a bit less shirt-wringing, but also more fun.
Finding the chink in the armor of a Space Marine formation
that would allow me to isolate the metal-clad crusaders
and skewer them one at a time rarely got old.
I just wish it controlled a bit better.
The interface seems designed for a gamepad,
even though I'd much rather be using a mouse and keyboard
on this type of game.
I had to choose between trying to play it
like a PC strategy game and having my clicks
often not register or trigger something unintended,
or pick up my Xbox controller and deal with the hassle of,
for instance, having to use the buttons to manually cycle
through all of my units
instead of simply clicking to select them.
Mouse scrolling doesn't work very well either,
and stops working at all in some cases,
like when you're trying to choose a target for a power card.
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Aside from skirmish and ranked match modes
that work pretty much as one would expect,
there are single-player campaigns for each faction.
The Space Marines get 13 missions across a dynamic map
with events, dilemmas, and collectible loot.
The story is nothing to write home to Terra about,
but presents the typical grimdark, far future melodrama
of the 40K universe in all its cheesy glory.
The nine-mission Genestealer campaign, by comparison,
feels like a bit of an afterthought,
with not much in the way of campaign mechanics
to speak of other than a couple opportunities to decide
between one of two approaches to a specific mission.
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As a tactical strategy game,
the challenge and depth of Space Hulk Tactics is spot-on.
The characters and levels look great.
Each unit type has plenty of cool abilities
to create vast possibilities for approaching a problem.
Every map is laid out in such a way
as to force both teams
to constantly make interesting decisions.
The Space Marine campaign has some really cool ideas
that help it not feel
like you're just hitting "Next Mission" over and over.
It's just a bummer that the controls get in the way of me
being able to truly dive in and enjoy it a lot of the time,
like having to eat a really nice Thanksgiving pie
with just a spatula.
For more Tactics, check out our reviews
of Bard's Tale IV and Frozen Synapse 2.
And for everything else, stick with IGN.
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