Developer: Blindflug Studios AG
Publisher: Blindflug Studios AG
Platforms: PC
Tested on: PC
Stellar Commanders – Review
World conquering and strategy have never been combined in the way Stellar Cammader has done now. Stellar Commanders has made conquering worlds as easy as building some rockets and blasting them away at enemy territories until the world is fully destroyed or your enemy’s territories are wiped out. The leftovers of the world will be yours, if done right, to attain the resources available there. You are a Stellar Commander and are tasked with the conquering of worlds for humankind’s sake.
Story
At the dawn of the space age, mankind’s insatiable hunger drove them into the realm of stars to find Iridium, the rarest metal on Earth. This is mined deep in the cores of small planetoids and taking too much will suck them dry and make them dangerously unstable. The most powerful factions on Earth send out their best tacticians in an effort to get the edge in this war for resources, which of course, leaves a huge trail of destruction behind. The tacticians sent out by these factions are called the Stellar Commanders. More story than this isn’t found throughout the whole game as this game is solely based on 1v1 matches. The only story is found in the small intro video and the small and unclear tutorial.
As a Stellar Commander, you need to battle in strategic orbital warfare to take over possession of planetoids to get the resources they offer. in each battle, you’ll have seven minutes to conquer the most land o the planet and destroy the enemy territories. If you haven’t destroyed the enemy within this timespan, the planetoid will explode and the player with the most territories wins.
Graphics
The graphics of Stellar Commanders aren’t really that stunning. The background is filled by what looks like outer space, but it looks like an inanimate photo. The only moving things in the background are balls of fire of which the origins are unknown. The land on the planet is divided into smaller segments that are separated by lines that indicate them as buildable sections. The color of these lines is determined by the faction you are playing. The gray areas are uncaptured territories while the others are in your or your opponent’s faction color.
Sound
The sound is alright in this game. The background music has an eerie feel to it that fits the space genre perfectly. The music tends to stay in the background which is quite nice as it won’t let you be bothered by its repetitiveness. When winning or losing a match, you might want to turn down your volume because a choir will start shouting quite hard to celebrate your win or loss. With a high volume, you might turn deaf for a while because it is really loud. The explosions on the planetoids aren’t accompanied by proper explosion sounds, which makes shooting a rocket at enemy territories a lot less impactful.
Gameplay
Stellar Commanders is a strategy game that involves the conquering of planets to gain the resources for the faction you belong to. The game looks fairly simple to play, but the tutorial is quite unclear and won’t explain the gameplay all that well. You really need to find out how everything works on your own as this tutorial is quite useless. The game only has one game mode, which is a 1v1 match. You can choose to play against the AI or an online enemy and that’s it.
The controls aren’t explained as well. When you click on a unit you just built, you’ll see numbers that can’t be clicked and it won’t be made clear what they mean. After you clicked on a unit, clicking on a territory will make them perform a move and after this, each unit will disappear. Each unit can be used only once so watch out before you are firing rockets onto your territories by mistake.
There are three factions to play as in this game, The United Coalition of the World, Sons and Daughters of Barovia, and the Jin Guo Empire. Each faction has its own set of weaponry and requires just a tad of a different playstyle. The United Coalition of the World’s weaponry is more based on capturing territories while the Sons and Daughters of Barovia are more focused on destruction and brute force. By playing a few matches, you will find out which factions suits you the most.
Each faction has their weapon arsenal, but this can also be upgraded as you play more and more. New units will be unlocked after playing a set number of matches or firing a specific amount of rockets at an enemy. So, when you are a new player, it’s best to play a lot against the AI before you start playing online, because other players could’ve already upgraded their arsenal to the max while you are just starting. This could lead to your opponent having stronger rockets, better defense and winning could be made impossible.
One match takes a maximum of seven minutes. In this time, you need to destroy all of your opponent’s territories. When doing this within the allotted time, you’ll win without the planet collapsing due to the resource mining you and your opponent are doing constantly. When you aren’t able to destroy your opponent completely, the planet will start collapsing near the end of the time and will ultimately fully collapse with only the territories owned by the commanders left. The commander with the most territories will win at this point.
Conclusion
Stellar Commanders is a strategy game to conquer planetoids in 1v1 combat. There is only one game mode that involves playing against online opponents, or against the AI. The tutorial of the game is quite unclear, but playing a few matches will be more than enough to understand the controls and make it possible to develop strategies to destroy your enemy. The three factions differ a bit in their weaponry, so each will require a different strategy. When you understand the gameplay of this game, it could be fun to play, but it isn’t a spectacularly great game. If you like the sound of conquering worlds combined with a strategy game, this game could be worth a try, but don’t have too high expectations.
Stellar Commanders - Review,
No Comments