Now this is one great game. I always frowned upon TBS games, because RTS felt better. Not today. First, a quick peek at the story. In the novel's (and game's) Universe, called Noon universe, Earth is ruled by commies. Well, not the really red ones: communism went so good, that Earth is now free of crime and poverty and (!) money. Knowledge is the most valuable thing and the government is ran by historians, scientists and other brainy fellows. Of course, there is a small number of individuals, who, due to the lack of intelectual capacity, do not fit into manual labour-free world. And they have to be taken care off. They can explore space! Maxim Krammer crashlands on Sakrash, a planet populated by humans with technical proves of mid tewntienth century. ANd they are suffering from the aftermath of a nuclear war. Since this is already a long peek into the story, I'll tell that Maxim saves the Land of Unknown Fathers (leave it to russians to make funky names) from mind control using dictators. And now the Land is beset by enemies from every side, so Maxim has to quickly turn into a tactical genius and defeat every opponent. Maxim innitially controls units of only the Land of Fathers. Since it was a nasty country, the most basic and never used are Penal units, which aren't more than cannon fodder. After that come the infantry, called infantry, tanks, engineers, Guards, ships, airplanes. I'll mention only the more interesting ones. Since Sakrash has a strange atmosfore, which leads people to believe that horizon is above them, airforce isn't well developed an doesn;t play a huge role in the game. Save for the Mountain Eagle tactical bomber, a leftover from when Sakrash was a one Empire. This 6 motor plane resembles an eagle and delivers powerful bombs onto the enemies. The only matching unit is khontie Storm Master 6-winged bomber. Then comes the artilery. It has two anti-infantry, two anti-tank variations and the Death Hammer cannon, which, while dealing 13 damage (toughest tank of the Land has 28 hitpoints) to both regular and armoured units, is a scary sight. Trade off is slow movement and no area damage. The Land of Fathers also has hipno ray vehicle (mobile version of towers that were used to control the populace), witch keeps friendly unit morale at max while demoralising enemies. All Land's equipment looks sturdy and bulky, while infantry looks modern day. Rocket artilery is strange though. Khonties are a nation to the north. It's government is split in two. However, that doesn't stop them from trying to invade the former Land of Fathers. Their riflemen are good against light vehicles, but weaker against infantry. They have shock troops, but they're as useful as Penal infantry. Their Cruiser tank has amazing movement capabilities, though limited firepower. Siege cannon is a nice peace of artilery, missile launcher being even sweeter. Storm Master is a good bomber. These are the uniths that you;ll usually have at the begining of missions when you stop the Khonties in the campaign. All khontie units are sleek, blue or unpainted metal. Their troops look like Imperial officers from Star Wars. Union of Desert Sons is a band of ragtag bandints a la Mad Max. Now, replace bandits with tribal mutants and you see the picture. They have obe of the most powerfull infantry in the game, which leads to having poor vehicles. Two of the infantry units are melee focused, so they're tough. Artilery looks a bit strange, strangest being the Fire Thrower. It looks like a huge clay ball held by wood. It has short range, but decent area of effect. Mutants look like all post apocalyptic civilizations. Insular Empire are cruel amphibiuos and submarine based terror inspiring pirates. They are cruel and mercyless and most of their units are amphibious. The excel in fighting near water, because that where he powerlful subs are. Are regular person would laugh a that: what can a sub do to people on the ground? Torpedo them? Well, since Insular Empire is dominant sea power in Sakrash, their subs are fitted to deal with ground targets, providing long range artilery support. Their marines are a pretty decent peace of infantry too. Their transporter differ from other factions because they can cross rivers and seas like they would cross regular terrain. Insular Empire is white, sleek and vintage looking. This game makes you employ hard tactics. Firstly, while there is possibility to build units, the resources are very limited, so you'll have to deal with what you've. So your start entrenching infantry and vehicles, sending recon to spot for artilery, using trucks and trailers and helis to move infantry and light artilery around the field (because trailers and planes can move farther than other units), flank the enemy, use artilery support to weaken enemy position. That means that this game is fun. Hell, I liked it more that World in Conflict. Galactic Assault has outdated graphics, but it does the part and shows a land devastated by nuclear and conventional war gloriously, while WiC is sterile and has small units. All in all, GA is enjoyable and fun to play even if you don't really know the story.
Other Helpful Reviews for Galactic Assault: Prisoner of Power
Galactic Assault: Prisoner of Power is based on an extremely popular Russian science-fiction story written during the prosperity of the soviet sixties. It’s set on the planet of Saraksh and the essentially the game is ab... Read Full Review
A good game. Not brilliant, but virtually bug free and worth playing. For one thing the setting makes this game unique or virtually so. I believe there are a few games that are similiar or are based on the same settin... Read Full Review
