My review of Galactic Assault: Prisoner of Power is now up at Gamesquad.

I give this a cautious recommendation. While much better than I thought it would be, I’ll admit to having very low expectations. The campaign missions have really tight restrictions on time and units and the difficulty slope goes vertical toward the end of the first chapter. But there are some clever things here. It’s WW2 without being WW2, sci-fi without being full of lasers and aliens and the interface is better than you usually find in this sort of B-list game.

Most importantly, the scenarios and deathmatch maps give you tactical problems that you will need to solve with the proper disposition of your forces and resources. There isn’t a single solution to any of them, so it’s not a puzzle game, but there are good options and bad options. The designers wisely let you fire and move on your turn, so you can use tactical retreats after doing damage, raising the possibility of setting traps for advancing enemies.

Still, the production values and pacing betray the game’s origins. In the strategy game part, there is too much time wasted in accruing resources to really get to the cool weapons; you pretty much have to spend what you’ve got on new troops instead of saving up for a super-bomber.

Galactic Assault is certainly worth a look if you really want to play a turn-based strategy/war game (think of it as Panzer Generals in Space.) You can get the demo at Gamespot.