Warhammer 40 fans know it well: a Space Hulk is a monstrous heap of spaceship carcasses, drifting through the void of space and harboring many secrets and dangers. The one called the Forsaken Doom has just appeared near the Forge World of Gorgonum, which it may well collide with. Under these conditions, who are we calling? No, not Ghostbusters, but Space Marines! The first of the game's two single-player campaigns is therefore dedicated to these genetically modified soldiers. The budget of Space Hulk: Tactics obviously not being that of a AAA, the narration ignores the long cinematic sequences and other frills of the genre. Most of the storyline unfolds through non-interactive dialogue and simple mission briefings. These texts are still dubbed, and very correctly, but if you ever came for the big show, you can pass your turn. Moreover, you will have to do the same in any case since the title of Cyanide takes up the turn-based gameplay of the original board game. Each Space Marine has four Action Points to spend sparingly, as travel, interaction with the scenery and combat are relatively expensive. Even when a Space Marine performs a simple quarter turn on itself it consumes AP! We thus perfectly feel the heaviness of these massive soldiers, who are also extremely vulnerable in close combat. For example, it is almost impossible for them to survive an attack from behind or from the sides. They must therefore keep their distance from enemies as much as possible, and place themselves as much as possible in surveillance. This ability allows them to automatically fire on any enemy that enters their field of vision during the opponent's turn. And by "enemy" we basically mean "Genestealer"...
WE HAVE A (SPACE) HULK
The game's second single-player campaign is also dedicated to these Tyranid creatures, while the skirmish mode naturally pits a squad of Space Marines against a team of Genestealers. The agility of the latter allows them to always face the danger, and therefore not to have to spend action points to place themselves in a given direction. But that's not the only gameplay difference between aliens and Space Marines. Genestealers do not deploy individually but as "blips", which can contain from zero (in this case it is a decoy) to three creatures. Imperial Army soldiers cannot know how many individuals a blip contains until it is revealed, i.e. until a soldier crosses it in their line of sight . This creates some tension for the Space Marines, and allows the Genestealers to create false alarms to better outflank their opponents.
If the two sides play differently, they still retain a common tactical base. Thus, the shots and shots can miss, according to probabilities which are indicated beforehand to the player. Afterwards, the result is discreetly displayed in the interface in the form of dice, Space Hulk: Tactics insisting on respecting not only the universe but also the rules of the board game as much as possible. However, the video game also has its own tactical overlay. It takes the form of command cards, which can be played each turn in order to benefit from various bonuses (+2 for a soldier's next melee attack, range of 4 and +2 to surveillance attacks, the targeted blip now contains two Genestealers, etc.). An additional subtlety further enriches the gameplay: it is possible to sacrifice cards in order to convert them into additional action points for Space Marines or new blips for Genestealers. In addition, players can personalize their squad between two missions, in particular by improving the command cards of each unit, thanks to resources that are simply recovered, by evolving on the general map of each campaign.
THIS IS NOT A FPS
Very tactical, the game does not have any major flaws in terms of artificial intelligence and therefore guarantees many hours of fun for fans of the genre. Especially since a very comprehensive mission editor is available. However, the latter will not allow overriding certain limitations of the title. One thinks in particular of the lack of variety of environments. The game only offers three, related to the faction of spaceships being explored. The player will therefore travel through corridors of Imperium, Eldar, Ork origin and… that's all. In the first case, the sets will feature automatic turrets and shredder traps. In the second, teleportation tunnels and warp bubbles to exchange the position of two units. And in the last, explosive barrels and fog-generating mushrooms. Technically, Space Hulk: Tactics is quite uneven. If the graphics are generally of good quality (the armor of the Space Marines, for example, does not lack detail), the purely technical part remains perfectible. Opponent turns take a lot of time and cause big slowdowns.
Finally, don't rely too much on some screenshots that present a first-person view. If the game does offer an FPS view, the latter is more of a gadget than anything else.
Finally, don't rely too much on some screenshots that present a first-person view. If the game does offer an FPS view, the latter is more of a gadget than anything else. The movements in this mode thus agree rather badly with the principle of the points of action. We must move in jerks, with a stop at each square. And above all, this camera does not provide an overview of the terrain. We will therefore spend 99% of the time on the isometric view (modern, it is allowed to zoom, to change the angle and to apply a filter indicating the relations between the control consoles and the mechanisms of the sets), and we are not 'will allow a few brief passages in FPS view only to admire our units a little closer. In this regard, some fights are embellished with zooms and very nice animations, which also allow you to appreciate the modeling work... and make the subjective view even more dispensable at the same time!
