Space Tactics Play Strongly In “Strikefleet Omega”
When it comes to space war-styled gaming, the key to success is always found in the way one bases their maneuvers on. Such is the case of Strikefleet Omega, a new (and free) real-time strategy game released for the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Android devices.
Strikefleet Omega has you warp from star system to star system in search of the Hive Queen, an alien race that has destroyed Earth. As the Admiral of the Omega it is your task to take out every last one of the Hive Queen's minions before the remaining human colonies are taken out.
After the prologue (which features all the types of ships you can use) the player will start out with just one Starfighter carrier. As your gameplay progresses you will earn more crystals to warp more carriers, along with other ships such as Interceptors, Gunships, and Mining Ops. The higher you go in the levels, the more alien fighters will appear in waves.
In order to bring your ships into battle, you simply click and drag the ships from either the carriers or the Command Center towards the incoming alien fighters. By doing this a path is created that will have each group of ships maneuvering back and forth in the specific route you created. The more ships you have, the quicker and easier it will be to take down the enemies.
The other ships in Strikefleet Omega you will earn later on in the game will have other tasks and duties. For example the Gunsmith will not send ships out to battle, but will simply fire at enemies via pointing on your phone/tablet as to where you want the artillery attack to land. Mining ships will be sent to nearby asteroids to collect warp crystals, which will come in handy when you need more ships during bigger waves. (They can also be used to purchase upgrades in-between levels.) Interceptors, meanwhile, can be used to take out enemy bombers, which take a lot of Starfighters to defeat.
From my experience with the game Strikefleet Omega works wonders with its touch-screen controls. With a simple swipe of the finger my ships hurled towards the alien fighters posthaste, and using the Gunships to take out closer enemies was vert easy to accomplish. However I did notice a few times when I would try to send my fleet to a specific location, only to have the screen drag away from the action happening in the level. Perhaps an update will be made to fix this sensitivity issue somewhere down the line. The graphics in the game, while a tad cartoonish, are very detailed, with the ships and combat onscreen moving with great fluidity and precision.
Strikefleet Omega contains over forty missions and a Survival mode (featuring enemy ships not found in the regular campaign), so players can expect many hours of fun and mind-challenging tactical battles that will keep their eyes and ears open throughout the game. With many ships to unlock and upgrades to install you will find many reasons to keep on fighting for what remains of the human race.
PROS:
- Great missions, battle sequences
- Touchscreen controls work wonderfully
- Cool upgrades, ship systems
CONS:
- Touchscreen aspects a little sensitive
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Strikefleet Omega may very well be the best strategy game available for phones and tablets right now. With many battles, ships, and missions at your disposal you can find many reasons to get hooked outright into this game. Give it a try, and you'll see why this may well be the best space war to ever fit into your pocket.
FINAL GRADE: 9.5 (out of ten)
