Battlestar Galactica Deadlock

I've tried the game. I liked the way the ships were given orders too, I thought the universe of the series was really respected, and I enjoyed playing commander. For a short time. The game is quite repetitive, spawning a lot of cylon fleets, where you have to apply the same strategy, with your superior fleet, to demolish them without losses. It MIGHT have been because I delayed the next mission for a bit, however - I didn't want to leave the Alpha sector while there were still Cylon fleets in it. So, I built a second fleet, and passed a few days, fighting with one or the other, until the sector was clear. Big disappointment: It didn't seem to make the story, or my abilities, progress. While I had disabled the tutorial (after I needed to restart, because I had lost ships to collisions, on my first game, before I knew to be careful with trajectories), I still needed to unlock, painfully slowly, the next ship, or the officers, or whatever. Yep, didn't reach the point where I would be able to get officers. I WANTED to do the mission between sectors Alpha and sector Gamma, but couldn't. The game bugged, as it had done a number of times before. However, the previous times, quitting and reloading would do the trick. Here, I've been deadlocked while loading the mission between these sectors. I get to place ships on the grid, and then the game gives me the jump countdown, with the mission name, and then... nothing. The screen keeps still, and no ship arrives. So, after a few minutes of boring wait (and considering that, usually, the ships DO appear right at the end of the countdown - not a "slow PC" problem, here), and quitting the game 3 times at the same spot, I decided to uninstall it instead of retrying a fourth time. So, yeah, it's a strategy game, and it MIGHT get better, less repetitive, less boring, after some missions are cleared, IF you get them to load properly. But I think it's a half-finished game, deserving a half-mark. A Disappointed BSG fan.

I have this on Steam and am purchasing it here now. I really wish I waited a few more months, but I didn't expect it to come to GoG so soon. BSG Deadlock is a turn based strategy game set it space. It is sort of based on the newest series, but not entirely. It is based on the first Cylon war, so the war you see in the movies of Bill Adama. It does not follow the story of the newest series at all because it takes place decades prior. But, it does follow the lore set in place during the series. The graphics are great and each ship and space station are detailed and look exactly how they were depicted in the series. The sound probably uses much of the assets from the series and the overall package makes you feel like you're a commander in the BSG universe. The controls are easy and it has a pretty good tutorial at the beginning of the campaign. You start out with a mission objective, any intelligence as far as enemy units on the map, and you can place your fleet. When you start, you have a turn for each ship and can set its course in three dimensions. There is a fog of war on the map that does not allow you to see enemy ships until you are in Dradis range. I would highly recommend this game to any BSG fan, fan of TBS, or fan of space fleet combat.

There are precious few games set in the rich universe of Battlestar Galactica so if you're a fan, there aren't many options. This one is worth a look in my opinion. The developers appear to have a license to the source material and they definitely use it in spades. Much of the background and lore of Galactica not explored in the program is presented (even some callbacks to the spinoff Caprica). Even the soundtrack is similar to what was used on the show. Of these type of games I've played, this one most resembles Starfleet Command or Nexus. There is a light strategic layer with a galaxy map (or rather the system map of the 12 colonies) but the other reviews already make it clear that most of the game is tactics. And it's been aptly described as 3D chess in space. As in every game of chess is pretty much the same, but different. It's also fairly linear as the campaign won't progress without beating each mission. Like Nexus, every mission is like a tactical puzzle to solve. I am less a serious wargamer than one who plays for atmosphere and immersion. So I don't mind what some call an easy level of difficulty because I just like to extend my enjoyment of the show. The interface is not the most polished but I don't think I've played any tactical game that was. Summary: Chess. In space. Versus Cylons.

Deadlock has polished itself during a year, becoming a fun TBS and campaign management game. This is a must for BSG fans and a should for space battle enthusiasts. The franchise lore has been expanded and well adapted and it is nice to finally have a place to play it, however it seldom reaches the heights of homeworld or similar games. I enjoyed the battles. The UI stays out of the way and game mechanics are easy to learn. The game complexity lies on tactics and predicting the enemy's overall strategy, not on space spreadsheet micro-management. On that, AI is slightly predictable (after all they are robots) but tough and the fact the enemy can FTL to your position makes caution a valuable asset. The campaign management is the best part, asking to compromise and take hard decisions while keeping the story moving. I wish graphically was more developed, compared to similar games, albeit it is competent and the reply function is nice to use, specially on large skirmishes.