Man Battlestations Forum
Naval Video Games => Naval Video Game Discussion => Topic started by: Ruckdog on April 09, 2016, 11:34:56 am
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Another BFG videogame has been announced!
https://www.facebook.com/BattlefleetGothicLeviathan
This one is going to be a mobile game, and turn-based, which makes it significantly different from Armada. I will definitely be checking this one out! I like the fact that they are saying up front that they are not going to be doing microtransactions in the game. That does mean that its purchase point will probably be higher, around $20 I would guess.
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The game has been out for a few days now! I've played through the tutorials, and started in on the single player campaign. Here are my impressions so far:
Gameplay: Very smooth! BFG:L does exactly what it says on the tin; it's the BFG tabletop ruleset in electronic form. The beauty of this is that it takes a lot of the guess work out of the game; it handles all the movement and shooting modifiers for you for example. It also has some smart short-cuts built in. For example, when you select a ship or squadron during the shooting phase, it automatically rolls the leadership check to see if you can shoot at something other than the closest target.
Visuals: Captures the look of the tabletop models very well. The models are less detailed than the ships in BFG: Armada, but that is to be expected. You can't tell on a phone screen, and it is still not too bad on a larger iPad. The effects for weapons fire, maneuvering, and the like all look great!
Sound: Passably done. The music is OK, the weapons effects and voice samples for the units sound good.
Overall: Well worth the $5.99 price point! If you like BFG, and if you have an iOS device (sorry, no Android version as of yet), then definitely check this one out. The only bad parts I can see so far is that the faction selection is pretty limited; there is only the IN, 'Nids, and Space Marines at this point. I'm really hoping that the game does well enough that other factions are introduced in the future. Even if they are expansion packs that are being sold for $3 a piece or so, I would snap them up!
Anyway, stay tuned. I plan on putting together some more in-depth impressions on the blog later this week after I've played the campaign some more.
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Bought this for all of the travel I've been doing to and from work. I'm definitely impressed and pleased. It's great having a tabletop game on the iPad. The visuals and effects are pretty good.
I've gotten through the tutorials but haven't started the campaign yet. Can't wait to see how that goes.
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I'd be interested in your thoughts on the campaign when you have had more time to play!
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I'd be interested in your thoughts on the campaign when you have had more time to play!
I've had some time to progress a ways in the campaign. Overall I think it's pretty good.
Some good things:
- The mission system is neat. They are thematic and in most cases pretty difficult.
- Getting bigger and meaner ships is awesome and rewarding.
Some weird things:
- The seemingly random occurrence of missions was really hard for me to get used to.
- There is essentially no consequence for losing a mission. Since you can play them again over and over the rewards are easy to attain.
- I really wish I could play larger point values. The small scale is good for a tablet game, but I rarely see a reason to field my larger ships like heavy cruisers and battleships.
- Figuring out tactics to beat the Tyranids has been great. The game plays at such a small scale that the tactics are extremely important. It's been a lot of trial and error.
Some bad things:
- We need more explanation text! Half the time I don't know what is happening on the screen, especially in a mission where there is special stuff happening.
- Without knowing anything about BFG I would have a hard time understanding why my dice are rolling the way they are, and why I am getting the different to hit values. I feel a break out panel when dice are rolled with a little description of the number and to hit values/modifiers would be a better system.
- Constant crashing. I haven't lost any data yet... But it does get annoying. I would say on average I experience a crash during every other battle.
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Great summary! I think I largely agree. I think overall the game seems pretty easy; the AI doesn't seem to offer too much of a challenge yet, and like you said, the mission structure isn't overly punishing of losses.
I have to say, it didn't occur to me at first that it might be hard for players new to the rule set to pick up what is going on, given my familiarity with the game. But you are right, the app zipps through a lot of the rules interactions, often combining steps and just presenting the result. Another thing I'm noticing is that the crit damage repairs seem to not be working quite right!
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The multiplayer game is pretty solid, it's a shame you can't set a point limit like in skirmish mode, but those values can be agreed upon. Hopefully more teams become available soon.