Winterwolves Software has produced some games I have loved, Universal Boxing Manager, for instance. As a company which made its name producing "Management" games, I wondered if they could enter the strategy game market. The answer: Maybe. Supernova: Galactic Wars is a tactical space combat game with a combat system not unlike Star Control. The premise is two armies fighting for control of space, Red vs. Blue. As you read on you will see why Supernova falls short of an explosion but certainly isn't a dud.
The objectives are given to you each mission, control X planet in X number of turns, wipe out all enemies, etc. You are given a predetermined number of ships for each mission and can collect money through battles and/or through controlling planets. The game board is set up as a hex map, each ship can move a certain number of hexes, and when combat begins it takes you to real time top down action, like an old school arcade game (again, if you are familiar with Star Control you will know what we are talking about). Sounds pretty good right? In my opinion this is a great model for a game! Strategy. Action. A wide variety of ships armed with different weapons, armor, speed, all of which you can upgrade... What could possibly be bad!?
Well, Supernova proves that entering the strategy game market requires some expertise about the subject, or at least, that Supernova does not actually come across as a strategy game, nor an action game, but falls short in every category. Here's why:
Supernova isn't a strategy game. It SHOULD play like chess. It should be a game about collecting resources, defending planets, building fleets, and battling it out in a real time action game. Unfortunately since your ships can't "block" enemy movement you can, in theory, beat any mission where your objective is "take over X planet" with a single scout, since you can simply move across the whole board in 3 turns. You can't build fleets because you can only have 1 ship in combat at a time AND you can only move 1 ship at a time. Not that it matters, as such, since I found my scouts could take out battleships… but that is in the next section. Worst of all, planets and money are pretty worthless. There was a SINGLE mission on the HARDEST mode that required me to build a new ship, and I would say even that one wasn't required. Money doesn't matter much when you can wipe out your entire enemy with 1/3rd the firepower he has. So, defending planets is pointless, you can't build fleets, resources are not really worth saving, and you can't tactically maneuver to force enemies into traps. Again, another failing is that ships have "static" weapons. X ship always has X weapons and X power/speed/armor. There are upgrades in battle but they are all temporary from what I could tell. It'd be a lot more interesting if you could build custom ships with the weapon YOU wanted. Supernova came SO close to having a brilliant strategic design and threw it all away for a quick fight. For the record I beat this game in 2 hours.
Supernova isn't an action game. Let me rephrase that, it IS an action game; it just isn't a particularly good one. Because your battles are 1 on 1 it is certainly easy enough to control. The problem is the enemy AI is pretty darn stupid, even on the highest setting. It is mildly entertaining to play with the cool weapons, blasting asteroids for power-ups, and defeat enemy battleships with scouts, but really after an hour of that there isn't anything left to do. Improve the enemy AI, make battles contain multiple ships, and last but not least, add something in there for tactical advantage. You can use the asteroids against the dumb AI and force them to fly into them - this is true - but add gravity to them or something that requires skilled flying… The action in this game is mediocre, but it's a strategy game. With a little work it could be good or even superb, which is just going to add to its eventual appeal.
Last but not least: there is no multiplayer. None. You are stuck with the AI (which did I mention, sucks in this game?) The "Battle Mode" is slightly better than the campaign in that you may actually have to build a few ships and control a few planets, but in the end I can take down a mothership with 2 scouts on the hardest mode, or take down a 2 battleships with 1 scout. Something is foul about that.
The graphics are good enough for the type of game this is, the music is fine, the sound effects are a little sharp and could use some tweaks but overall the problem is entirely with the game design. Supernova has work of art written all over it if someone were showing it to me for a first draft. In the end what this game really needs is a sequel, Supernova 2, where level progression is more than selecting the level from a list, where strategy is more than making a bum-rush for your targets, where your enemies are smart, where you have MANY planets you must control and slowly build up a mighty army, where you have to invest resources into upgrading each of your ships weapons, guns, engines, ect, where you can move and maneuver multiple ships and strategically place them to force your enemy into poor positioning, where battling your enemies are epic in scale with an AI to match a human opponent. Yep, Supernova could have been the next great space strategy game… I'll wait for Supernova 2 before I give up on Winterwolves Strategy line.
I am the PR Manager for a successful game company and enjoy writing reviews for non-competing products. I am married to a lovely wife and we have a lovely daughter named Rowan, who is currently two. I am also a professional juggler and swordfighter, which comes in handy in a variety of situations.
