Usually I have a problem with the real-time strategy genre. I certainly appreciate the classics like Starcraft, Command and Conquer, and Civilization. Most of the time I tend to get bored with the genre as a whole. So I was excited when I had the chance to review Marvelous Galaxy, a new Indie Game RTS. I thought this would be a change to get back into strategy games. Thanks to creator Darix for sending us a review copy.

Marvelous Galaxy is a traditional RTS set in the far-flung reaches of the universe. As the leader of a small planet’s army, you’re tasked with gathering resources to forge your way across the stars. Along with resource management you partake in traditional RTS combat with your robot hordes descending on opposing forces to win resources and rule over the entire galaxy.

Where No Man Really Cares To Go

Like I said before I never used to be fond of these kinds of games. Marvelous Galaxy certainly didn’t change my opinion of them. Upon start-up you have the ability to choose between three different game modes: Single Player, Multiplayer and Fight Now. The first two are self-explanatory, with 15 maps to choose from (five of each kind). Maps come in three sizes: small, medium, and large. The small maps are really the only manageable maps to play on unless you’re a masochist of some sort. The medium and large maps can lead to immensely drawn-out matches that seemingly have no end.

Single and Multiplayer is where you’ll be spending most of your time here. You control a planet which acts as your base of operations. From here you can build towers and create robots to fight with. Your goal is to destroy any and all opposing planets and become ruler of the galaxy…I’m assuming.

Movement around the maps is downright horrid. Your cursor acts as a constant problem through the game. Randomly it’ll start moving, usually off the screen. Attempting to find it after it’s gone off-screen can be a major pain in the ass. Your best bet is to bring up your map to try and locate it, but sometimes even that’s impossible on the bigger levels.

Wait…What Did You Just Do?

Good luck figuring out what the enemy is up to. Every time you end your turn, the game just skips to your next turn. You have absolutely no indication of what your opponent(s) did last turn. Imagine playing a game of chess where you had to close your eyes every time the other player made a move. And rather than move one piece, they can make multiple moves that you don’t see. Sure, after intensely careful examination of your surroundings you might be able to tell what’s going on. If the movement wasn’t bad enough, the battles are even worse.

During battles, each team has a handful of fighters on a grid-like battlefield. On your turn, you move your characters like you would any RTS. Then you can choose between using a melee or distance weapon. Upon choosing your weapon, a scrolling bar pops up. This bar determines how much damage you deal, so you must time your button press accordingly.

For some stupid reason the distance weapon makes moving and using your melee weapon useless. Your distance weapon can hit from anywhere on the screen, no matter how far away your enemy is. You can go an entire match without moving your characters, opting to have them shoot every turn and win easily. This eliminates what little fun could be had from these battles for me.

Something Nice To Look At

While it wasn’t fun for me, it sure was nice to look at. I must commend whoever was working on the aesthetic side of this game. The game is beautiful for an Indie Game title; it still looks more suitable to a Flash game, but it’s got a cartoony vibe that I really enjoyed. The areas of play (the galaxy and the battlefields) aren’t super-detailed, but serve as a nice backdrop to the action. The robots and planetary buildings have a simple but elegant style. It…just looks pretty. And then there’s the music.

This game has no right to have a beautifully orchestrated score, but it does. Each area has a different music accompaniment that is truly impressive for such a simple game. The strings and horns swell when you’re engaged in battle. The field music gives you a sense of exploration. Everything I did felt rather epic with such music behind it. I’d even go so far as to say the music was…marvelous.

A few other points worth mentioning…

• Fight Now has you choose a team of 5 robots or aliens to fight another team of robots or aliens in combat. The battles in Fight Now are the same you face in the main game.
• The Help menu does absolutely nothing to teach you about the game. Aside from telling you nothing about the controls, the menu is written in God-awful Engrish. If this is some attempt to be funny, it kinda works, but it’s just infuriating. Have a help menu actually help why don’t ya?
• Your mechanical creations can also be tasked with destroying various meteors and satellites to gather metal and cash for your construction needs. Before you do, you go through one of the tedious battles I mentioned earlier. Upon landing on a meteor, the game has you choose up to five bots from the surrounding area to gang up on the rock and do battle with whatever is inhabiting it.
• Your planet can be outfitted with various buildings. The mine, laboratory, bank, robot factory, and repairer do everything that you’d expect them to do. Buildings can be upgraded over time to either garner you more resources or help you make more powerful robots.

So do these aesthetics make up for anything? Nope. Mute the game and close your eyes, and you’ve still got a bland console RTS. And as fans of the genre know, there are close to zero great RTS titles on consoles; you normally have to look to the PC to find anything really engaging. On top of the boring…well, everything, the horrid controls just take you out of the experience. Only truly hardcore fans of the genre might find this game interesting. The rest of you should stay away.

You should play this game if…

…RTS’s are your thing, and you need one to occupy your time while waiting for your PC to start up.

Final Score
Style and flair, while nice, aren’t enough to save this boringly tedious strategy title.

(What does this score mean?)