➤ Space Cats Tactics, the review of a strategy game with too many problems 🕹

Here's our review of Space Cats Tactics, a strategy game that unfortunately suffers from too many problems to be recommended.

It was June 2020 when Alex Nicola, sole developer of Mitzi Games - started the Kickstarter campaign for Space Cats Tactics, an FTL-inspired game that combines strategic turn-based battles and management of your space crew. With more than €11.000 raised compared to the €10.000 requested, the project was launched. In July 2023, Space Cats Tactics finally hit the digital shelves of Steam and we were able to put it through its paces. Unfortunately the final result is not what many expected.

Let's see the details in ours. Space Cat Tactics Review.

Space Cats Tactics: Strategies and Micromanagement

Space Cats Tactics, the review of a strategy game with too many problems — Space Cats Tactics offers a classic grid system

Space Cats Tactics is certainly not a game that wants to hide what its idea is: Cats in space and tactical confrontations.. In this small universe created by Alex Nicola, "cats" are feline-looking humanoid beings created by humans, powerful warriors used as slaves and, although now free, considered second-class citizens.

We play the role of a couple. mercenary cats who have to steal a ship, the Curiosity ("Curiosity killed the cat" is a famous English saying), which has unique technology. The plot revolves around a corporate conspiracy and the desire to gain control of this valuable spaceship, in a mix of clichés and cat jokes, casual references to famous people (such as "Dal Gabot") and quotes bordering on the plagiarism from Mass Effect that takes us towards a couple of endings. The question, however, is whether he will have the patience to reach the conclusion.

Space Cats Tactics è un turn based strategy game, divided into two main components. Each mission places us in a section of space organized into hexagonal boxes. We have action points to spend to move and attack with one of our weapons, such as a simple cannon, an area laser beam or - through upgrades - even missiles and more. Any action we want to perform, however, must first be enabled by placing one of the members of our feline crew in the right room.

Do you want to attack? A cat is needed in the armory room. Do you want to manage scanning and communications with other ships? Someone has to go to the bridge. The idea is pleasant and pushes us to think in advance what moves we want to make in the next round, because the positioning of thecommitment costs action points. The truth, however, is that the options are minimal, especially when you have to act on the battlefield.

Most battles occur in open field, with only a couple of asteroids now and then that can provide protection, but generally there's nothing you can do except attack repeatedly. In some cases we are much stronger and destroy the enemies, in others we simply have no chance. In the latter situation, victory comes only because the enemy artificial intelligence is terrible and incapable of acting sensibly, which is sometimes also a disadvantage for us.

For example, on one mission we had access to AI controlled allies. In one attempt some shuttles simply stopped acting, in another they stopped at one point and repeatedly attacked an opponent without realizing that the projectiles were blocked by a nebula and did not reach the enemy. In another mission, however, we only had to manage to escape, in an area densely populated with enemies where the only way to survive was to wait for the AI of a specific and very powerful enemy ship to decide, for no reason, to enter in the opposite direction. to ours (it happened after three attempts). In general, it is clear that in some situations opponents do not understand what they have to do if we are too far away and start wandering in random directions.

So many systems, little use.

In general, the problem with Space Cats Tactics is that it tried to include a large number of systems, with the result that everything is superficial and uninteresting. For example, to get out of a level you have to collect orange crystals, but many times you simply find yourself at the end of the battle without the enemies spending turn after turn destroying the appropriate asteroids to obtain this resource: a waste of time for no reason.

Then there is a ship upgrade system based on both items to equip and technological upgrades to obtain with Research Points collected from the rubble of defeated enemies. Even in this case, however, there is little to play with and even if Space Cats Tactics comes with a role play, in reality it is just a shadow of it.

Finally we add that, as can really be expected from a solo project a little too ambitious, on a visual level it is pleasant from time to time, nothing special in most cases and to say the least amateur in others, with for example a screenshot of a narrative phase that seemed to be drawn on the fly in Paint with the mouse (and not by someone who knows how to draw, of course). Even some 3D sequences highlight the poverty of various polygonal models.

As if that were not enough, there are situations in which approaching our ship means bringing Space Cats Tactics about to crash, with several moments where the game appears to move at a frame per second.

Conclusions

Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam Price 14,79 € Holygamerz.com 4.0 audience ND your vote

Space Cats Tactics is clearly the project of a passionate person who, however, could not deliver a sufficient product. The Kickstarter page shows that there were many other ideas that perhaps would have made the game a little deeper and more interesting, but the funds didn't come through. The end result is a strategic game that is banal at best and at the mercy of the randomness of enemy AI at worst. Add to that some technical issues, a skippable plot, and amateurish graphical presentation in various situations, and we have on our hands a game that we can't recommend even to the biggest fan of the genre.