Game News This Starcraft competitor already has all the makings of a great strategy video game. I’ve played it and it could well surpass the master of the genre…
During the Summer Game Fest Live Showcase, Battle Aces was revealed for the first time. After an action-packed cartoon trailer, we discover that it is a strategy game, a genre that has disappeared today. Battle Aces therefore aims to bring RTS up to date, which is much less popular than it was decades ago, and after playing it, I feel that it can achieve this.
In the 90s-2000s The strategy game genre dominated on the PC with titles like Warcraft III, Age of Empires, Empire Earth II and so on. However, with the popularity of League of Legends and the democratization of MOBAs, the genre fell into obscurity until it disappeared completely in the 2010s, leaving only the Total War series on the market.
But today, With Battle Aces, former Starcraft developers return to the forefront, a title that aims to make the RTS genre more accessible to bring it up to date. After playing it for a good hour with its creators, I feel that Uncapped Games’ game has excellent arguments for doing so.
An original and refreshing proposal from STR
Let’s start at the beginning: Battles Aces is a free strategy game set in a science fiction universe that offers up to ten-minute battles in 1v1 or 2v2 mode. As in LoL, the map is always the same and the objective is to destroy the base of the main opponent to win. To achieve this we have two types of resources, matter and energy, to create units and send them into battle. Each troop has its own characteristics, but the biggest difference is that some are on the ground, others are in the air, creating a rock-paper-scissors system. everything that is most classic. In its fundamentals, Battle Aces takes up the codes that make strategy games so charming, but all its originality lies in the way it is executed.
In Battle Aces, Everything is done so that the player focuses only on the combat by simplifying all other aspects of the RTS. For buildings? The only ones that can be built are other bases in very specific locations. For resources? There are only two that are automatically generated from the bases. What about units? They appear on the battlefield immediately. How about exploration? There is nothing else to discover except enemy bases and troops. Even when it comes to gameplay, You can do everything via shortcutswithout ever having to look at the base to produce new units. In addition, the game strongly invites us to play exclusively with the key combinations to improve responsiveness. Once mastered, Battle Aces is fun right away because it is easy to learn but requires a lot of attention to successfully deal with what is happening both on and behind the battlefield.
A free-to-play dimension that still needs to be clarified
Despite everything I just told you, the originality of Battle Aces doesn’t stop there. Even though the title does not offer a faction like any other real-time strategy game, players can still stand out from the crowd and personalize their playstyle thanks to their unit deck. Before a battle, it is possible to select 8 units that you can use during the game, with two units you can produce at the beginning of the game, while the others require improvements to your base. Some troops even have abilities that can be activated in battle. Such as teleporting near an allied building or entering overclock mode to increase their attack, adding an additional layer of micromanagement.
However, this is where the free-to-play dimension comes in and we have some questions. The more you play, the more new units you unlock to choose from your deck. But for the most patient patients, it seems to be possible to buy them directly from the store for real money. When the title comes out, the whole question will be whether it is pay-to-win, pay-to-fast, or neither.In any case, we hope that the free-to-play aspect of Battle Aces will not spoil its original approach, which brings a breath of fresh air to the RTS genre.
