Back in 1999 Hasbro Interactive released a series of e-mail games. Among them was an absolutely addictive version of the cult favorite X-Com: UFO Defense. In this little jewel the designers stripped out all the resource management elementsof its big brother and streamlined the whole thing down to a nice, easy-to-play, turn-based tactical shooter. It absorbed my life for way too long and finding opponents to play with via e-mail (there was no single-player mode) was always high on my priorities. Now Namco and Codo Technologies’ Gollop brothers (the original designers of the X-Com series) have brought me the pure fun of the X-Com e-mail game with no need to talk someone into playing with me. Rebelstar: Tactical Command for the GBA lets the player take on an occupying alien hoard in a turn-based, tactical-combat game that is immensely approachable and, at the same time, tactically deep.
As the game opens, Earth has been under the domination of an alien race known as the Arelians for 70 years. The Arelians and their enforcer species, the Zorn, brought peace to earth, but it came at a high price. Tracking chips have been implanted into all humans, and once people turn 30 they disappear. Needless to say, the population is not entirely happy with this arrangement and a resistance group has sprung up. As a new recruit of the Terran Liberation Army named Jorel (no relation to the dad of the Sup) the player will train to become a resistance fighter, take on the Arelian occupiers, and learn their secrets.
Initially Jorel will train alone against bots to learn the basics of combat. This training includes movement, cover and use of weapons. Later Jorel goes out for the real thing with teammate units that he can work with.
Being a turn-based combat game, Rebelstar: Tactical Command is all about using limited action points (APs) to maneuver and fire at enemy units with the greatest efficiency. At the beginning of a turn, each character under the control of the player is allocated a finite number of APs to use during that turn. During a turn the player may expend his points to move units, fire weapons, change unit facing or pick up items. Pretty much everything you do in a turn costs APs. The APs need not be used in any particular order. A hypothetical unit turn might consist of a movement into the open, taking a shot at an enemy unit from that vantage point, and then expending the remainder of your APs to move your unit back behind cover to protect it from the inevitable counterattack.
Of course once all your units have expended all of their APs, or at least as many of them as the player wishes, the turn passes to the other side and the computer moves its units and resolves its attacks. Thankfully the AI driving the game is fairly respectable and puts up a pretty good fight. In addition, any of your units that were put into “overwatch” mode will engage enemy units that enter their line of fire. (The computer can put its units into overwatch mode too, so be careful rounding those corners during your turn.)
All of the combat elements are handled in an easy and intuitive manner. The player is given excellent assistance in movement with colored grid squares letting him know his opinions based on remaining APs. Orange grid squares represent places the player can move and still have all his firing options. Yellow squares indicate where the unit may move with limited firing options. And green shows that the unit can move to that square but will have no way to fire once it arrives. This simple play device makes the planning and execution of unit maneuvers a snap to perform. Since enemy unit locations are unknown until they enter a friendly unit’s line of sight, the game thoughtfully pauses movement once an enemy unit comes into the moving unit’s line of sight. The player can then elect to continue his move as planned or reallocate the unused APs to take another action.
During the course of the game the player will be given the opportunity to use a variety of projectile and explosive type weapons, as well as a knife for stealth kills and smoke grenades to mask movement. Of course heavier weapons are more cumbersome and require more APs to use so, in those missions that allow it, careful balancing of equipment loads is a must.
In a nice little role-playing-game element thrown in to make the game more interesting, Rebelstar: Tactical Command allows the player to level up his characters as the game progresses and they gain combat experience. The attributes that are leveled up include the normal RPG stuff like speed, strength, dexterity, etc. Leveling up is automatic, but as the character progresses skill points are also awarded. Skill points may be used to improve proficiency in a previously acquired skill or may be used to acquire a new skill. The skill-point-use decisions are under the control of the player so he can actually guide the character development.
Along with the one-player campaign mode, there is also a single-player skirmish mode that allows the player to choose a map and opponents and then take his squad into a quick battle versus the computer AI. There is also a two-player skirmish mode that is played on one shared GBA. (They got us to buy that wireless adapter, so why don’t all games at least have its use as an option?)
Rebelstar: Tactical Command is an extremely engaging title and is perfectly tailored for the GBA platform. Its slower, more thoughtful play style coupled with the ability to save mid-battle makes it a perfect game for on-the-go playing. Thanks Namco and Codo for giving me back the X-Com game I’ve so missed since Hasbro Interactive shut down its e-mail game servers and for adding enough new elements to make the whole play experience fresh. A head-of-the-class, grade-A effort by Codo for X-Com fans everywhere and even a great tactical-combat exercise for any GBA player.
