(5 votes, average: 2.80 / 5)
Loading...Battlefleet Gothic: Armada
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada is a 3D sci-fi/dark fantasy MMORTS based on the tabletop game, Warhammer 40,000. The game features both single player and multiplayer game modes with challenging fleet battles fought in space using a variety of customizable ships from four different factions.
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Publisher: Focus Home Interactive Playerbase: Low Type: 3D MMORTS Release Date: April 22, 2016 PvP: 1v1/2v2 Instanced Matches Pros: +Great-looking comic book style artwork. Challenging battles. +Good community. Cons: -Bugs and crashes. -Balance issues. -Generic maps. -Repetitive gameplay. |
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada Overview
Experience real-time, tactical, and visceral space combat in Battlefleet Gothic: Armada, an MMORTS game based on the tabletop game Warhammer 40,000. Play through the single player campaign and take on the role of a newly promoted Imperial Admiral. Escort supply ships, defend the Gothic sector, eliminate enemies of the Empire, and blow other ships out of the void. Choose to play as one of four factions: Imperium, Chaos, Orks, or Eldar, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and battle it out with other players in 1v1 and 2v2 instanced space combat. Choose what type of ships to bring, from massive battleship-class ships to highly-maneuverable escort ships. Customize each ship in your fleet by adding and upgrading energy shields, thrusters, and of course, weapons to each of the ships in your armada. Play more matches to gain the Renown and experience points needed to field the mightiest fleet in the Gothic Sector.
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada Key Features:
- From The Tabletop To The PC – experience an action-packed RTS game that faithfully recreates elements of the tabletop game.
- Expansive Single Player Campaign – follow an epic storyline and experience more than 30 hours of ship-blasting mayhem in the single player campaign.
- Tactical RTS – take control of your Battlefleet Gothic inspired fleet and issue commands that can drastically alter the tide of battle in real-time.
- Multiplayer PvP – choose from four factions and use their strengths and your enemy’s weaknesses to your advantage as you battle it out in the farthest reaches of space.
- Customizable Fleet – take control of a variety of authentically recreated Battlefleet Gothic ships that you can upgrade and modify to suit your playing style and strategy.
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada Screenshots
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada Featured Video
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada Review
By, Marc Marasigan
Battlefield Gothic Armada is a dark sci-fi themed 3D MMORTS based on the tabletop game Warhammer 40,000 and set in the Gothic sector of the same universe. The game features decent-looking graphics, which frankly is a bit of a letdown considering the game was developed using the Unreal 4 engine. Even with all the flashy laser fire and battleships exploding into a million chunks it still fails to push the engine, and my mid-range gaming rig to its limits. The maps also all look virtually the same except for varying amounts and types of space debris. The ships look great though; it’s not every day that you get to command giant flying cathedrals of mass destruction. The cinematics also look awesome and the soundtrack, sound effects, and voice overs sound really good and fit the overall dark sci-fi vibe of the game.
Prologue
Trying to command a fleet of space vessels is no easy feat. Unfortunately, the only way to learn how to effectively command these massive floating fortresses is to play through the prologue and the first few parts of the single player campaign. But if you’re feeling lucky, there’s nothing stopping you from jumping into a multiplayer game right off the bat. But if you want to get into the nitty-gritty of everything from commanding ships and upgrading parts to the best strategies to employ against different factions then going through the entire single player campaign is probably your best bet.
Congratulations Admiral!
In Battlefleet’s single player campaign players take on the role of a newly-promoted Admiral of the Empire. Unfortunately, only one faction, the Imperium, is currently playable. An additional Space Marine faction is planned to be released as a DLC in the future. Even with one playable faction, however, the campaign is good for over 30 hours of gameplay in which the player goes on missions of increasing importance and difficulty for the good of the Empire. Missions range from simple search and destroy to the more difficult escort and data recovery missions. I know some players might beg to disagree but admittedly I have a lot of trouble with missions that have objectives other than destroying the opposing forces.
Definitely Not Homeworld
Missions are carried out in an instanced arena with boundaries that are littered with space debris, such as gas clouds and asteroid clusters that players can use to conceal themselves from enemy sensors. Now, I’m an avid fan of the Homeworld franchise and was sorely disappointed to learn that the playing field was in 2D. So instead of the Homeworld-type game I was expecting, where I would be able to navigate in three dimensional space and hit enemy flagships from underneath, Battlefleet turned out to be more like World of Warships in space more than anything else, right down to the frustratingly slow turns which would probably be the norm for giant floating space-churches.
Another thing that I found disappointing was the number of ships you’re allowed to field in a mission. Considering that the game had “Battlefleet” and “Armada” in its title I would have expected at least a dozen or so ships ready to go “All Ahead Full” and ram the nearest battleship at my command. Unfortunately, Battlefleet's point system only allows you to field a mere handful of ships at a time, maybe five or six at most. Players are given around 300 points or so, which they can use to add ships to their fleet. A frigate-class mothership costs around a hundred points and escort ships around 50. You do the math.
Multiplayer Matches
Multiplayer matches play out almost exactly like single player missions except for the fact that the latter follows a defined storyline. And, like single player missions, players also get a set number of points which they can use to build their fleet. In PvP modes, players choose one of the four factions: Imperium, Chaos, Ork, and Eldar. They can then either go head to head against a single opponent or team up with one other player for a 2v2 match.
Unfortunately, players can only match up with and against random people. Game modes are also randomly selected. This doesn’t seem like a big deal at first until you find yourself in an assassination mission against an Eldar fleet, waste your time chasing them all across the map, only to be vaporized the moment you get close enough. The Eldar faction is severely overpowered and the only game mode that remotely shows balance is search and destroy. Even then, Eldars and Orks still have a definite advantage over the Imperium and Chaos fleets.
Customizing Your Fleet
Players earn Renown whenever they complete missions or finish multiplayer matches. Renown can be used to purchase ship parts and upgrades and can also be used to repair any ships damaged or destroyed during battle. Ships that survive the battle also earn experience points and level up. Each level gained rewards players with points that they can use to upgrade crew member skills which, along with parts and upgrades, also permanently affect a ship’s stats such as overall speed, turning, and the cooldown of ship abilities. Keep in mind though that single player upgrades are separate from multiplayer upgrades.
The Final Verdict – Good
I was a bit disappointed that Battlefleet wasn’t the next Homeworld I expected it to be. That doesn’t mean it isn’t good. What’s not to like about commanding floating renaissance cathedrals armed with plasma cannons and torpedoes and blasting other floating cathedrals to smithereens? It's worth mentioning though that the game is a bit buggy and prone to crashes. In spite of the bugs and the balance issues, however, the game seems to have developed a hefty following from a certain niche of gamers, specifically fans of Warhammer 40,000 who seem to be immensely happy with the game. For the rest of the gaming community a game with overly-generic maps and a single one playable faction in the campaign doesn’t seem worth spending $40 on.
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada Screenshots
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada Videos
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada Links
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada Official Site
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada Steam Page
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada Wikipedia Page
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada Wikia [Database/Guides]
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada Publisher Site
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada System Requirements
Minimum Requirements:
Operating System: Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions only)
CPU: AMD FX-4100 X4 (3,6 GHz)/Intel Core i5-2500 (3,3 GHz)
RAM: 4 GB RAM
Video Card: 1 GB, DirectX 11, AMD Radeon HD 6850/NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560
Hard Disk Space: 10 GB available space
Recommended Requirements:
Operating System: Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions only)
CPU: AMD FX-8350 X8 (4,0 GHz)/Intel Core i7-3770 (3,9 GHz)
RAM: 8 GB RAM or more
Video Card: 2 GB, DirectX 11, AMD Radeon R9 270X/NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760
Hard Disk Space: 10 GB or more available space
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada Music & Soundtrack
Coming Soon!
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada Additional Information
Developer: Tindalos Interactive
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Distributor: Steam
Game Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Official Release Date: April 22, 2016
Development History / Background:
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada is a buy-to-play dark sci-fi themed 3D MMORTS developed by Tindalos Interactive and published by Focus Home Interactive, both of which are located in France. The game is based on the tabletop game Warhammer 40,000 and was first announced on January 16, 2015. The game went into Closed Beta in March 2016 before being officially released via Steam on April 22, 2016. The game was developed using the Unreal 4 engine.