Imperium Galactica (PC) Review

Imperium Galactica is an interesting game that is unlike many modern ones. To understand it, it is necessary to know that the early days of PC games were wildly divergent, with various games trying mixtures of genres before they became the much more predictable ones we know today. This game essentially follows a linear adventure story, despite being a space strategy game.

The way this works is pretty fun and really draws players in. At first, you are a mere lieutenant whose job is to guard a few planets from pirates, with one ship and two fighters. This is played out through a small tutorial of trying to repair the planets that are damaged, with early combat mixed in. Soon after, there is a promotion to now guarding a sector, full with developing planets. As progress is made, more "typical" space strategy features become the norm, such as researching technology or developing weapons and new fleets.

Along the way, story elements come into play, such as you taking personality tests, hearing from your wife, talking to commanding officers, and so on. In this regard, it is far different than generally faceless games like Master of Orion. The story is actually surprisingly good, and there is a very surprising twist in the that, in retrospect, is lead up to fairly well. It gives a sense of progression that is rarely done in modern gaming, which is unfortunate.

Colonies are run a little like a mini Sim City type of experience. The player has to place various buildings, such as water evaporators, food, research, and military buildings, on a limited planet. Some planets are small, icy and rocky, and can hardly handle any buildings, whereas Earth-like habitats can hold vast numbers. This part spills out into the larger game by giving more money, more ships, and so on, depending on the way it is developed.

Combat is fairly simple, and occurs in real time on a 2D plane, where ships are simply selected and sent into battle. There is little that can be done beyond moving ships into formation because, at its heart, this is simply broadside battling. Even though combat isn't that amazing, it is not a problem, as Imperium Galactica isn't focused on any single aspect so much as an overall mixture of colony management, diplomacy, story and battle all intertwining. For this reason, any single aspect is tough to critique super harshly, as it is not "the point" of the game so much as it is one guy's story of being a leader of the human race.

The coolest aspect of the game is actually ground combat. The colony of each planet has its buildings that the player has placed, and these buildings are targets and obstacles in ground combat. It is a real-time battle of moving tanks and either targeting buildings or the defenders. It's actually pretty simple in execution in that tanks just group up in point blank range and fight, but the idea is great. It is years ahead of games that even come out today, where invasions are just arbitrary numbers, instead of a fun tactical exercise.

The way Imperium Galactica tried things leaves a bit to be desired, whereas some parts are so successful, it is unfortunate they were not more wildly adopted—namely the ground invasion sequences. There is still a great framework here, though, and modern developers could really learn to make an amazing game if they looked back in the past at where games like this originally came from.