Faceroll Games' recent release Galaxy Factions for iOs blends resource management with real time battle strategy, in a futuristic scifi world. Players start by running a mining outpost on the edge of the civilized universe, and as their home base grows, they’re able to take on larger and larger challenges throughout the galaxy.
San Francisco startup Faceroll games has recently released battle strategy game Galaxy Factions for iOs. Galaxy Factions blends resource management with real time battle strategy, in a futuristic scifi world. Players start by running a mining outpost on the edge of the civilized universe, and as their home base grows, they’re able to take on larger and larger combat challenges throughout the galaxy.
Players begin by mining essential resources, Crystals and Energus, which they’ll use to build and upgrade their base, and create troops to attack rival bases. Matterium is the premium currency. (This is made clear when the tutorial NPC, a cute girl in the required breast-baring breastplate, keeps encouraging new players to spend to hurry construction) Successful progress depends on using Crystals, Energus, and Matterium effectively to build the most beneficial improvements, and Galaxy Factions offers clear objectives with multiple strategies for success. It's typical resource management, but the production and expenditure of resources for growth is well-balanced. The ability to move previously built improvements is a nice feature, and allows players to easily experiment with different defensive configurations without a penalty. And the crystal mining contraptions are pretty, too.
Galaxy Factions offers a wide variety of possible buildings, which allows for visually interesting bases, and a variety of base specialities creates for a variety of successful battle strategies. When looking for new buildings to purchase, items in the in-game shop will sometimes appear “sold out”, which adds to the feeling of being on the outskirts of civilization, and also encourages shopping. I was only going to buy a Gun Turret, but what if my Crystal Depot isn’t in stock later? Better get it now!
The game promises 3D graphics, which is barely significant in the resource management and battle sections, but shows up well in the spacescapes between battles. Even when I rotated and zoomed battle arenas to carefully send direct troops at the enemy’s weak spots, my troops were not the sharpest knives in the drawer, and often walked into the path of gun turrets or other obstacles on their way to their chosen targets, so I mostly used the 3D to enjoy different views of my battles.
Players with a competitive streak can connect Galaxy Factions with GameCenter and Facebook to battle friends, but there’s also a single-player campaign for those who enjoy optimizing resource management more than attacking opponents. Both modes offer the ability to share successes and achievements socially.
Galaxy Factions is free to play, but monetizes with sales of Matterium. With high sales of $19.99 and even $99.99 showing on their app page, it’s clearly working well. Galaxy Factions is a rarity in the free-to-play mobile space, because it’s possible to enjoy quite a lot of the game without premium currency, but I found myself actually wanting to spend Matterium to get to the next battle faster and to play more.
Galaxy Factions is developed by startup Faceroll Games, and published by Beijing game publishers Coco China, formerly known as Punchbox. The game is currently available on iOs, with plans for an Android release in the future.
Score: 7.5 / 10
