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Gratuitous Space Battles PC
Gratuitous Space Battles Image
Metascore
72 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.3 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 28 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Summary: GSB is the next game from UK developer Positech Games. It's a strategy / management / simulation game that does away with all the base building and delays and gets straight to the meat and potatoes of science-fiction games : The big space battles fought by huge spaceships with tons of laser beams and things going 'zap!', 'ka-boom!' and 'ka-pow!'. In GSB you put your ships together from modular components, arrange them into fleets, give your ships orders of engagement and then hope they emerge victorious from battle (or at least blow to bits in aesthetically pleasing ways). gsb screenshot gsb screenshot gsb screenshot. Gratuitous Space Battles aims to bring the over-the-top explodiness back into space games. The game is for everyone who has watched big space armadas battle it out on TV and thought to themselves 'I could have done a much better job as admiral'. This is not a game of real-time arcade twitch reflexes. GSB is about what ships you design, and what you tell them to do. Your individual ship commanders have total autonomy during the chaotic battle that unfolds. This is not a tactical game, it is a strategic one. These gratuitous space battles are not won by plucky heroes with perfect teeth, but by the geeky starship builders who know exactly what ratio of plasma-cannons to engines each ship in the fleet will need. [Positech Games]… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. AtomicGamer
    85
    Gratuitous Space Battles isn't for everyone, as its brand of strategy is entirely weighted towards the setup phase - and the execution is almost completely hands-off. Still, the prospect of building your own ships and using your own unique combinations of general strategies and offensive and defensive loadouts is very compelling for anyone who is a sci-fi space battle enthusiast.
  2. 9Lives
    74
    Gratuitous Space Battles is an interesting mix of puzzles and strategy. Action fans won't find this interesting, but those tactical puzzling fans who love a steep learning curve will definitely enjoy this game. It's quite expensive for an indie game, but luckily, there's an extensive demo for those who want to make sure they buy the right thing.
  3. PC Gamer UK
    72
    Imperfect spaceship engineering and asynchronous online dueling combine to deliver a flawed star. [Dec 2009, p.94]
    All this publication's reviews

See all 11 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 3 out of 11
  1. JasonH
    10
    A graphically stimulating game that relies on my imagination without treating me with as much respect as one would treat a mouse attached to an electrode that had to figure out which button to push to get the cheese, and which button not to push if it does not want to be painfully shocked? You gotta be kidding me! A game that rewards you for decisions as opposed to button pushing skills is refreshing, and restores my faith in humanity, frankly. Well done sirs!… Expand
    • 1 of 1 users said yes
  2. superecnate
    10
    This game is amazing, and is one of the few amazing games that target a very specific audience, thus if you are in that audience, you will LOVE it, if not, you will not like it. I am happy to find another one-in-a-million games that is actually expirementing in their gameplay (I'm talking about you, hardcore FPS's!). Just be carful to try the demo or watch a video first. I shouldn't need to tell you that much about it, you can tell about it by playing the demo. It's like a natural filter. People who hate it wont look at the demo, and likely won't buy it. however, people who Apriciate True Gaming Art, will look into it!… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. Dave
    4
    This game could be very good if not for a few major flaws. The worst of which is that you can't tell anything about the fleet you're going up against. In a game where the only decision you ever make is how to construct your own fleet, this is absolutely the most vital information you could have, and you don't have it. The best you can do is build ships you think *might* work, see if they do well or not, and then go back and revise based on your best guesses as to why they failed.… Expand
    • 1 of 1 users said yes

See all 11 User Reviews

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