1971 Project Helios

With more and more proposals that invite us to be part of a deep and varied tactical and strategic experience, this title of Spanish origin manages to stand out for the linearity of a well-run and interesting story and a group of interesting protagonists who feel alive, with personality. However, he remains halfway in terms of his fights, too basic for those who are used to the genre and a very flat development.

While the gameplay is solid, we came away more impressed with the art direction and sound design than expected. The lightly stylised, cel-shaded look works for 1971, with the organic environments looking especially nice. The sheer variety of locations is impressive, too, including an oil rig, airbase, canyon, and nomadic village. Meanwhile, the exploration music is absolutely beautiful, though the combat soundtrack gets a bit repetitive.

Although some shortcomings are obvious, 1971: Project Helios is a good option for those looking for a turn-based strategy game, thanks to its design and setting.

There are a lot of great strategy games on the PlayStation 4. Maybe, if that weren’t the case, it would be easier to forgive 1971 Project Helios being a bland adventure with largely forgettable characters engaging in claustrophobic encounters against enemies that all sort of blend together. I mean, it works well enough on the system. The loading screens are a little long for something so basic, but that isn’t an egregious offense. You can even see how sometimes it is trying to push people to be aggressive. Unfortunately, I found it completely unappealing in every way, which isn’t great when it was surrounded by better games every time I turned on my system.