Templar Battleforce - Review

Templar Battleforce - Review: By Andrew Salfinger Rating: 8/10

“Templar Battleforce is a must have for all fans of tactical strategy games!” ~ Omni Horizon

Hello my name is Andrew from Omni Horizon, I would like to welcome you all to MiniMap a new category at Horizon. Here we will be reviewing games and doing game giveaways. Below you can find our first review for MiniMap for the game Templar Battleforce.




Backstory:

Trese Brothers the company behind Star Traders RPG, 4X Empires, Heroes of Steel, Cryber Knights, Templar Assault and age of Priates are back again with Templar Battleforce the fourth game set in the Star Traders sci-fi world.
The game follows Templar Knights are a martial order sworn to protect the Star Traders – the last known free humans. Under the guidance of the Templars and the prophet Shalun, the Star Traders departed the ruins of the Galactic Core – leaving behind the desolation wrought by the great Galactic War. Guided by the prophet, the Star Traders sought a new home among the stars. Across the multi-generational journey of the Great Exodus, many ships have disappeared, fallen behind, or splintered from the main fleet – scattering the Star Traders to the galactic winds.

With the Great Exodus coming to an end, the Star Traders founded new colonies on the few remaining habitable worlds. The Templar Knights are called upon once again to defend the Star Traders and their new colonies from an ancient threat.

Review:

Templar Battleforce is a pickup and plays squad tactical grid combat game, with a focus on defending or advancing through swarms of enemies while completing objectives via set scenarios. It shares common ground with other squad tactics games like Xcom and the more recent Warhammer 40K games. It adds its own spin on progression by blending tabletop RPG attributes, light tech tree management, and weapon/gear loadouts to give it its own unique feel and tone to the genre.



Some players who may be new to this type of game may find it overwhelming so let’s break down the basics. Each turn every character in your unit will have six “move points (MP)” This will allow you to move six squares after using up all MP the character will not be able to move till the next player turn. If you use up all six MP this does not mean you can’t attack, for that each character also get five “AP” you will use these to use abilities and attack when it’s the players turn. Planning this stage is also recommend since different abilities will use different amounts of AP. You can do this by clicking on a character in your unit then at the button of the screen you will see your characters ability then right clicking on one will tell you how much AP it will use.

The game fills great, and from a small indie team they have done an amazing job. You can fill the love and passion they have put into this game. The combat is quick and quite challenging; you can kill an enemy within one turn, tho it can also happen the other way around so you will need to be on your toes with your strategy. In this game you don’t just want to grab, shoot get out of there, you will need a plan. It’s important to have each member of your squad cover and support one another, because if any single member is left exposed they will quickly be overwhelmed. At the end of the day crowd control is the key of the game, you are also often playing against the clock. You’re encouraged to race through and complete each scenario as fast as possible. If you stay put and try to bide your time you will usually lose by getting overwhelmed.

One of the great things within the combat turn is “free forming” where any of your characters can do any action in any order you wish, You don’t even have to use them all before moving to another character or ending your turn. This was a nice change from the normal, you have to do it in this order or else type gameplay and opens up the strategy and adds a new layer of gameplay.


Progression is handled within the game a couple of different ways. One of them is with the “Requisition” system or skill tree. On First glance there is a lot going on here but the Requisition is broken down into sections like engineer, scout, soldier, captain and so on, you can pick the skills in order of what type of unit you want to play and focused on.

Other ways are with traditional skills and attributes, as well as weapon/armor/augment loadout you take into battle.There is some light customization with a color swap, portrait swap and renaming to personalize, but it is not very in depth. Some more options and perhaps different graphics for the more robust armor and weapons would help give the characters a little more distinction and personality.



The game also haves things called ”Tactical Points" that you can capture and control on the map. They generate currency over time you can use to resupply, deploy extra squad members and give your squad bonuses. Tho be careful the enemy can and will try to destroy these “Tactical Points,” so I always felt compelled to protect them and at some points it can be critical in some levels. However, it can also be a misleading lure; where you could get caught up in stands off against the enemy when you should instead be pushing ahead.



The UI in the game is easy to use and to understand, I like the style and fit’s the game it does not feel out of place. The games UI also haves some useful tooltips for most elements in the game and does a good job of explaining. You can also change the UI by hitting “TAB,” this will allow you to see all characters within your unit.

Music in the game I quite liked for an indie game tho nothing stood out, some are catchy and help capture the mood, but some tracks seem cut short and can become weary after several plays. Sound effects are also serviceable but nothing amazing. The game is also all text based with no voice acting but that was expected due to voice acting costing a lot, and if they went the cheap route it would have ended badly.

Let’s talk about the story. I was surprised with how it expanded and was not expecting much from it due to it being a squad tactical game, it could however, be more robust. That is not saying it’s not any good and that you should skip away. The story does give you hints and what you should do among other things. The focus however is on the combat and how you handle it yourself in battle. Most of the plot and background development will happen through cut scenes, monologs, dialog trees and discussions with the fellow crew at headquarters. It would have been nice if it tied in with more of the other Star Traders games.



The graphics in the game are not bad, it haves a nice grunge alien look to them. Some people may find it bland and, or lacking, This is an indie and graphics comes second to gameplay and everything else. The main seller for this game is the combat, and they did an amazing job of that. Templar Battleforce has made a better tactical strategy games, and then most other AAA ones that have come out in the past couple of years.

Another thing I really liked about this game is when you start it up, I love the main menu in this game, it just set the mood for myself the subtle animation and effects used in it was great.



With that all said I found my self-liking this game much more than I originally thought I would, and I kept wanting to come back for more, so with that said I give the game 8/10. I can’t wait to see what game they come up with next.
To learn more about the game you can head over to the website at: bit.ly/1NoPgWP or you can buy the game now on Steam for $9.99 USD at: The game is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Learn more:

Website: bit.ly/1NoPgWP
Steam: bit.ly/1Gxb4Yn

Till next time see you on The Horizon.

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