Gratuitous Space Battles was developed by Positech Games which is owned by former Lionhead Studios programmer Cliff Harris. Positech is pretty much a one man show, with Harris doing all of the coding and the majority of the artwork for his games. As if the name didn’t already give it away, Gratuitous Space Battles (GSB) revolves around some pretty intense stellar combat.

GSB is foremost a strategy game, but all the strategy takes place before the action begins. The trappings of a story have largely been thrown out the window in favour of diving right in to the action. The player starts by organising their space battle fleet, choosing from cruiser, frigate and fighter class ships. The cruisers are the behemoths of an army, and can be equipped with a large number of offensive weapons and defensive augmentations. The frigates tend to support the cruisers, and fighters are typically used for dealing damage and acting as cannon fodder. The player lays their fleet out on a pre-battle grid, which gives a glimpse of the enemy fleet layout as well.

There are a vast array of weapons, defence modules, engines, and enhancements to choose from, and this is where the strategy comes in. The various ships can only equip a certain number of weapons and modifications in their class, and it’s a challenge to balance just the right amount of offensive weaponry with protection, whilst still having enough room for the all important crew members and engines. Players won’t have access to everything immediately, having to earn their stripes like all good space admirals.

The game provides an easy to use ship design system, accessible from either the main menu or the battle deployment screen. The various ship hulls and components are neatly laid out and adequately explained, with a nice injection of humour.

Adding further to the strategic elements at play, each level can support a fleet of a certain number of pilots and monetary value. The player will need to carefully balance their ship selection – too many fighters and not enough heavy support ships may spell disaster for example. Each ship can also be issued a number of strategic commands, which do have a dramatic effect of the outcome of any battle.

For example, one may wish to order a wing of fighters to escort a heavy cruiser and only engage enemies at a certain range. If the cruiser is carrying fighter repair bays, the damage threshold at which the fighters retreat can also be set. Ships can also be ordered to maintain formation, defend a particular ship, or pursue badly damaged enemies. Each ship can also be given specific attack orders for each class of enemy ship they will encounter.
All in all, the number of strategic orders that can be issued is quite exhaustive, and will be required on the tougher levels on high difficulty settings. It really feels like each decision made has an impact on the outcome of a battle. For some, this may be one of the nuisances of the game. The trial and error of having to fine tune a number of strategic decisions and ship layouts can become a bit tedious and frustrating after repeated defeats. Once a particular deployment has been perfected on each level, a player can save it for using again in the future.

There are four races to choose from, Rebels, Alliance, Federation, and Empire, each with their own unique ship style, which of course brings with it more perks and weapon types. There are 14 stages on which each race can battle it out on, and some stages even exert environmental effects of the game, such as reducing shield effectiveness. Combined with three difficulty settings, it adds up to quite a lot of gratuitous strategic planning. Players can also upload their fleet deployments to the Web, and others can try their hand at defeating them. The results are collected and displayed on the GSB website.

After breaking a mental sweat getting the armada into fighting shape, its time sit back and relax while the dutiful fleet fights for glory. Viewed from a 2D top-down perspective, the crisp visuals are colourful and detailed. Lasers, missiles, rockets and plasma shot zip through the void, colliding spectacularly with shields and undefended hulls. Bright explosions flash across the battlefield as ships are blown to pieces.

The attention to detail is pleasing, as escape pods are jettisoned from crippled cruisers moments before they are obliterated. Each ship is well detailed, and the weapon modules can be seen clearly rotating to select targets as they fire off their payload. One can slow down the game in order to observe each offensive volley as it bears down on an enemy ship, or speed things up for a spectacular show. The background imagery is also worth a gander, with serene planets and moons floating by, or giant clouds of viscous space dust clogging the void.

The graphics engine appears smooth and is undemanding of the system despite the spiffy visuals on display. Considering that the majority of the artwork was done by Harris himself, it really is a ‘stellar’ production.

Accompanying the visuals are superb sound effects. Positional audio is put to use, depending on which area of the battlefield one has zoomed to. Laser shots and missile explosions come through clearly, fighter vessels can be heard zipping around, and muted deep rumbles are heard from exploding ships out of view. When fully zoomed out, the battle noise becomes cacophonous without being jarring or overwhelming. All the while, a soundtrack that can only be described as ‘epic space battle music’ accompanies the carnage.

GSB is a great strategic space battle simulator. The large collection of weaponry and defence modifications, ship types, and the variety of AI commands makes for a rather deep strategic simulator which will appeal to those with a slightly compulsive disposition to fine tune their battle fleets to perfection. The visuals and sound effects are top notch from an independent developer. With an affordable price, no DRM, and great gameplay, this is definitely one Gratuitous Space Battle that shouldn’t be avoided. The game is currently sold for US$22.99 (±R170) on the Positech website and Direct2Drive, R178.57 on Impulse, and US$19.99 (±R150) on Steam.