Gaelic Wars: Battle Simulator – Switch – ntower

A strategic game that attracts with blush-like elements and tactical battles? If you ask the idea, this combination already seems to have been adequately explored, but Gaelic Wars: Battle Simulator itself allows unused experimentation and appears after a manageable standby time on the Nintendo Switch. At first glance, of course, it is clear how much the game policy applies to the mobile home console and uses the fast moving nature of portability. Since we are dealing with PC translation here, some changes had to be made in the control area so that the gaming experience does not feel too strange due to deviation from the mouse-keyboard set.

But before the invasion of Rome, a practical tutorial explains the basics of the game. With the help of small GIFs, Gaelic Wars explains the basic game accurately and understandably and quickly gets the point. However, what is already coming out here is the superficial dynamics of the game. Does the real policy emerge only in real situations and the tutorial does not want to expect much? You can shake off these thoughts with a slight contraction, after all, you still don’t want to drown the player. Still, the game proves to be very straightforward and has some ideas that make sense quickly. With a total of three types of fighters – swordsman, shield bearer and archer – you place units of a certain size in the planning stage on a limited playing field and, at best, use the terrain to your advantage. In the dense jungle you can surprise the most confident, careless enemies from behind even if they are the majority.

Different units and their uniqueness work unexpectedly less. Swords are naturally direct fighters and continue to attack if they come in contact with the enemy, whereas the Sentinels are very defensive. Ideally, the result is a sophisticated combination in which the defense attracts enemies and takes the position, while the blademasters from the nearby forest ambush and surround the opposition. Archers who are skilled long-distance fighters provide the necessary support, but usually lose when it comes to direct contact. Although the interaction of the three genres makes perfect sense, the game never transcends it, for example, introducing new units or adding interesting excitement to existing ones. This nonsense only serves as a subset of the larger problem and aims to explain the location with the selected type.

A win is more than enough

Unlike many strategic titles, Gaelic Wars does not follow a centralized plot, but instead focuses on randomly generated elements that are self-explanatory to keep the re-explanation factor high. With the prototype for reaching Rome, you follow a bit different paths on an upper world map, all of which lead to the same destination, but different scenarios are ready. After each completed task, choose the next path from a few additional levels and decide for yourself how far you want to deviate from the path or end straight.

As with rugged games, failure can have serious consequences and end your success right away, after which the campaign begins again. What seems disgusting at first, eventually promotes cautious action and presents a certain level of danger to Gaelic Wars, which would certainly have disappeared. A campaign usually lasts less than an hour, so mistakes can be frustrating, but reduce motivation to a certain extent. The motivation to start a campaign is much less motivating. Without real achievements or new, significant content to be unlocked, the game lives only from your drive to achieve the best results. Unfortunately, the content of the missions is repeated very quickly, which means that after a run-through you have already enjoyed most of the game. As exciting as the idea of ​​a strategic title in conjunction with randomly generated structures, the monopoly was bitten by the daring urge to try again, with no reason to capture the city of Rome or deal with superficial dynamics. Sports.

If you ignore random play, you will notice other conflicts. Despite the preference for German on-screen texts, numerous grammatical errors are far from simple typos. Also, the handling is very clever and only slightly modified from the mouse and keyboard to the controller. While the graphics and music are disappointing, they contribute little, and in the case of the soundtrack, do not create a situation. At least the fact that the character portraits have to be reminiscent of Asterix comics in a certain way can be credited to the visual presentation. The basic graphics are very bland and very effective.