Tortuga Team | "DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!"

Dang dry ice everywhere, hiding those aliens! Grrrr…

Tortuga Team and Ellada Games’ great little turn-based strategy game Spaceland ($14.99) wants you to play it a few times, so I’ve been very good in my obliging it. The game’s quick 15 minute or less levels (you can take longer if you need to) seem as if they’d be one and done affairs unless you’re trying to unlock all it has to offer. It’s at that point when you see they’re not. Yes, you’ll soon discover that your far too under-powered to do so in some cases and you’ll need to pop back in at some point with better gear and help when you get a few more members on your team (and when the game allows them into certain maps).

I haven’t yet played the fantasy/RPG themed turn-based strategy Braveland Trilogy games from the developer, so I can’t make comparisons other than to say those games were 2D and sprite-based where Spaceland goes for a clean polygon look and slicker animated style. There are also puzzle-like elements here where the game requires completing levels in as few turns as possible, something that takes a few attempts and yes, often missing bonuses in favor of fast and flawless runs. Oh, you’ll be back if you like what’s here, trust me.

Continue reading →

Tortuga Team’s new game Spaceland looks quite good and as a Switch and PC exclusive (so far), has my interest piqued. That said, I got a review code I’m finally getting to play and wow, it’s hard as heck at the start if you try going too far too quickly. Granted, I’m playing on Normal mode (the game has as Easy and Normal settings) and creatures popping from the floor are mopping that floor with my characters because they’re a bit vicious (Ow, Ouch, Wow). But this is less a complaint than it is an acknowledgment of the game’s welcome challenge. That said, I’ll crank the difficulty down and play some more because so far, it’s not bad and there are some puzzle elements to it that I like along with the clean visuals.

I’ll have a review up probably later this week or around the weekend. I was sick fir a week plus and got temporarily stuck in two other games I’m working on (one needs patching, the other is just at the point where a difficulty spike is making it a pain to play), but I think both games are getting fixes soon, I hear. Anyway, this one’s fun and needs to be done, so I’ll get back to the bug bashing and deliver a verdict soon.

-GW