Stellar Commanders
Kill a planet in under seven minutes
In small doses Stellar Commanders provides you with a fistful of frantic fun
£4.99/month (Apple Arcade)
FROM Blindflug, stellarcommanders.com NEEDS macOS 10.15 or later
Stellar Commanders involves fast-paced planetary battles where you must destroy your enemy’s domain before you lose your own. Each planet is divided into territories – and those you control can house defensive batteries or missile silos, while you expand into unoccupied tiles. Don’t take too long though; games last a maximum of seven minutes, at which point the planet disintegrates and whoever controls the most territory is deemed the winner.
A range of different units add a decent degree of strategy. Should you go aggressive and focus solely on missiles, or rapidly expand and try to smother your opponent? You can choose which units make it into the deck of cards that you play during a battle, but you can only choose from four at a time. If the unit you want is not in your current hand, you have to place other units and hope it appears soon. That undercuts the grand strategy aspect when your plans are stymied this way.
When it comes to interstellar factions, there are basically three flavours you can choose from, each with their own units and weapons. Every faction comes with similar units, but there are some unique weapons that allow for tactical gameplay.
Appetite for destruction
The game’s main strength is its high-speed gameplay. You have a couple of minutes at the start to place units, a handful of minutes afterwards to fight, and then the game is over. Instead of taking turns, everything happens in real time. You’ll find yourself rapidly rotating the globe to place missiles and troops, feverishly trying to put every second to good use while wishing the cooldowns were just a little shorter. It’s best suited to short engagements rather than prolonged sessions, but in small doses it provides you with a fistful of frantic fun.
The new Friend & Foe update adds new units and the ability to invite your friends, and it now works on Apple silicon Macs (which is what we reviewed it on). There is also a new single-player campaign where each faction has a different story, and there are challenges along the way that change the match rules. Unfortunately, you can only do one battle per day in this mode. There are seven days of campaign content for each faction, and you can’t do two campaigns simultaneously. Removing the daily limit would be a welcome change, particularly for players who want to properly immerse themselves.
We also wish the cards provided tooltips with stats, so you knew what they did in a little more detail. With only pitched battles, matches are a little repetitive, and the game needs more scenarios and variety. If you have a few minutes (and planets) to kill, though, it provides an enjoyable burst of planetary destruction. Alex Blake