SPACE HULK: TACTICS
The not-so-incredible Hulk
Right down to its simulated dice rolls, Space Hulk: Tactics is a faithful digitisation of Games Workshop’s legendary board game. In both, a squad of Space Marines explores the titular Hulk, 1 pursued by Tyranid Genestealers – it’s basically Aliens with heavier gothic stylings.
There have been many videogame adaptations of Space Hulk, but for the first time Tactics lets you play either side, in dedicated campaigns or multiplayer. Genestealers first appear on the map as motion-tracker blips, only revealing their true nature – each blip could contain as many as three sharp-clawed xenos, or none at all – when they wander into the Marines’ vision cones. They’re lethal up close, but have no long-range defences. The Marines, meanwhile, are walking tanks. They have fewer action points each turn, and those can get gobbled up just by turning around. Which direction they’re facing matters, because of the game-defining overwatch ability, which fires on any aliens that skitter into view.
It’s a great setup, but not one that’s especially well served by digital. When you’re moving pieces across a board in the company of a fellow human, the down sides of Space Hulk’s core design aren’t too apparent. But played with fiddly controls, every flaw is exaggerated. Without the drama of a bad dice roll, the game feels too reliant on luck. Without a set of shifty eyes to stare into, bluffing out with empty blips feels pointless. Tactics makes the most of its medium with neat battle animations and a variety of view modes, 2 but it’s no substitute for shouting at a friend across the table. Alex Spencer