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Astrae Bellum

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This is a strategy game set in a mix between Greco-Roman mythology and an ethereal, deep atmosphere. As a divinity, conquer stars to build up your mana and unleash powerful spells on your enemy. You have two ways to win a battle: draw more constellations than your opponent, or simply annihilate him!


*EDIT* : thx for the comments!
For those who are stuck in level 9, it's not a bug: you must conquer every star to win the level. Remember: you can win any level quickier if you crush your opponent by conquering every star.

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lot of work put into this but not for me thanks.

Captures your imagination...

This game is great, I don't really mind what other people may think about it I consider you put a lot of effort and love into it and that it turned out amazing! I agree that the music could have improved at times and that the effects weren't ground breaking, but truthfully it has a very unique style that permeates all the aspects of the game making it impossible to compare to any other game in its genre. A very tasteful and delicate addition to the genre and a fairly successful attempt at innovation that more than anything, captures the imagination. Well done!

Contradicted, Yet Carried, By Atmosphere

Roman mythology and Greek mythology, will always have a place in media. The sheer depth of material can influence countless people in their creative states. However, there does exist more than enough proof that not everything based of said material can be great, or even inspired.

Not that Astrae Bellum isn't inspired. It really is, and cccplay should get an award for that alone. It goes beyond what an ordinary Flash game would do, taking the stories of old, characters from ages ago, and creating something slightly interesting out of it. The moral -- we are stronger united -- isn't subtle, but it is never forced upon you. By contrast, the music quietly makes its way into your consciousness and mixed with the smooth winter colors used in the background it creates an amazing aura, an atmosphere like few others. In fact, name even just one other game online that does this. Hard, isn't it?

But atmosphere aside, there isn't much to be said about Astrae Bellum. If you've played the board game Risk, you'll get the jist of this. Just build up your mana (troops) and try to take the other stars (countries). A little more strategy is involved in this -- you get to unleash spells (roll dice) that could affect the outcome of the battle. It's kind of boring, actually.

Why is it so boring? We've seen it all before, first of all. Secondly, which is odd, I believe it's also because of the atmosphere. When the aura is as quiet and soothing as this, you're supposed to relax. But you're playing a powerful god trying to conquer stars before your adversary does -- an adversary who is also a god! It doesn't help when there's barely any action going on onscreen -- sparks and stars moving to and fro, maybe a spell animation and sound effect here and there. Where's the stirring music? The visualization of conflict? The feeling of power, the power of gods and their epic confrontations? It's just not there.

It's not an awful game. It's not even bad. Effort has been put into this, lovingly so. You can tell a long time has been put into making this game. But I don't think I could myself recommend it. Sure, try it out. Maybe this is game of the year for you. But for me, there is only calm and relaxation to be had. Not what I want when I'm playing a game.

Points off for forcing me to watch commercial

Not bad, nice atmosphere, but it's been done before.

I always used Hermes/mercury.

And I thought it was to easy never used powers. I just took over the star closest to the enemy and then built up around and when the time comes when the starting star is takeable i took it and won.

Credits & Info

Views
23,078
Faves:
54
Votes
18
Score
4.46 / 5.00

Uploaded
Dec 10, 2010
5:35 AM EST
  • Daily 3rd Place December 11, 2010