This week I have been playing a game originally considered for the Joy of Sticks’ recent Spooktoberfest, but dismissed as I felt it stretched the premise of the feature a little too far. I was wrong, Space Crusade is bloody tense.

Space Crusade is an attempt by Gremlin Graphics to bring the board game of the same name to the 16-bit computers. For those unaware of the collaborative effort by Milton Bradley and Games Workshop, Space Crusade involves one player taking control of the aliens and up to three others directing some All-American rocket jockeys with a serious shoulder pad fetish. Characters are moved around a grid-based board, firing at enemies and drawing cards to simulate random events. The game ends when either the marines achieve their objective (usually the destruction of a target or obliteration of all aliens) or the aliens kill all of the marine’s commanders (one per player), who are handily the only marines not wearing a helmet. Clever.

The primary benefit of playing the computerised version is that the ST takes charge of the aliens, allowing the game to be enjoyed in single-player. Two more players can join in as the other factions, or one player can play as all the factions, if he’s a) got a lot of time on his hands and b) a bit of a Field Marshall Hague type.

Space Crusade is a pretty accurate representation of the board game, and as such features a depth of strategy whilst remaining accessible to newcomers even without inspection of the manual (though a quick peek is undoubtedly beneficial). All the alien races, weapon types, equipment and random event cards have made the journey from analogue to digital intact, although their are less customizable options.

However, all is not perfect. This game has its fair share of niggles: the pace of the game is a little slow, and for those unfamiliar with the board game, there is little in-game description of the alien cards and information on your troops (armour, hit-points, damage dice, movement allowance). Sometimes, the interface feels a little clunky, too – I lost count of the times I wished for the scrolling to be mapped to the cursor keys (instead, you must click on the little arrows around the edge of the play field).

One thing that could either be a positive or a negative depending on your outlook is this: Space Crusade is difficult and very unpredictable. During one game, I was doing very well and had made it through most of the station without losing a single soldier, at which point I was ambushed by nine enemies at once (including an android, a chaos marine, and three ‘random’ Soul Sucker cards) that decimated my team and left my commander alone with only two hit-points remaining, and a dreadnought waiting in the next room.

By some stroke of luck (or stupidity) the alien’s dreadnought parked himself right in the middle of an open bulkhead which I proceeded to close, crushing him into so much scrap metal. Commander Fluke then limped through the previously emptied rooms back to the safety of the airlock and a somewhat muted (and lonely) celebration booze-up.

Space Crusade suffers from some missed opportunities (an option to play as the aliens would be nice) and a sometimes maddeningly slow pace, but overall it’s an enjoyable strategy game that balances difficulty and accessibility, and will have you on the edge of your seat until your troops march triumphantly back to their escape pod.