Gemini Wars

Ships are slow and space is huge. While realistic, this results in slow burner battles. This isn't particularly bad, especially if you like to slowly build your forces and plan your attack plan. But no 10 / 15 minute matches here. Every battle builds up to a huge confrontation here.

This one is a tough one to rate. But in 2019 the game got a large patch that fixed a lot of the reasons people gave it a thumbs down. The game is stable now and no longer requires a registration. Is it worth $15? No. I think if the dev lowered it to $5 he'd probably make a lot more money. The story is not original, pretty much follows the exact storyline and game mechanics as Haegemonia. Though, I will say Gemini Wars was a little easier to get into. Both games involve wars between humans in space and having to unite to combat an alien terror. Pretty much the same story as Descent Freespace or dozens of other games, movies, TV shows. It's a well-used trope and Gemini Wars didn't bring anything new to it, except maybe a small twist at the end which sets up a DLC or sequel that'll never come. I like this trope though, it's one of my favorites. But the alien threat never felt mysterious and never felt personified making it kind of meh. The UI is workable. My biggest complaint is camera angels. Maybe I just missed it, but I couldn't figure out how to rotate the camera. The second to last mission was definitely the worst with it almost impossible to see things correctly with only being maybe 15 degrees above the plane it was hard to click on the right objects. The unit shaking is still there after the 2019 patch but not as much. I noticed it only a few times. Often though units would warp to the wrong point on the map. I can't tell you how many times I lost a ship because it went to the wrong warp point. Unit building allows a queue of 10 units, which is okay, but you have to manually find the structure to build more and when the maps began to take on multiple systems it got difficult to do so in a hurry. The last level for some reason many of the mining sectors I couldn't build mining facilities on, not sure what was up with that. Also, at least two of the achievements are bugged. Overall a fun little campaign. Some UI issues detracted from the game. Graphics it's about what you'd expect for a 2012 indie game, which is fine because space with ships gives you more to work with. Unit roster is fine. There's really no reason to build frigates but destroyers, cruisers, battleships, and carriers each have a distinct role-- if there was a formations button I'd have built smaller missile frigates but they just raced ahead to die too much.

Gemini Wars is a good game with a solid science-fiction story. It doesn't deserve the bad rating. I tested this game in 2012 and completed the campaign back then. Now, about 10 years later, i am playing the full campaign again. There are some minor bugs in the game but none that prevent me from finishing the game. Some of the smaller bugs are solved by loading a save of the current game. Most of the negative reviews are on the drm (which was terrible but removed) and the slow pacing (but pressing B speeds up the game 4x when not in battle). I like that you don't have to restart searching everything during the campaign. Technology you already researched in a previous mission is still available. My favourite parts are the briefings, the different videos and the variety of the missions. Game has been done by a small team (indie game). I wish Sins of a Solar Empire had a campaign like this one. I am having fun with this game again. Thanks Camel101.

Gemini Wars is an older game from 2012. It's a venerable 12 years old at the time of this review. From the visuals you would probably expect this is some kind of awesome Homeworld inspired 3D space RTS... and you'd be wrong. This is a 3D rendered 2D "dumbed down" RTS that plays a bit more like a node attack/defense game than a real RTS. And this lacklustre, disappointing game design is matched by an equally underwhelming low implementation quality. On the upside, the game does feature customisable controls and resolution, so at least some of the basic, minimum requirements have been met. Unfortunately there's a number of other technical defects and shortcomings which contribute to the game being difficult to recommend to gamers. The developers didn't design the game for modern gaming PCs, as such the display resolution caps out at around 1440p, there's no support for the state-of-the-art 4K or higher resolutions. The game simply won't look right on modern gaming displays due to this failure on the part of the developers. It also looks a little funny if you view the game in widescreen... not sure if that's deliberate or they just never tested it on widescreen. These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game. Gemini Wars didn't appeal much to the people who own a copy of the game, either. It has achievements, and they show us a very clear picture that the game didn't really capture any interest from gamers. The most commonly and easily attained achievement is for defending some system from an attack (basically one of the earliest things you do in the campaign), trivial to get, but less than 33 percent of players bothered to get that far before uninstalling the game. Hardly a success story, gamers just weren't all that interested in the game. Reviewing SteamDB to check how popular this game was with players reveals a surprise... there's a modest spike in player counts for the game. But this only happened once, around the same time that trading cards were applied to the game... so this is just card idlers getting their cards and moving on. A closer look at the numbers shows the game just has a couple of players every week running up the game and idling it for cards, then deleting it. We must ask how it benefits gamers for there to be so many games like this, with no merit as a serious game, that only generate sales from people idling and selling the trading cards. So, should you buy this game? Is this one of the best of the 100,000+ games on Steam? Gemini Wars has the comically over-optimistic price of $10 USD, for which you could easily get any number of older AAA games. Given the defects and quality issues with the game, coupled with the unrealistic price, this is impossible to recommend. For comparison, the $10 asking price for this game could get you games like "Mirror's Edge", "Monster Hunter World" or "Cities: Skylines". Quality, professionally made games like those are frequently on sale cheaper than this.

The game is old so, don't expect next gen graphics here. But it's a cool RTS with both campaign and skirmish mode. Good enough to spend a few hours.

Overpriced, dull, and forgettable. I bought it when I was hankering for a decent space strategy game. This ain't it chief.

"While this game exhibits a promising concept, it still feels like a work in progress given the multitude of glitches and shortcomings. Pros: o The core concept is engaging, with a quick base-building system that allows for potential comebacks when resources are available. o It's easy to grasp and get into. Cons: o Ships often experience severe shaking when attempting to move, and there are instances when they won't respond as expected, especially when part of a larger group. o The AI's performance in skirmishes is lackluster, as it sometimes makes peculiar decisions that lead to swift defeat, such as sending its starting construction ship into harm's way. o Gameplay largely involves waiting for resources and ships to accumulate, while the AI fails to present a meaningful challenge. However, if you encroach on their territory prematurely, they send overwhelmingly powerful waves to crush you. o The game is plagued by various glitches that can lead to game freezes, necessitating relaunches. o Research points are scarce in the early stages, but later, they become abundant, yet there's often an insufficient number of useful research options. In summary, if you can overlook or endure these issues, or if future patches address these problems, the game has the potential to be enjoyable."

Game never worked for me