It’s not often that good stealth tactics come out. Especially based on the cult series "Stargate SG-1". And even from experienced authors from the studio CreativeForge Games, responsible for Hard West and Phantom Doctrine tactics . Guess which word in these three sentences was the odd one out?. "Good"..

The system lord is dead – long live the system lord!

Yes, Stargate: Timekeepers has problems, although all the data for a good game is there. The plot here is quite original, able to interest fans of the series. The action takes place simultaneously with the final events of the seventh season "Stargate SG-1". Let us remind you that the series, like the original 1994 film, tells how the titular gate was found on Earth, allowing travel between worlds.

Traveled mainly by members of the Pentagon special forces SG-1, and in the process they encounter a variety of races, dangers and technologies. The seventh season is notable for the fact that many very different emotional events take place there – there is romance, drama, horror, and references to "Predator" represented by super-soldiers, and a touch of comedy in the episodes with the film crew trying to make a documentary about the special squad.

But Timekeepers starts from the key battle for Antarctica, during which the fleet of the system lord Anubis was destroyed – this is one of the most dangerous leaders of the brutal Goa’uld race, subjugating the bodies and minds of other beings. It was with its representatives that the SG-1 squad fought for many seasons, also looking for ancient technologies and allies among other races.

But even after such an important victory, they only dream of peace. The heroes of the game, led by commander Eve McCain, are tasked with helping the resistance of the Jaffa race, striking at the army of Moloch (this is one of the main villains of the entire season) and concluding an important alliance. Naturally, a new system lord of the Goa’uld comes to replace Anubis, and during the battle with him the team gets stuck in a time loop from which we have to get out.

There are many missions, and they are quite varied – we prevent a sacrifice ritual by disguising ourselves as an important priestess; we rescue prisoners; we boldly capture transport at an enemy base; we lead the convoy out of the trap, deciding which path to take – you can steal enemy equipment or disarm their traps. Often the characters are separated, and the writers throw us from one to another. During one of the missions, Eve McCain even seems to be mortally wounded, generating intrigue as to whether she will survive or not.

To each according to his needs!

In addition to Eve, several more characters are available to us, each of whom has unique skills that fit well into the concept of stealth tactics like Commandos and projects Mimimi Games. Someone knows how to shoot from a sniper rifle, someone hacks drones, someone is even able to copy the appearance of enemies using a holographic device.

Opponents with a red icon above https://jugadoncasino.co.uk/bonus/ their head can notice a character disguised using a hologram.

Alien warrior A’ta from among the Jaffa rebels wields a staff, steals ammunition from enemies, crawls along vines and attaches climbing hooks to help others climb. And the representative of the Unas race uses the help of his little companion. Only some people have access to special weapons that allow them to neutralize Goa’uld supersoldiers. In addition, Eva is valuable in that she is capable of making armored enemies vulnerable to stun blows.

But at the same time, everyone one way or another knows how to distract the attention of opponents, lure them, stun them with one blow, tie them up and transfer bodies. And many have blinding/stunning grenades or their equivalents. There’s no need to talk about such a little thing as being able to hide in the bushes. In addition, you can turn on a tactical pause at any time in order to give orders to your wards, and then press the “Run” or even “Synchronize” button – this often becomes our main tool.

There is no leveling as such, but its analogue can be called the gradual discovery of new characters with unique abilities. In a number of missions you have to choose who to take with you on the mission.

Bad design

Add here not the most modern, of course, but quite pleasant graphics and high-quality voice acting. And what could possibly go wrong?? First of all, it’s a matter of primitive, outdated design. Most maps are long corridors with small branches, which are filled to capacity with enemies – they stand opposite each other or patrol the area, covering almost all visibility areas.

More interesting designs and situations, of course, occur, especially at first – missions with a convoy and a ritual are indicative, where we must switch between the sniper and other fighters so that the shooter covers the others with accurate hits. You can also sometimes use the environment to lure the reptiles and drop something heavy on them.

But usually the game comes down to painful tags with the cones of vision of soldiers in an attempt to break through the dense cordons of opponents. Instead of looking for elegant solutions, we are forced to turn on the tactical pause every second and click the mouse 20 times, hoping for luck and that this time the players will understand the order the first time and will not be stupid.

The level of local design is evidenced by the following example – in a mission with a convoy we can knock out almost all the enemies, but we will not be able to complete it by lowering the bridge or opening the passage for vehicles until we neutralize several patrolmen at the very beginning. I initially just bypassed them and cleared the rest of the map, but it turned out that the game designers wanted the player to remove them.

The “joy” of this process is also added by the almost complete uselessness of some characters in certain missions. For example, in the mission about the ritual, for some reason we carry A’ta with us for a long time, although she will only be useful in the last third of the mission – it would be much easier to add her there according to the script.

There is also an inconsistency in some skills – a local hacker can heal allies with drones, but for some reason he cannot heal himself. Other abilities, such as holographic camouflage, can be used only in selected cases and almost according to the script. Well, in general, most of the skills, let’s say, do not sparkle with originality.

Some started blaming in advance Stargate: Timekeepers is that it focuses too much on fans and to understand the events you need to watch at least the seventh season of the series. Since I watched, this did not become a problem for me – the game is called that for a reason Stargate, Yes?

The real troubles were the primitive level design, tedious micromanagement and clumsy approach to increasing the difficulty – because of this, the game, unfortunately, never reached the level Commandos and Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun . We can only hope that the authors will work on the mistakes, because so far only the first half of the first season of Stargate: Timekeepers has been released – the second is also expected this year.

Pros: not a bad story for fans of the series; an abundance of heroes with unique abilities; there are interesting missions.

Cons: primitive level design; tedious micromanagement, complicated by the fact that wards do not always adequately respond to orders; not all characters and skills are equally useful.