Capes hands-on preview – fun super hero strategy

Capes
is
the
debut
title
from
Spitfire
Interactive,
a
team
composed
of
numerous
people
who
worked
on
the
Hand
of
Fate
series.
Capes
is
due
to
launch
at
the
end
of
this
month
on
May
29
and
I
got
a
chance
to
go
hands-on
with
it
to
experience
its
blend
of
turn
based
superhero
tactics.

Capes
takes
place
in
a
city
controlled
by
a
group
simply
called
The
Company
that
hunts
down
anyone
exhibiting
super
powers.
Previously,
caped
crusaders
were
not
considered
legal
but
still
played
a
huge
role
in
keeping
the
city
safe,
but
this
sparked
some
resentment
from
the
Government
and
the
police
force
who
weren’t
too
keen
on
a
bunch
of
spandex-clad
vigilantes
running
about,
and
so
they
brought
in
the
mysterious
Company
to
sort
out
the
problem.

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That
all
took
place
about
20
years,
and
since
then
The
Company
has
helped
outlawed
superhero’s.
You
are
essentially
a
super-powered
resistance
group
led
by
a
grizzled
former
hero
by
the
name
Doctrine
trying
to
rescue
other
“capes”
from
the
clutches
of
The
Company
while
working
toward
overthrowing
the
cabal
of
supervillains
running
the
place.

It’s
a
cool
premise
for
a
superhero
story,
and
developer
Spitfire
tries
to
tell
it
with
some
comic
book
flair
like
speech
bubbles.
The
writing
does
struggle
to
get
the
tone
right
at
times,
falling
into
the
cringey
and
quippy
style
of
dialogue
that
has
become
so
overplayed,
but
the
characters
are
well
defined
and
I’m
genuinely
interested
to
see
where
it
all
goes.

The
actual
turn-based
strategic
gameplay
is
quite
standard
fare,
at
least
in
the
chunk
of
game
I
got
hands-on
with,
but
competently
executed
and
fun.
Each
turn
you
control
one
of
three
heroes
who
can
use
a
mixture
of
movement
and
action
points
to
shift
around
the
battlefield,
attack
and
activate
abilities.
There’s
a
solid
amount
of
strategic
thinking
needed
to
deal
with
the
large
groups
of
enemies
you’ll
be
fighting
against,
too.
Its
easy
to
get
overwhelmed
by
the
sheer
numbers,
so
you
really
do
need
to
think
ahead
in
order
to
disarm
the
most
dangerous
ones,
taking
out
the
big
bruisers,
keep
your
fragile
heroes
intact
and
make
the
absolute
most
out
of
the
points
you
have
available.

In
that
regard,
figuring
out
how
to
really
utilise
each
hero
to
their
fullest
is
key.
In
fact,
there
were
a
couple
of
brutal
difficulty
spikes
that
wrecked
me
until
I
realised
I
wasn’t
using
certain
heroes
correctly.

Facet
is
the
tank
of
the
group,
a
big
lad
capable
of
covering
himself
in
crystals
and
then
taunting
the
bad
guys
so
that
they
focus
on
him.
He
can
also
grow
crystals
around
enemies
to
hold
them
in
place,
or
provide
a
crystal
shield
to
allies.
In
other
words,
he’s
the
guy
you’ll
want
to
position
in
the
middle
of
every
fight
to
soak
up
the
damage
because
that
also
powers
up
his
ultimate
ability
that
encases
every
enemy
in
a
huge
radius
in
crystal.

On
the
opposite
end
of
the
spectrum
is
Rebound.
Wielding
dual-swords
and
the
ability
to
teleport,
her
focus
is
on
dealing
additional
backstab
damage
and
being
mobile.
The
tradeoff
is
that
she
can’t
take
much
damage
before
being
downed,
so
while
Facet
is
busy
drawing
attention,
she’s
flitting
around
the
back
to
deal
maximum
damage,
while
her
handy
spinning
move
can
disarm
multiple
foes
at
once.

Weathervane
is
the
specialist
of
the
group.
Using
his
ability
to
harness
the
elements,
Weathervane
can
throw
out
chain
lighting
that
can
arc
from
enemy
to
explosive
barrel
to
enemy.
He
can
also
shift
bad
guys
around
using
gusts
of
wind,
setting
them
up
for
future
attacks.
Weathervane
appears
toward
the
end
of
the
first
chapter
though,
so
I
get
more
time
with
him
I
headed
to
the
simulator
to
replay
past
missions.

The
final
character
I
got
to
try
out
is
Mindfire,
who
initially
appears
in
a
wheelchair.
That
gets
quickly
discarded
when
it
turns
out
he
has
telekinetic
abilities,
allowing
him
to
levitate
and
hurl
objects.
Telepathic
skills
also
enable
him
to
weaken
enemies
and
read
minds,
something
which
the
developers
appear
to
struggle
with
a
bit
because
in
the
span
of
the
first
hour
or
two
they
have
characters
who
can
conveniently
hide
their
thoughts.
Let
this
be
a
warning
to
writers
out
there:
characters
capable
of
reading
minds
are
a
pain
in
the
ass.
Ultimately,
Mindfire
is
the
biggest
damage
deal,
his
mixture
of
hurling
the
scenery
at
enemies
and
making
them
weaker
allowing
him
to
deal
out
some
serious
pain.

One
cool
idea
that
Capes
has
is
good
old
fashioned
superhero
team-ups.
If
characters
are
within
range
of
each
other
they
can
combine
powers
to
boost
damage
or
effectiveness.
Mindfire
can
use
his
telepathy,
for
example,
to
make
Facet’s
taunts
effect
multiple
enemies
at
once,
while
Rebound
can
teleport
her
friends
around
the
map.
These
skills
emphasis
thinking
multiple
turns
ahead,
which
is
why
you
can
also
choose
to
delay
a
heroes
turn
in
order
to
really
maximise
what
you
can
do
with
them.

One
criticism
I
do
have
is
that
Capes
plays
it
very
safe
with
its
characters,
at
least
in
the
chunk
of
game
I
got
to
play.
As
superpowers
go
and
how
they
are
utilised,
my
gang
of
misfits
are
quite
tame.
Don’t
get
me
wrong:
having
Superman
levels
of
power
would
be
rather
tricky,
but
compared
to
something
like
Marvel’s
Midnight
Suns
where
characters
have
some
really
flashy
moves
and
abilities,
Capes
heroes
feel
a
little
more
like
bargain
bin
Halloween
costumes.
According
to
the
developers,
the
full
game
will
feature
8
superheroes
to
deploy
on
missions.
Hopefully,
as
new
characters
get
introduced
the
power
selection
and
how
they
are
used
might
get
more
creative.

Optional
objectives
that
provide
more
XP
and
upgrade
points
push
you
to
really
use
skills
and
abilities,
but
you
can
always
come
back
to
them
in
the
simulator
at
a
later
date.
I
found
that
to
be
important
because
when
I
first
tried
to
get
all
the
optional
objectives
I
wound
up
getting
stomped
into
the
ground.

Strategic
games
like
this
typically
offer
some
kind
of
gameplay
twist
on
top
of
the
turn-based
action,
like
XCOM’s
base
building
strategic
layer
or

Midnight
Sun’s
odd
blend
of
exploration
and
soap-opera
character
building.
Capes
lacks
that
secondary
gameplay
loop
though.
It
has
a
homebase
where
the
heroes
hang
out,
but
its
only
function
is
to
let
you
spend
skill
points
and
take
on
optional
side
missions.
I’m
really
hoping
in
the
full
game
that
we
might
get
to
see
some
form
of
base
upgrading,
or
at
the
very
least,
get
to
see
the
place
getting
tidied
up
a
little
as
more
heroes
are
recruited.

We’re
just
under
a
month
away
from
Capes
launching,
and
my
impressions
are
positive.
Although
it
lacks
some
of
the
big
budget
bombast
to
really
make
its
heroes
seem
powerful
and
awesome,
the
core
gameplay
is
solid
turn
based
strategic
fun.
It’s
challenging,
and
Spitfire
has
clearly
spent
time
developing
heroes
and
powers
that
that
work
together,
pushing
you
to
play
smart
rather
than
brute
forcing
through
every
problem.
It
looks
like
this
will
be
a
great
game
for
lovers
of
super
heroes
and
turn
based
strategy.