Battlestar Galactica

A number of video games have been released based on the various incarnations of the Battlestar Galactica franchise.

Original series

In 1976, Mattel released a handheld electronic game called "Missile Attack", which was later resold as "Battlestar Galactica Space Alert" due to difficulties with NBC who refused to air commercials for the Missile Attack game. Battlestar Galactica Space Alert was obviously based on the original Battlestar Galactica film and television series.

Cylon Attack by A&F Software for the BBC Micro in the 1980s was another game based on the original series.

The computer game Epic, and its sequel Inferno, released by Ocean software in 1992, featured a similar plot to Battlestar Galactica as well as similar ship models and characters.^[1]

"Space Battle" & "Space Attack"

Mattel-developed Space Battle for Intellivision and its M-Network counterpart, Space Attack for the Atari VCS/2600 platform, were originally slated to be games based on the Battlestar Galactica series. One of Mattel's subsidiaries, Concepts 2000, had the license to produce Battlestar Galactica electronic toys, so it was figured to be a lock that Mattel would get the license to produce the official Battlestar Gallactica video game. The game was well into development when they discovered Mattel didn't get the license^[2]. The name was changed, but the graphics remained the same. The "flying saucers" in the game are actually Cylon Raiders; this is mostly imperceptible, due to the lack of detail that could be used in graphics of the platforms of that era.

Reimagined series

Official

Battlestar Galactica (2003)

The 1978 Battlestar Galactica series inspired a video game for Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox in which the player plays as Commander Adama as a younger man, and flies a number of missions in different craft against Cylon ships, following Adama's career during the First Cylon War. It retains many design elements from the 1978 series though it was set in the new series universe. The game was an attempt at a bridge between the new and old series and feature the voice talent of Dirk Benedict as LT Starbuck and Richard Hatch as Capt Apollo. It was developed by VU Games and Warthog Games.

Battlestar Galactica (Mobile)

Superscape, a mobile phone entertainment company, announced the launch of an action-game based on the series. Through a licensing deal with Universal Studios Consumer Products Group, the Battlestar Galactica mobile phone game is available for download now worldwide for Java enabled handsets. It was released for mobile phones on February 6, 2006^{[citation needed]}. The player starts as a rookie pilot. Players take over the controls of the Colonial Viper Mark VII high performance fighter, and are quickly drawn into the ongoing interstellar war. Fighting their way through 20 levels and a variety of missions, players battle with the deadly Cylons.

Battlestar Galactica (2007)

A Battlestar Galactica game based on the new series was released for Xbox Live Arcade and Microsoft Windows on October 24, 2007.^[3] The game was developed by Sierra/Sierra Online and Auran.

The Xbox Live Arcade Game takes the player through the major fights of the first two seasons of the show as a Viper pilot, it also incorporates multiple achievements and online multiplayer, not to mention unusual abilities Colonial and Cylon fighters possess, such as shielding, stealth, and advanced weapons. Reception of the game by critics has not been overwhelmingly positive; it has received an average score of 55% from major publications^[4]

Fan Made Games

BSG: Beyond the Red Line

A fan modification for FreeSpace 2 known as Beyond the Red Line had a demo version released on March 31, 2007. A dogfight space combat simulator, the Beyond the Red Line demo allows players to play a tutorial, two missions and multiplayer. Although it's not an official licensed product, it has been featured in multiple publications. It has also been updated to allow third-party campaigns, of which there are currently 2. (Official Website)

Diaspora

A fan game based on the open source FreeSpace 2 engine known as Diaspora began development in May 2008 and was unveiled in October 2008.[1] This dogfight space combat simulator is still in development and as of October 2008 had no public releases. It was begun by members of the Beyond the Red Line team who split off due to creative and management differences.[2] (Official Website)

Battlestar Galactica in Second Life

As well with other popular scifi shows, there are several Battlestar Galactica themed sims (simulators) in Second Life. They are all centered around the rag-tag fleet theme and usually provide themed events, Viper vs. Raider dogfights, and general combat.

Fan Made Game Mods

Game modifications of various games have been made.

BSG: Fleet Commander

Battlestar Galactica: Fleet Commander is a Homeworld 2 total conversion. Beta versions of BSG: Fleet Commander are available for Windows and the Macintosh. This is a real-time strategy game in which players command human or Cylon fleets from both the original series and the 2003 reimagined version of the series.^[5][6] It has been mentioned by many gaming publications.

BSG: Dawn of War

Battlestar Galactica: Dawn of War is a modification for Freelancer. The first version was released in March 2007 and it has since been frequently updated. The game allows players to pilot colonial or cylon fighters, transport and battleships and engage in space combat, trading or deep space exploration in an attempt to find Earth. (Official Website)

BSG - Colonial Wars

Battlestar Galactica - Colonial Wars is a Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption modification.[3] It was featured as the 'Mod of the Month' in the May 2008 issue of PC Gamer. The mod development was finished at version 5.0, and development focused on a follow-up project, which was set to be a larger, total conversion mod. The follow-up was titled Battlestar Galactica - The Awakening. The original site for the mod became largely overwhelmed, thus forcing the development to create a new website. The Mod will be completed under a new name, Battlestar Galactica : At War. This uses the same concept for the game, and is set totally convert Star Wars Empire at War into Battlestar Galactica.

Other

There are also Battlestar Galactica fan modifications of the games Battlefield 1942, Homeworld, Star Trek: Armada II, Star Trek: Bridge Commander, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, and X3: Reunion, as well as add-ons for the land and space simulator Orbiter.

References

External links

• Battlestar Galactica at MobyGames
• Battlestar Galactica Space Alert at the Battlestar Wiki
• Official site for the 2007 game
• [4] A fan based Modification for the game Freelancer, based on the old and new series.
• [5] Website of Freespace2 Mod Beyond the Red Line