Positech Games has re-released their space-sim/management game, Gratuitous Space Battles, on to the iPad without all of the previous bugs and as it’s bloody brilliant you should at least consider giving the game a look.

Taking a different approach to strategy gameplay than most, Gratuitous Space Battles focuses on letting the player design space ships, assemble fleets and issue orders to said starships pre-battle. Rather than descending into the click fests that strategy games often become when battle commences, GSB is all about preparation – prepare to cross your fingers as your ships enter battle as you’ll have no direct control.

We really rather like GSB as you can read in our review of the PC version of the game. This iPad version of the game is very much the same as you would hope, with the only huge difference being that the game’s campaign add-ons will not be included at any point. The expansion packs on the other hand will be making their way to the iPad.

Cliff Harris, the one army behind Positech, seems to think that the gameplay of GSB actually suits the tablet rather well (unsurprisingly):

“Because GSB is a game of dragging ships into battle-positions, and a drag-and-drop ship design system, combined with a lot of mid-battle zooming-in to watch your enemies explode, it seems to work pretty well on the touch-screen iPad.”

You can purchase GSB over on the App Store for £6.99 and it comes highly recommended.

More information on Gratuitous Space Battles can be found on the game’s official website.