Shock Tactics

Okay, controversial game! We, xcom massive fans, have all been waiting for an alternative; something to keep us going after we finished for the 10th time the xcom 2 campaign, replayed xcom enemy within and waiting for Long War 1.3, right? :) So what do we have here: PROS: - Decent graphics - The environment can poison and kill you - I like the idea of an explorable world map. Different sites come with slightly different missions and rewards - The base construction is good enough. Not as satisfying as xcom though - Interesting enemies so far - The voices are not amazing but it's nice to have/hear your main character's voice CONS: - Far from amazing graphics - The environment can poison and kill you (yes, I know, it's a pro as well) but there's no way of knowing exactly what's poisonous. And if all the plants are then we clearly don't have enough safe cover places - The shot percentages seem to be the opposite of Xcom - 20% is pretty easy to get for both you and the enemy. I never m...

Shock Tactics is a low-budget clone of XCom 2. Weaker graphics, voice acting, enviroments, effects, UI, sounds, etc. But I'm generally OK with that. For example, I played a lot of Xenonauts, which also has poor presentation values, but the underlying gameplay was interesting. I found Shock Tactics to lack the tension and depth that either of those games have. The XCom series thrives on its careful balance between abilities, cover, technologies, etc. With Shock Tactics I felt all that really mattered was if I was in cover or not. If I was in cover, the enemies would waste all their shots on 1% attacks while my other units would just fire away. There are different unit types, but the abilities aren't that interesting, such as the sniper having a bonus to hit chance and one bullet instead of 3, but the same range and plays fundamentally similar. I didn't play enough to write a long and detailed review, I just got bored and couldn't take it anymore.

Pros and cons up first for those that don't have the time or perhaps the desire to read longer reviews. Overall the game is mediocre. Pros: + Graphics and artwork. This is often a personal thing but I liked them. + Solid combat. Kept me coming back for more. I like how it feels although the rapid fire rng can lead to low percentage shots hitting more often then not which some may find frustrating. + Base building. Although slightly limited it's there. + Varied skills and tech. + Varied soldier roles. + Armour customisation and soldier renaming. + Explorable planet map. Could have been done better but it's a nice idea. + Varied and interesting enemies as the game progresses. + Active plant life. ------------ Cons: - Very poorly optimised. Uses 7-8 gig of memory for me and lots of loading. (Doesn't bother me but might bother other's). - Poor map design seems to favour the enemy. - Mixed voice acting. Some passable and some really not. - Clunky UI. 2d aiming on abilities...

I've never reviewed a game before on Steam, but I had to for this one. I was almost swayed away from this title by the negative reviews, but in need of a new SRPG to play, I went ahead and purchased. I can see why the reviews on this game lean toward "Mixed." However, those who are willing to look past the fact that it doesn't have as much AAA-title polish as some other beloved games in the genre will be pleasantly surprised to find a worthwhile addition to their SRPG library. Let's get it out of the way first - no, this game is not XCOM. It shares many similarities, but it also has enough to differentiate itself from that (amazing) game, and can stand on its own merits. Since everyone seems to compare the two (which is inevitable, given that Shock Tactics is clearly heavily inspired by XCOM), this review is mainly going to use XCOM as the barometer to compare and contrast the systems that make this game stand out. There are three core pillars of the gameplay in Shock Tactics: Comba...

So far, not so good. The gameplay is OK, but not great. The UI could use some polish. This I can expect from a small indie developer. Edit: After quick feedback from the devs (Thanks, btw!) I was able to get this game... ahem... running. Thoughts after the first mission. The UI is still clunky. The game is a resource hog. Even on lowest settings, it maxes my CPU and GPU and uses 10 GB (!) of RAM. So, maybe there is some optimization to be done. Also, the AI is pretty much non-existent. The one mission I was able to play had me tasked with keeping 3-4 "ally" units alive. They just parked it across the map, flanked by the 3 or so enemies nearby. They never reacted, tried for cover or fired back, and let themselves get masacred. The time it took me to treck it across the wide open map, the 2 snipers in high cover were able to easily smoke my rookie squad. All this on a mission with the lowest difficulty rating...

This game has some good ideas and aims to combine combat and basebuilding in an interesting universe. It is similar to x-com in that way. Unfortunately it fails to execute the ideas properly and it quickly becomes obvious that it suffers from a lack of development resources. Basebuilding is executed in a bare-minimum way with no real hard decisions involved, just build everything, it can be done quickly. The combat suffers from a horrible AI, in fact it's so bad that all battles play out the same way. You just bait the AI with a dug in soldier and it will keep taking 1-3% shots at it. Also the combat mechanics are a bit lacklustre with menial skills involved and no real flanking system. It's too bad, I really wanted to like the game. But my advice is to just skip this one, maybe pick it up at 75% off in the future.

Followed the game for over the year now. And was quite happy to see it was finally released. Sadly, it is at the moment a half-baked game, oh sure....it is quite playable however it is poorly optimized. 1. Loading the game takes a very long time, takes up a lot of system resources to start/play compared to AAA games of the same genre. 2. Map loading screen looks like it was designed to hypnotize you, better off just leave blank screen and a loading bar. 3. Tactical combat works fine, however it is filled with a lot of bugs. Game-breaking ones(the LAZOR ability you get from the armor) and Non Game-breaking ones(unit ordered to move 1 tile away, instead runs towards the edge of the map). 4. The game colors are quite a strain to the eyes, even after changing the options. 5. Combat feels clunky and rough, it is hard to play more than 4 combat before you start getting drowsy. All-in-all, the game is an X-com clone that shouldn't have been fully released yet. This game belongs to the bet...

Despite some trepidation, I purchased this game because of my hunger for more good xcom like fun. Oh boy. I don't think that I have ever refunded a game so fast. Where to start? The core gameplay is actually solid, an uninspired copy paste of xcom 2's systems for the most part, but competent. The problem is everything else. I know graphics a re not everything but this game does not look even ready for early access, it looks like someone's mod project at best. Ugly bland environments and characters, generic monsters and enemies, buggy as hell with an horrible clunky interface. No, god please no. I'm going to go take a shower now to wash away the stink of bitter disapointment.

Good Alternative to Xcom.. Need little optimization but for price its fun. Reminds of tabletop game i have called Deadzone.

I played this game for over 80 hours, I know it well. Bought it for $3 and was pleasantly surprised. Borrows heavily from XCOM 2 for assault and movement. Single player, turn based tactics, max team of 6 soldiers. Even with my initial frustrations, and save game reloads, I still enjoyed this experience. But there are some problems. I listed the Cons first, so if you see a glaring negative issue you won't have to read further. Cons: -Mission load times were about 25-30 seconds for me. - Final mission might require a reload of last save if not invoked -1 battle incorrectly scored a loss, had to replay it to register a victory -Game froze on me once in 80+ hours. -1 map didn't have a stair case coded. -1 location did not change hands after completing a battle, had to replay it. -Ground terrain graphics appear squared for functionality. -Tutorial could be better, could use a guide. Some features not explained. -Game difficulty should have been balanced better. hard on normal level at beg...