Shock Tactics Reviews

Fun game but unable to finish due to game-breaking bugs. Less polish than XCOM, but without the silly "pod mechanics". Enemies will be active from the first turn and will work towards their own goals. Game did crash often, and reached a point where I was unable to finish due to a game-breaking bug where one of the vital missions couldn't be selected and therefore no further progress could be made.

This game has huge potential as a TBT isometric shooter. The art is great. The missions are tough. The mechanics seem good. But it is buggy. It should still be in Beta testing or Early Access status, not full release. Within 2 hours I started 2 times. The 1st time, after losing a fight, I quit. When I loaded the saved files (both quick save and mine), on the World Map it would no longer allow me to enter objectives, or wouldn't show me any objectives. On the 2nd attempt, I did not use the tutorial and in the first engagement my sniper is shooting down on a shielded, heavily armored enemy trooper with a 57% chance of hit and 100% chance of hit when using Aimed shot, yet he kept missing and when he did hit it ADDED to, not subtracted from, the enemy's health. The game is buggy. I hate giving bad reviews, fix the bugs and I will quickly change my recommendation.

Shock Tactics would have been a decent turn-based tactics game if not for the bugs. Soldiers have a tendency to "ghost" after missions, making them unselectable in the loadout screen. A related issue causes weapons and armor previously equipped on ghosted soldiers to permanently disappear from the arsenal. These bugs don't make the game totally unplayable per se, but they definitely kill the fun. It's really too bad that the developers abandoned the game in such a state because the 4X-lite strategic layer and combat were pretty good for an indie TBT game. I managed to make it all the way through to the end, but contending with the bugs made it a real chore to complete. I wouldn't recommend Shock Tactics to anyone unless I had a strong dislike for that person.

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...

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 beta phase.

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: Combat, Base-Building, and Exploration. COMBAT: Pretty standard turn-based SRPG fare. Also incredibly fun in this game. You move your units around a grid-based battlefield, utilizing cover, calculating hit percentages, etc. Instead of the XCOM:EU/EW action system, where each character can take up to 2 actions per turn, movement and all actions are completed by expending AP from each character's pool, similar to Jagged Alliance. This feeds into the game's movement system, which is one of its strongest differentiators from XCOM. If you direct a character to move to a specific spot, your movements are cancelled as soon as you achieve Line-of-Sight with an enemy - this allows you to reformulate your strategy and gives you a chance to decide how you want to use your remaining AP. Another part that I love about the movement is that when you are selecting where to move a character, it will show you if you will have Line-of-Sight with an enemy before you move there (assuming that the enemy is not covered by FOW), meaning no more guessing if moving to one spot will allow you to attack that turn or not. After playing Shock Tactics for several hours, I went back to XCOM: EW and found that I missed this feature severely. Some of the battlefields are HUGE. While cool just in scope and spectacle, this is part of another huge differentiator from XCOM: weapon ranges. The weapons in this game feel real. Yes, a sniper can peg you from across the map. Assault rifles have more range than their XCOM counterparts. And each weapon has its own rangefinder on the HUD that you need to pay attention to. The rangefinder is different from weapon to weapon - assault rifles have the best hit percentages in the mid-range segment, and they don't suffer too much from firing at a close target. Sniper rifles, on the other hand, have a very long distance and are more accurate at range, but suffer steep accuracy penalties when fired at targets that are too close. SMGs have awesome short-range accuracy, but it quickly drops off if firing at a target more than a few squares away. The rangefinding aspect of attacking adds an extra layer to combat, especially when considering movement and positioning. Another cool aspect of the combat in this game is that each bullet fired has its own to-hit percentage, so firing a weapon isn't always a binary "hit or miss" gamble - you could fire a burst and only one bullet hits, or all three hit, etc. I haven't unlocked too many new weapons yet, but I am excited to see what else is available and how they will change strategies. There are classes, but so far I haven't seen too many huge differences between them, aside from stats and abilities (which I haven't unlocked many of yet). Weapons don't seem to be locked to any specific class, so it seems you can outfit your mercs however you like. BASE-BUILDING: In summary, much less extensive than XCOM. But I feel that the base-building is not intended to be the centerpiece of this game, since it's largely exploration-driven. You will be gathering resources to build new facilities, craft weapons and gear, and train/upgrade your soldiers. But you do not choose where the buildings go or how your base is laid out. Basically, you can see the list of facilities that you can build or upgrade, and you can go ahead and build/upgrade if you have the resources. And that's it. Personally, I like it because the base-building and diplomacy aspect of XCOM was one of my least favorite parts. Though not bad (and I definitely understand why people love it), I really feel like the combat is the best part of any SRPG. By scaling back the base-building in Shock Tactics, the devs force us to focus on the combat (which, again, is super fun in this game). EXPLORATION: The major wrinkle in the formula if you're simply looking for an XCOM clone. Once you establish your base, you can exit to the world map, which itself is grid-like. It takes 1 day of in-game time to move from cell to cell, and there's a constant turn timer counting down to when the Imperial Consortium (an enemy faction) arrives on the planet to make your life more difficult. This lends a sense of urgency to exploration, as you try to quickly overtake fortresses, mining excavations, and more in order to gather resources and build your base in preparation. The overworld exploration aspect of this game is a cool RPG-trope that is missing in a lot of SRPGs. As far as I can tell, the world map is randomly generated every time - I started two playthroughs, and found different events and missions available from the start. The core of the game is great. Unfortunately, it doesn't have "Mixed" reviews for no reason. There is a distinct lack of polish on Shock Tactics, but that is to be expected from a small indie developer - especially when your game will invariably be compared with a huge AAA title. The voice acting is pretty terrible (which makes me thankful that units don't have voices in combat), and so far the story is incomprehensible. Sometimes the camera is screwy. Sometimes the AI isn't perfect. There are a few minor issues like this, but nothing that has broken the game or, at the very least, soured my enjoyment of it. My biggest gripe is that the tutorial doesn't adequately explain many important systems, like rangefinding. However, all that information can be found by pressing F1 in combat. Not a huge deal, but the devs could have made it a little more prominent (especially considering how important some of these systems are). Ultimately, I enjoy the tactical turn-based combat, which is probably the reason most people play games like this, and Shock Tactics does combat very well. If you are an SRPG enthusiast who's looking for a new, fun romp across a grid-based battlefield, don't be too quick to write off Shock Tactics as derivative. That would be doing the game a disservice. Give it a chance, and you may be as pleasantly surprised as I was. I can't guarantee that it will hold anyone over all the way until Phoenix Point comes out, but it definitely scratches the itch. TL;DR: Very cool SRPG from an indie dev. People who expect an XCOM clone may be disappointed. But people who are just looking for a new SRPG may find something worth loving here. I paid $20 for it and don't regret it - if you have any misgivings, wait until it's on sale.

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 beginning -Little glitches in the soldier management screen. Annoying but not persistent. -Simplistic base management, technology research, and manufacturing. -World strategy map can be a little cryptic and clunky in the beginning (right click) -No in-battle save, but can save before and after battles, or restart mission -Soldiers don't talk, just groan when shot. -Narrative voice acting is just OK. Can't skip it. -Appears no longer supported by dev. Pros: -Turn based combat system is really good once you get to know it. -Good RNG: applies to each bullet in a burst. -Low percentage to hit can cause partial damage. -Criticals for attacks from heights onto exposed targets, and flanks -Triple tier hit point system -Armor, force shields, and health each have separate hit points. -Rock-paper-scissor effects with different weapons vs armor, shields and/or health. -Full display of weapon attributes, enemy hit points etc. -Each battle takes place on an original map -Full 360 mouse look, something Xcom2 could only achieve in 90 degree increments -Mix of scaffolds, girders, and cat walks on industrial looking maps. -Maps have accessible elevations, some 5-6 stories. -Some maps are large. Expect green gaseous depth of field effects. -Good mix of battles. Attack, defend, rescue-protect. -Soldier animations are extremely well done. Especially the rag dolls. -The battlefield 3D textures are quite nice in high res. -Good overwatch mode. -AI enemy is well scripted, and reactive to the players maneuvers. -performed well maxed out on my i7 6700 16gb ram Gtx1060 6Gb vram system -No timed missions If you read this far, here are some other details... Combat casualties: If a soldier is killed during battle, you have 3 turns to get to him, and warp him out. Once warped out he is at base, healing at x hit-points a day. Typically they are available next mission, but the 3 turns to save him is a good abstraction. It adds a sense of urgency in battle, yet makes permadeath a rare occurrence. You can recruit a new soldier from certain missions. NPCs: Some missions you have to help NPCs fight off an attack. They have an Ally turn phase. There are marked NPCs you can recruit in these missions if they survive. You tend to rush towards this guy to help him out. Enemies: Most battles are man vs man. Some creatures. The Imperial consortium IC look like Starwars troopers with a mix of shields and armor. They occasionally have high powered snipers with lazer sights. You will notice the lazer marker, they shoot in 2 turns. You run into the IC all through out the game. After 140 days or so they attack all your bases and you get to defend or take your base back depending on the mission. You are told when this will occur. Pirates: Have red armor, but are pretty easy tactically to defeat. Local Fauna: lizards that spit acid and a stomper boss. All are easy to defeat. Local Flora: Beware of using the cacti for cover. If they glow pink, next turn they will hurt you. Its fun to watch the enemy get sliced up by these. End Game creatures (secret)

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.

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 missed anything over 80% - No save during a mission. This can be a plus if you had the option to opt in or out. It's nice for a hardcore game but missions can take a while and if you have to quit the game during a mission, you already lost it. Will try to keep updating this review as I go along... for me it's a definite positive! Yes, it's a far from perfect game but maybe the only real alternative to xcom (along with Xenonauts). I think by promoting this game you also promote the genre. PS: Also, let's not forget that this game is £13 at launch while XCOM2 was £40 - so it's not really fair to expect xcom like graphics and everything perfect. I hope the developers will keep supporting this game and make it better and better!

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 in a 3d enviroment doesn't work well. And having to press R to show/hide roofs is annoying. - Tech advancement is underwhelming with exception to one or two armours. - Campaign is poorly designed leaving the player to figure out how best to proceed through trial and error. - Tutorial on first playthrough can often clash with voice acting or text meaning you miss things. - Mission objectives proc-ing before you have actually completed them. - Camera pull leaving you looking at a giant rock instead of the action. - Friendly A.I. often does nothing even on missions where you are expected to save them. (They stand in open). - Active plant life is a con until you figure out how it works. - Difficult to see who is selected and who is targeted etc and having evac zones so bright you can't see if you're on them or not is frustrating. Not to mention they are green and so is your first move cursor so they blend in and make it even harder to see. ------------ To be honest most of what this game has to offer is mediocre and if steam allowed such a rating I would use it here. However since it is only a positive/negative system I used recommended because in truth I enjoyed the game and completed it fully and got my monies worth. If you are a fan of turn based squad type games and you are willing to put up with a clunky UI and have the patience to get far enough into the game were it starts to be more fun than perhaps first apparent then I would say pick it up. A lot of people have compared it to x-com/x-com2 and although it has obviously taken a lot of inspiration from those games it isn't anywhere near the quality. And for the price and the fact a small indie team put this together I wouldn't expect it to be. I get the distinct feeling that the devs ran out of money or people left the project because I can see the basis of a competent game here. It just lacks polish and direction. You kinda have to figure out yourself how best to go about the campaign in order to make sure you don't get overwhelmed in missions because even on tourist difficulty the game is hard. Especially if you try to play it with tactics or creativity. If you want to just hide and overwatch all the time you can but it gets pretty boring doing that. The difficulty bars on the missions can be a little misleading in places too. I have had 5 bar missions easier than 3 bar missions. This is usually due to the map design and the fact the enemy has all the advantages. Unlike in x-com were you activate a group and then it spreads out. In this game the enemy is already active and has the best positions. This, mixed with the reinforcement timers and side objective timers can lead to some frustrating situations but if you stick with the game you do learn how to deal with everything. I personally found myself quitting out of frustration a few times but always came back and eventually completed the game because I found myself missing it. The combat when you get better weapons and armour and skills can be fun. It's just you never really feel total satisfaction. A lot of your abilities are one use per mission or have such a long cooldown they might aswell be one use per mission. The tech advancement is pretty poor with the first level tech forge offering nothing but a sniper rifle you already have if you have a sniper. Which you will. As I say the game just leaves you with the impression that the devs ran out of money. I would like for this game to do well enough for them to come back and polish it or release dlc. Or at the very least to allow them to work on a 2nd one because they have the right ideas and I do think they genuinely tried here. All in all it's a very average game that you have to be the type of person willing to make your own fun with it, if you want to get your monies worth out of it. Because I love these types of games so much I for sure had my fun with it but if you aren't an avid fan of the series and willing to put up with quite a few flaws, then I would say avoid this one or perhaps pick it up on sale. Thank you for reading and for your time. I hope this review helps you.