Frontline Tactics

The strategy genre has its own brand of games that try so little to hide what they do that they all end in the same word. Frontline Tactics is such a title, where the synonym for strategy defines its turn-based gameplay. Still, the simple grid combat mechanics get backed up with enough upgrades and unlocked items to at least favor a good replay value.

The game's approach is simple enough. There are the good soldier types and then there are the bad sand people. Sand people are always causing grief in their deserted, brownish lands with dilapidated buildings, sparse palms and broken things everywhere. It might not be much, but it's their home. This is where the gird will set itself up for warfare between the two parties.

Starting out, players will receive 2 men, one with a simple gun and one with a machine gun. From there, they'll need to win missions to earn credits, which they can use to upgrade just about anything. New weapons can be unlocked or enhanced with accessories, body armor can be equipped, new classes become available and so on. Frankly, the game starts out as a rather basic experience, but then builds on as time goes on. Additionally, winning stages counts towards unlocking more content, such as maps, game modes and additional squad members. Repetition, for bad or worse, is the key. 

As mentioned, players take turns shooting their opponents. Depending on what the fighting class of that person is, they'll receive turns more often than others. For instance, a simple gun fires quickly and does more damage up close, while a big machine gun takes time to fire and wrecks more havoc by keeping others away. Frontline Tactics balances these specific traits well, which adds to the tactical plans, making it more than just a shoot to kill game. Guns also vary between regular fire, piercing or suppressing fire and these can fire 1 or multiple targets at once, depending on their firing arc. More so, characters can take cover for less damage and more concealment. Lastly, every character can move and fire or sacrifice shooting for more movement. There is thought put into adding layers to the game. It's a shame more battles boil down to a systematic plan, but sporadically there will be a battle that surprises. Certainly when enemies pop up in range at unexpected places, a certain scheme can be completely overthrown.

While its great replay value and adequate versatility could make it a great game, it has 2 main flaws so far. The first is a smaller, esthetic issue. Camera angles are automated during enemy movement and often pan out right atop models. This makes it nearly impossible to find out what exactly is going on and since that sometimes results in death or concealed foes, it can be quite annoying, though nothing major.

The second issue is a lot more pressing. From the very first matches, it will quickly become apparent that Frontline Tactics thrives on in-game purchases; arguably the worst implementation in gaming history, if you'll excuse the hyperbole. In this game's terms, it means that progress and the game's pace are dragged down to such an extent that it becomes hard to enjoy without speed boosts. Credits are needed for anything and are hard to come by in the beginning. New characters come in blank and are not usable without additional credits and new stages trickle in so slowly that the old, small levels are boring once the new one arrives. It's stretched out so much that the repetition factor quickly becomes bothersome, rather than optional. Since the only way to alleviate that is paying, it's tough to argue that as a selling point, since it's paying to play less to play more. There's a glitch in that reasoning either way it's viewed.

Without relying so heavily on an additional payment structure, Frontline Tactics could become a lot more powerful as a game on its own. It's simple yet versatile enough to keep playing for a few rounds, but as the pace is held down purposely, it will take dedicated players to keep churning out missions without resorting to payments. It's as if people are afraid that decent combat isn't a good enough selling point to build on as an element alone these days. In fact, additional purchases only make it worse.

Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed. (@Daavpuke)