[h1]IN A WORD: [b]MAYBE[/b][/h1]
[h1]IN A NUTSHELL:[/h1]
[quote=]
[b]WHAT TO EXPECT:[/b] Action. Indie. Small scale squad RTS. Fast paced, streamlined gameplay. Angled top-down view. Tiny maps. Lots of quick-fire missions. Decent range of enemies. Unit promotion auto-grades abilities. Minimal weapon selection. Perma-death. Intel collectables. Repetitive gameplay. Fast reflexes desired. Controller support. Singleplayer only.
[b]ACHIEVEMENTS:[/b] SOME DIFFICULT. MOST TIME CONSUMING.
[b]STATUS:[/b] COMPLETE.
[b]WHEN TO BUY:[/b]WHEN ON SALE.[/quote]
[i]More info below....[/i]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2416326687
[h1]THE LOWDOWN:[/h1]
Action Legion (AL) is a simple, small-scaled, tactical squad shooter played in real-time. Viewed from an angled, top-down perspective, the game takes place in a futuristic, sci-fi setting. Players control a squad of one or more soldiers of the renowned Legion, who have been sent to planet PN MDCVIII. Their goal to liberate the indigenous population from the evil forces of the infamous Prognati.
Players will need to complete many, very short, quickfire missions. These take place on unique small-sized maps, that grow in complexity as progression is made through the campaign. On these maps are structures to demolish, crates holding collectables, exploding barrels to shoot, switches to press and of course a range of enemies to kill. The last of these also forming the majority of mission objectives.
Gameplay consists of movement, positioning, timing and shooting. Apart from choosing which weapons to assign soldiers before a mission, decision-making is restricted to how, when and where you position and click the cursor. Controls are simple. Mouse to position the cursor. LMB to move units to the cursor and RMB to shoot in its direction. The squad of soldiers is moved as a group, from cover to cover. Killing enemy combatants as they encounter them, destroying enemy bunkers as they go. As the last enemy falls an extraction point is revealed to teleport them back to base. As soldiers complete their mission they rise in rank, making them faster, deadlier and more resilient than before.
Tactical considerations include: maintaining or restricting line-of-sight, avoid overheating weapons, determining routes of approach, flanking, choosing when to run, deciding when to fire or fire on the move and utilising cover. Since the view is fixed care must be taken when navigating the map. Unseen enemies can appear in range and liquidate your squad. Mousing to the edges of the screen reveals more of the play area. While keeping enemies out of range or line-of-sight.
Two additional weapons are unlocked as progression is made through the campaign. Different ones can be equipped to different soldiers allowing some additional variety in tactics. As well as SMG regulars, new tougher enemies will also begin to appear. These include structures such as: bunkers and barracks that respawn enemies. On some missions grenades can used to employ a non-confrontational strategy. Destroying crates reveals intel to collect, detailing a comic based back-story. There is perma-death. When soldiers die they are added to a 'ceremonial wall of remembrance'. Fallen troops are replaced with fresh soldiers. Fresh meat for the grinder. Will you be able to liberate the planet and its people of the Prognati menace, once and for all!?
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2416328192
[h1]THE GOOD:[/h1]
+ Uncomplicated fast-paced action, with focused tactical challenges.
+ Good mission design and variation.
+ Mistakes are lethal but progress isn't affected. On normal difficulty.
+ Previous missions can be replayed at any point.
+ Possesses a very good learning curve.
+ Decent range of enemy combatants.
[h1]THE BAD:[/h1]
- Easy to mis-click leading to a team death.
- Very limited weapons/inventory.
- Hardcore achievements.
- Levels with intel are unknown until played.
- Soldiers auto-levelled by promotion. No RPG customisation.
[h1]AND THE REST:[/h1]
* Adequate but stylish production values.
* Zoomable but fixed position camera.
* Good mouse+keyboard support.
* Mission design is varied enough but not overly.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2416323378
[h1]ANALYSIS:[/h1]
On first impressions AL looked like a fairly average game. Just another solidly made Indie title with very little to detract from it. That it possesses little that would make it stand out from many other games of its ilk. So it proved to be. Visuals and production were fine if only adequate. Audio and soundtrack not its best feature. Ultimately many aspects of this game felt curtailed to much.
Given the size of the maps playing time for each mission was very, very short. Perfect to mitigate the feeling of repetition that inevitably would come to pass. Small squad size may have been what the developers were going for but I can't help wonder what the experience would have been by increasing the scale of everything; More soldiers to command. Larger maps full of more threats. The biggest gripe amongst other owners is being unable to split troops up into more than one team to provide more tactical options.
Anyone musing to play AL will likely need the ability to remain focused due to the intimate nature of maps and the speed of enemy units. Any mistake usually led to a squad member dying needlessly. I ended up playing one or two missions max per session to mitigate the chances of this happening. It was a persistent issue, the feeling that I was always one click away from making a clumsy mistake. The controls were quite good but mis-timing a click or mis-positioning a soldier so it moved just into the range of a sniper never left me during play. The precise nature of gameplay will either be appreciated or the controls found to be to fiddly and losing a veteran soldier to carelessness a frustrating experience.
Soldiers dying is part of the game design, there some may desire to save scum their way to victory. However that is not necessary apart from achievements. What connection was to veteran troops was quickly replaced by the determination to overcome mistakes made on the next run. To see if these raw recruits could do better and survive longer than the last batch. Auto-promotion was a let down. With so few playable units, perhaps it would have been a better route to give them stats to specialise their capabilities. Along those lines was the decision to limit weapons and have no inventory. Another disappointment!
The only aspect of the game that really grabbed me was the actual design of the missions. I thought the variation used was pretty impressive. Considering the limited amount of assets the devs had to make the gameplay as compelling as possible. On its own this is enough of a reason to get the game. Another plus was allowing previously played missions to be replayed on the fly to remove any pressure to complete every mission perfectly or in sequence. As missions can be replayed at any point once played, missing any intel isn't a problem. No need to replay the whole campaign from the start.
[h1]VERDICT:[/h1]
Overall AL proved to be a barely better than average action RTS shooter, solid it its delivery but limited in its own way and easy to overlook. It provides an okay level of fun but can be frustrating if/when a mistake is made. Maybe worth considering but comparing its limitations against similar titles could mean AL is overlooked for something else. If after this review some of you may feel it is worth a look, then I suggest buying on a good discount. That way any possible regret will be negligible if it fails to live up to expectations.
[quote=]Thank you for reading. | Find my reviews [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/nourl1/recommended/]here[/url].[/quote]
