don't let the presentation fool you, [b]coin commander[/b] is an excellent deterministic tactical combat game. it means there's [b]no randomness[/b], chance to hit (and mostly miss), nothing like that. you always know who will move where next, who's gonna attack whom and who will die.
the story is as follows: [i]'you have been named the new commander of your people. however, coin is limited, and you need to defeat all enemies at any cost.'[/i] that's it, gather your army and do your best.
every level is played on a square grid. the right half is occupied by enemy units and using as little of your money as possible, you can put your units on the left, setting the direction you want each to face, as they only move in a straight line. then hit the 'start battle' button to see how it all plays out. it's [b]turn-based, but you don't control units directly[/b]. stopping the battle means units resetting to their starting positions, and after a while a convenient [b]fast-forward button[/b] appears. I wish it was present all the time to keep things moving faster though.
to start with, you only have regular soldiers on your side, each costs 60 coins. every level has a monetary amount assigned to it, [b]saved coins don't carry over[/b], so it's basically [b]resource management[/b], get the most bang for your buck, and the [b]3-star rating[/b] is based on efficiency. spend all your money and get 1 star, spend less for 2 stars and even less for 3 stars. it'd be great if these conditions were clear beforehand, or at least on the victory screen, even if it's just an option in case people want to figure them out for themselves.
the world map is branching, you'll often have multiple levels to try, and 1 star is enough to unlock the next in line. [b]victory condition is always killing every enemy, no timer, no turn limit, no need for your units to stay alive[/b]. each member of a unit type is the same, like a clone army: soldiers move 1 square forward every turn, attack 1 square in front of them and turn around when they hit a wall. [b]friendly fire is a thing and if two units (friend or foe) want to step on the same square, they both die[/b].
[b]further unit types are unlocked with stars and can be used on any level after that[/b], provided you have enough coin, and they aren't all available from the beginning, the first new ones appear around level 10. and since it's about efficiency, no point in re-doing a level with a 110-gold unit when the 3-star requirement is 60.
the other units are:
- archer (unlocked for 8 stars, 100 coins, immobile, 1 turn to load, 1 to fire, while reloading they're vulnerable)
- knight (unlocked for 8 stars, 100 coins, same as soldiers but the shield blocks forward arrows)
- spearman (unlocked for 16 stars, 110 coins, moves 1, attacks 2 squares forward)
- barbarian (unlocked for 16 stars, 110 coins, moves 1, attacks in 4 directions)
- reaver (unlocked for 16 stars, 110 coins, moves 1, attacks 2 squares diagonally forward)
the final unit (the king) is available to unlock after beating all [b]40 campaign levels[/b], but you need every star for that, which will also give you [b]12 bonus levels[/b]. they're divided into 2 mini-campaigns that can be played individually, and besides killing every enemy, also involve protecting the king. he is free to place and doesn't do anything besides being in the way, making things difficult. the bonus levels are also more creative with placement areas.
while the graphics are functional at best, they serve their purpose perfectly and I liked the different backgrounds/scenery around the map. audio is surprisingly good, especially the music, and I liked the [b]quotes before every level[/b] about success, failure, trying again and all that.
separate volume sliders and a variety of resolutions are availble, but [b]windowed mode is useless, stick to full screen until it's fixed[/b]. for one, I could only choose 4:3 resolutions and they produce black bars on the top and bottom of the screen, covering black text, and what's worse, the unit shop on the levels and the unit unlock window don't scale to smaller resolutions, so they cover important areas of the screen.
besides clear goals for ratings and an ever-present fast-forward button (and of course fixing windowed mode), I'd really like if I didn't have to scroll through units in the shop, just make icons smaller, everything should fit.
the game is not too difficult once you figure out how stuff works (friendly fire, turning back at walls, flanking, etc.) and [b]can be breezed through in a couple hours if you're not going for 3 stars[/b], but will probably take more to perfect everything, then there's the aforementioned-but-elusive (at least for me) bonus levels.
[b]I really enjoyed my time with it[/b], reminded me of the excellent [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/369310/]monstro: battle tactics[/url], and can recommend it to tactical fans, but I hope the bigger and smaller issues get fixed soon, and that I'll be able to unlock the bonus levels one day.
