Steam Squad

Steam Squad. What it is: Squad based turn strategy game, with a Steam Punk, cartoonish WWI setting. PROS: [list] [*] Solid game mechanics. [*] Easy to learn yet tactic gameplay. [*] Beautiful graphics. [*] Nice, interesting story and setting. [*] Great steam mechas (planes and tanks), that will be usable in the final release (according to developers) [*] Mele weapons! Bring out the pitchforks!! [*] The developer is VERY involved in the forums, and many of the bugs/fixes/changes adressed there have been taken care of. [*] The developer promised to work on a modding extension after the release. [*] Battlecam!! It has been implemented and works great, with a depth of field effect and nice color correction, that gives an old film feeling. Great! [/list] CONS: [list] [*] Gameplay feels a little light, specially if you compare it to old school tbs games like Silent Storm, JA2 or Fallout tactics. Hopefully the tank play will compensate that. [*] In order to make the gameplay more fluid, prone/kneel/stand positions have been changed to a more fluid "kneel while standing still, stand while running/shooting for cover - no prone" mechanics. More fluid, but also lighter. [/list] What I LIKE: [list] [*] Setting. [*] Graphics and game concept. [*] Game mechanics. [*] Full ballistics engine. [*] Destroyable enviroment (promised by developers, not yet implemented). [*] Interactive fauna. [*] Graphical display of Action Points, both in the small valve like dial, and in the movement line, where it shows you in easy to read green-amber-red tones how far your character can move before running out of AP. [*] Part of the game is developed in [b] Blender,[/b] which is Free and Open Source Software, and it's released for linux. [/list]

Игра не доработана: 1) Поддержка никогда не промахивается, даже с минимальным процентом на попадание (за всю игру ни я, ни по мне ) - сразу насмерть. 2) Солдаты в ожидании успевают получить шот, прежде чем успевают выстрелить, иногда даже без видимости противника!?! 3) 100% шанс на попадание и 100% на точность вкупе не гарантируют, что вы попадёте. 4) Нет возможности по завершении игры переиграть любую миссию, что крайне не характерно для основной массы игр. 5) Тупой ИИ: в миссиях, где надо атаковать противника, противник сам тебя атакует; союзная артиллерия не стреляет по противнику, когда надо и ждёт когда пехота всех перебьёт (иногда стреляет по оставшимся целям).

[h1]What is Steam Squad?[/h1] Steam Squad is a tactical, turn-based strategy game that places you in control of a squad. The game occurs in a world that is vastly different to the one we know today. The developers at Bretwalda Games have reached alternative conclusions to many of the outcomes that have shaped the modern world. These conclusions include: [list] [*]The British never losing control over the United States [*]The Tianxian Empire colonizing Siberia before Russia [*]The Gao (Chinese) colonizing Australia instead of the British [/list] It is because of these game setting decisions that I found myself deeply fascinated with it before I began to play. [h1]Poor/Inconsistent AI[/h1] Arguably the biggest negative effecting Steam Squad is the unpredictability of the AI. More often than not I would argue that unpredictability is a key strength. However, in this instance, there are enemy soldiers who are able to kill you from the other side of the world. On the other hand, there are soldiers who would make the perfect candidates for hired the Empire to employ as Stormtroopers. I believe that this is a problem with the RNG. This isn't simply a case of the AI getting better as the levels become more difficult. I could understand if it were a case of the game proclaiming you to be becoming too good for it and ramping up the difficulty. Unfortunately, it isn't and it appears to be this way throughout the game. And when you do replay a level it isn't the same enemy that has the same ability. As a result, I am left to conclude that randomization can be good is good but not if it comes at the cost of poor AI. [h1]Streamlined Gameplay Mechanics[/h1] Steam Squad has a tendency to feel very streamlined as far as turn-based strategy games go. The classics seem to have much greater depth and variety to the gameplay. However, I wouldn't necessarily mark this as a negative against the game for everyone. If you've played the classics and want something a little less hardcore then this game would be very suitable for you. Likewise, if you are new to the genre and some of the older titles feel too daunting then this is the game for you. In other words, it has the potential to be a great gateway game. Consequently, I believe that it is sometimes games such as this that offer sufficient challenge but are not too full on that provide the gameplay that we need. [h1]User Interface and Graphics[/h1] In my experience, I have found that some of the games that are too daunting are because of their user interface. In the case of Steam Squad the developers need to be applauded. This is because UI is very player friendly. It has been well thought out and ultimately implemented to perfection. Of particular note are the way in which action points are displayed. There are multiple points where this is displayed. The first is in the soldier's status which is located immediately below the soldier. The second is in the UI which is also where you can set the number of AP that you will use per move. I believe that if you set it to a higher amount accuracy will tail off slightly and increase if you set it to a lower number. Consequently, this has a significant impact on the strategy employed. In other aspects of the game, I was both pleased and frustrated with the graphics. Perhaps cover is the most frustrating aspect of the graphical display. It can be frustrating to believe that you are in cover only to find out that you are not. As a result, I learned to err on the side of caution and to believe that my soldiers were not in cover. Sometimes they were and that was great but it wasn't always the case. I would recommend taking this strategy. Otherwise, the game is very pleasing on the eyes and accomplishes what it sets out to do. [h1]Is it Steamified?[/h1] The developers have done their job in regards to making their game Steamified. They have added both trading cards and Steam achievements. [h1]Verdict[/h1] If you're a fan of alternative world histories and strategy games then Steam Squad is the game for you. I believe that the developers are committed to correcting the issue with the AI. Everything else runs fine. The presentation is pretty and well presented. It's a solid game by a small indie studio and they should be proud of their effort. For similar reviews and your chance to win great giveaways, including PC hardware, please visit [url=http://www.steamified.com/]Steamified[/url]

Was really hoping this was going to be a gem, but it seems to have totally missed the mark for me. Ultimately, this is an extremely shallow game, granted I only made it to the third mission before having to quit forever, so maybe there's more content I haven't seen... but doubtful. For starters, the first thing I noticed about this was the extremely amateur production. And that's not in like a indy-dev boot-straps and moxy kind of way, it's a very unpolished game that shows very little thought was put into many of the design choices, even things that have been standard for years. Interface is pretty lacking, common QoL shortcuts are none-existant, prepare for lots of needless clicks. Mission briefs are full of useless nonsense and lacking in actual content, you'll read a few .jpg's sliding on the screen and wait for the animation of pages shuffling to see each useless one. Random transitions during the intro cinematic were absolutely jarring really the first big red flag I noticed. They quickly, often, and randomly changed from cartoony animated 3D, to 2D, to actual live footage, to still shots, and then back again. Pick a style! It's like all the content was salvaged from the free demo bin Baby's First Game Dev book. It honestly feels like a lot of things in here were added to increase the game's run time and pad the clock. Either to create and illusion of lots of content, or to get people past the Steam refund wall. But, that's all kind of nit-picky stuff I realize most won't care about. So actual gameplay. It's shallow, real shallow. In the first three missions I played through I was presented with the same 3 unit types. Their differences end up being trivial ultimately to the mission at hand. There is an inventory but it is clunky and I regret even noticing it because it was irrelevant to the game and just forced me to navigate more terrible menus. The actual missions are dull just wait for them to rush into our overwatch areas, forced cinematics that are hardly what I would call 'animated' that add nothing but time to the mission. At the end your well performing troops get experience and stats... but what that is good for I've yet to determine. 3 missions, you'd think you'd get a level up, or new gear, or new unit, or something. But no, there is absolutely nothing new to incentivize good performance or even loading the next map... so I didn't. So at the end of that, I think this game is really close to being something great but seems to have been pretty mismanaged for a while and is way off target for what would be expected of a modern game. P2W mobile games have more content than this for before the paywall.

The game looked like a gem, but failed in too many aspects. I played only to the 3d mission, may be it would go better, and there'll be bugfixes, but in current state I definitely can't recommend it to anyone. Cons (that's why it is negative after all): 1. The game is very unpolished. Things are little but they are everywhere. 2. AI. It is not stupid, strange mix of bad RNG (it is even worse then in X-Com), good tactics and dumb pathfinding. 3. Bugs. Annoying. Enemy perfectly fine goes through 4 man on overwatch (AP left) and kills one of them in melee. Other time my soldier shoot on overwatch out of cone of fire... 4. graphics are ok in some places and just bad and unpolished in others, screenshots are carefully picked. X-com like action camera is the worst part, it is funny here, not dramatic. 5. Combat system is shallow, expected much more from the description. Pros: 1. Nice setting 2. Really good atmosphere (when not hindered by funny jumping soldiers), all these films and letters home are very nice. 3. UI is nice, but not as informative as I would like it to be. But very nice. 4. Music is good too. May be devs shod consider making a movie or a comics. Most good things about this game is, sadly, not about gameplay,

Feels like an early access game. The game has a lot of potential if they fix some things. I wanted to like this game, but I just found myself getting frustrated with it. If they do fix some of the issues I could see myself recommending this game, but I can't in it's current state. - Minimap could use some work, you can't see the area that your camera is view on it. - Cover is very frustrating for me. It's hard to know if you are in cover or not and what area you will be able to see from positions if you decide to move to that spot. I had one situation where I thought my guy was in cover behind a building. I could see that he was on overwatch in the direction I wanted with all of his action points available. Then on the enemy's turn some invisible guy was able to spot mine and kill him while my guy never saw him. - It would be nice if I had some indication if my solder can fire on an enemy. - Not colorblind friendly, it does ok, but there are no options to adjust the color at all.

For a turn-based squad game there is enough for me to recommend it. * It incorporates action points well * The maps are interesting * Units are role based rather then stat based * It has freaking opportunity fire! * The alt history makes the engagements interesting and fun That said, the UI is a bit rough and lacks pollish. Graphically, it's a bit jarring, but completely serviceable. If you can get past those warts, the game has many gameplay delights to offer.

What it is: [h1]Steam-punk style turn-based strategy with cartoonish graphics[/h1]. Pros: Solid mechanics. Easy to learn, tactical gameplay. Nice graphics. Interesting story. Vehicles (planes and tanks) that will be used in the final version (according to the developers). White weapons (swords,bayonets). The developers are very involved in the forums, fixing many bugs The developer has pledged to work on modding options after the game is released. Minuses: Uncomfortable interface Oversensitive camera movement. Gameplay a little too simplistic compared to older games of this type [★[★[★[★[★[★[☆[☆[☆[☆]

От такого рода жанра игр ожидаешь большего. Идея хороша, но ее реализация оставляет желать лучшего. Честно говоря я лучше Silent Storm пройду в четвертый или пятый раз.

The game is ok but there needs to be a way to rotate the map. Additionally there needs to be a "retreat" mode or "end mission" option. Having to fight to the last man every time is unnecesarily time consuming. I would also like the option of killing the cut scenes where i have to watch members of my squad make thier first move. Boring and useless. On the up side, I did get it on sale.....