Tactical Command

It's basically Mount & Blade but cartoon soldiers. It's a bit rough around the edges but has satisfying gameplay.

[i] My Experience [/i] I've seen a couple of games over the years attempt hybrids like this - things like real-time strategy games that allow you to inhabit a solider and then turn into an FPS. However, I've never played any of the [b]Mount & Blade[/b] games, which are what most reviewers are comparing this title to. The game got its hooks in me fairly quickly, and for a time I was engaged with its loop. You run around in "world mode" collecting recruits from local villages. You'll then either attack (or be attacked), which pulls you into battle mode. In battle mode, you'll control one character (typically from a third person perspective), order your troops around, and deploy "abilities" like mortar strikes, etc. to reduce enemy strength to zero. Upon completing the battle you'll have the opportunity to promote and upgrade your troops, you'll gain some currency, and you might acquire new weaponry. You can spend some of this currency to unlock new abilities from time to time to deploy on the battlefield. Once you've gotten strong enough, you can storm enemy strongholds and claim them for yourself as well as upgrade various structures on the map. The battlefields were quite sparse, but I initially enjoyed trying out the different weapons and the abilities I unlocked. Although there's certainly an art to choosing the right type of troop for a situation and controlling them effectively, these battles soon became stale. However, using the mech to storm enemy strongholds renewed my interest, for a time. Unfortunately, the whole endeavor began to feel aimless after a while and I just wasn't motivated to continue playing. I took over a number of strongholds but there seemed to be quite a few remaining, and from time to time the enemy would reclaim one. I had unlocked and tried all of the abilities I had any interest in. My soldiers didn't seem to be keeping pace with enemy soldiers and felt downright pathetic when compared to the strength of my abilities and deployed mech. While I can't say that I had a [i]bad[/i] time for a first couple of hours playing [b]Tactical Command[/b], I do feel disappointed that it didn't culminate into something more interesting. Perhaps it's meant to be more of a "playground" than a carefully cultivated and intentional experience.