Riposte in the machine.
It’s a turn-based game that uses the magic of our computer boxes to produce fantastic action scenes.
Phantom Brigade review
There’s nothing particularly original in how Phantom Brigade achieves this.
It’s essentially Frozen Synapse blended with Into the Breach, with a dash of Battletech for good measure.
You have a squad of mechs with which to engage in turn-based battles with enemy mechs and tanks.
This core combat, when it works, is absolutely bloody brilliant.
Or study to figure out exactly where it was you goofed, you big goof.
Sadly, the sloppy UI extends to the rest of the game.
Assigning orders during battles is bafflingly inconsistent.
It’s weird and unintuitive.
The map itself is divided up into a number of provinces.
Once you’ve liberated a province, you’ve got the option to move onto the next one.
In either case, they just don’t seem worth bothering with.
The big problem is that it becomes repetitive really, really quickly.
Worst of all, the system is very easy to exploit.
On the plus side, the problems all seem eminently fixable because the foundation is so solid.
Wait and see, if you’ve got the option to figure out how.
