![]() ![]() ![]() That said, the demo was mostly linear and saw me moving from fight to fight following the tutorial. As time moves forward, fights or random events tick down, and you have to choose which missions and events to take. You have a portable base you drive from mission to mission on an in-game clock. Outside of combat, the game is similar to XCOM or Battletech. ![]() The melee mech dashed forward to slash at enemies, but the beam mech shot a sustained laser of damage and I had to maneuver the melee mech so it didn’t get beamed, while still slashing wildly at the enemy mechs. One of my favorite fights in Phantom Brigade had me controlling a melee mech and a couple of ranged ones. You slide your actions back and forth across the timeline, carefully running in and out of cover to take shots, protect yourself, and get to a good position, all while taking into account the differing equipment your mechs have. Once you get used to layering movement and attacks along the timeline, each fight moves more quickly and becomes a tight, heavy mech battle with an interesting push and pull. I once shot an enemy mech three times, thinking it would be disabled or destroyed, but instead destroyed its right arm and did some light torso damage. If you fill their concussion bar, they’ll be eliminated from combat without having to destroy their mech.Įven dealing damage directly to a mech, it’s not always clear which health bar you’ll be hitting or exactly how close to destroying it you’ll be unless you check each detail box very carefully. You can concuss the pilot by bouncing their cockpit around, which is easier to do from the back or with weapons that impart force. Each mech has a torso, legs, and two separate arms with their own health bars, along with different types of damage. It’s also unclear how much damage you will do, or it was to me as a new player. Occasionally an enemy mech won’t be finished blowing up when the turn ends, leaving you to execute another turn and wait a few seconds as an explosion happens, even though you already won. Once there’s just one left, it doesn’t really matter what you do as long as you shoot, but you’re still stuck fiddling with the exact details. You have to assign movement and attacks to each mech even if there’s just one remaining enemy. That said, Phantom Brigade can be slow-paced at times. ![]() Eventually you’ll shred the buildings and close the distance to your enemies, gradually making the battles into an all-out brawl. Guns won’t pierce through buildings or terrain, so enemies will dash behind cover as you chase them. You can maneuver the camera however you’d like and watch different parts of the fight play out, or just catch cool camera angles of your mechs fighting it out. Once you’ve locked in your actions, you press the execute button and watch as the actions of both you and your enemies occur simultaneously. Overheating a little is fine, but too much heat damage can leave your mech vulnerable to a killing blow. You want to deal damage and avoid taking it, yet your guns and laser beams generate heat, and when your mech overheats, it takes damage. You lay out your movement and attacks on the timeline at the bottom of your screen, and they show up like layers in a video editor. The Steam Next Fest demo only covers a few battles, but its turn-based simultaneous execution gameplay shows a lot of promise.Įnemy movements for the next turn are visible on the map, and you can see when they’ll attack if you click on them, giving you almost perfect information with which to make your decisions. In Phantom Brigade, each turn is a slice of time into which you try to squeeze as much damage and dodging as possible without setting your mechs on fire. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |