My kind of game. Will have to look into it a bit further.
On Steam for $24.99.
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On Steam for $24.99.
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Broken Lines
- Thread starter mTk
- Start date
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Now on my wishlist 
- thanks for the heads up!
I'm still waiting for a remake of the fantastic "Soldiers At War" from SSI 1996. This here seems to be very close to it. (Hopefully).
- thanks for the heads up! I'm still waiting for a remake of the fantastic "Soldiers At War" from SSI 1996. This here seems to be very close to it.
(Hopefully).
Here's a little more.
It was enough to convince me to go ahead and buy it.
Looks like an ideal "beer & pretzels" kind of thing.
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It was enough to convince me to go ahead and buy it.
Looks like an ideal "beer & pretzels" kind of thing.
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So far? Very good indeed.
UI is very user friendly and the tutorial gives you a good grasp quickly.
While easy to learn to play it is sneaky complicated to play well. It's very realistic in that the use of all your assets must be used to be successful. Just trying to bull your way forward will end in disaster. I'm playing on the default difficulty and the AI is sneaky.
I think there are 3 different campaigns and I'm on the first one. I really should check that out some more.
The game is very linear as it is set in rugged mountains and you can only go a certain way to your mission objective. So if you insist on playing a game that allows you to wander all over this is not for you. Still, it works just fine that way.
While it is easy to learn to play I do have some issues. There are several things I've encountered that are unclear and I don't think I can figure them out just by playing. For instance: Missions have a time clock. I have not found anyway to determine the time available before the battle. I hate that! I also hate being unable (so far) to find the game clock while playing the mission! I only learn if I was fast enough at the end where I get my final score. There is no explanation as to how good my mission score was or any explanation as to why I should care. Odd. For now I'm just playing to complete the mission and keep my guys alive.
At my difficulty level I, apparently, can lose a team member, but resurrect him (somehow). If I lose another it looks like perma-death. What happens if I lose several? Can I get replacements? Doesn't look likely.
I don't see how to save mid-mission. Hell! I don't even see how to save at all. So, at the end of the mission last night I chose the best option which was quit and pray. Anxious to see how that worked out.
Apparently my team can gain skills and other goodies. I have no idea how. They just seem to randomly show up in the team screen at the end of a battle.
There are other things that bother me, but the fact is it is a lot of fun to play and that's pretty much why I bought it.
So there's that.
UI is very user friendly and the tutorial gives you a good grasp quickly.
While easy to learn to play it is sneaky complicated to play well. It's very realistic in that the use of all your assets must be used to be successful. Just trying to bull your way forward will end in disaster. I'm playing on the default difficulty and the AI is sneaky.
I think there are 3 different campaigns and I'm on the first one. I really should check that out some more.
The game is very linear as it is set in rugged mountains and you can only go a certain way to your mission objective. So if you insist on playing a game that allows you to wander all over this is not for you. Still, it works just fine that way.
While it is easy to learn to play I do have some issues. There are several things I've encountered that are unclear and I don't think I can figure them out just by playing. For instance: Missions have a time clock. I have not found anyway to determine the time available before the battle. I hate that! I also hate being unable (so far) to find the game clock while playing the mission! I only learn if I was fast enough at the end where I get my final score. There is no explanation as to how good my mission score was or any explanation as to why I should care. Odd. For now I'm just playing to complete the mission and keep my guys alive.
At my difficulty level I, apparently, can lose a team member, but resurrect him (somehow). If I lose another it looks like perma-death. What happens if I lose several? Can I get replacements? Doesn't look likely.
I don't see how to save mid-mission. Hell! I don't even see how to save at all. So, at the end of the mission last night I chose the best option which was quit and pray. Anxious to see how that worked out.
Apparently my team can gain skills and other goodies. I have no idea how. They just seem to randomly show up in the team screen at the end of a battle.
There are other things that bother me, but the fact is it is a lot of fun to play and that's pretty much why I bought it.
So there's that.
OK. After posting the above I wandered over to You Tube and found this. Be sure to watch.
This was very helpful and does address several of the questions I raised.
How come we have to go to You Tube to learn how to play a game nowadays?
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This was very helpful and does address several of the questions I raised.
How come we have to go to You Tube to learn how to play a game nowadays?
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Ah. Found the damn in game clock, but still no idea as to mission clock.
Your mission score is a multiplier of the level reward (whatever that is) which in turn determines how much salvage you get which is what you trade with the arms dealer to get better stuff. It looks like the mission score is heavily reliant on your clock management. Did I mention how much I hate playing "Beat-the-Clock?"
They could have said that somewhere.
Ran into my first very big bad guy. He didn't like SMG fire and panicked making him much easier to take down.
Be very careful when dealing with the arms dealer. So easy to make a procedural mistake and have it cost you salvage. There is no <take back> key that I can see and the dealer doesn't seem interested in buying my old equipment. Hmm.
Your mission score is a multiplier of the level reward (whatever that is) which in turn determines how much salvage you get which is what you trade with the arms dealer to get better stuff. It looks like the mission score is heavily reliant on your clock management. Did I mention how much I hate playing "Beat-the-Clock?"
They could have said that somewhere.
Ran into my first very big bad guy. He didn't like SMG fire and panicked making him much easier to take down.
Be very careful when dealing with the arms dealer. So easy to make a procedural mistake and have it cost you salvage. There is no <take back> key that I can see and the dealer doesn't seem interested in buying my old equipment. Hmm.
OK. All is good. Mostly.
Found a drop down menu box in the upper left corner and figured out how to work it.
Answered all my questions except about the mission timer.
Combat makes me break out into a sweat at times! Hint: Bring as many bandages as you can carry.
There are many missions you will not do in your first go-round, depending upon what direction you take as well as the choices you make on your map and with the RPG dialouge.
This allows for quite a bit of re-playability when you try it again.
Sure wish I could find a sniper rifle, or buy one from the vendor, but not in his inventory yet.
I did just buy some rifle grenades so there's that. Now I'm afraid rather than their being useful I'm going to desperately need them!
Found a drop down menu box in the upper left corner and figured out how to work it.
Answered all my questions except about the mission timer.
Combat makes me break out into a sweat at times! Hint: Bring as many bandages as you can carry.
There are many missions you will not do in your first go-round, depending upon what direction you take as well as the choices you make on your map and with the RPG dialouge.
This allows for quite a bit of re-playability when you try it again.
Sure wish I could find a sniper rifle, or buy one from the vendor, but not in his inventory yet.
I did just buy some rifle grenades so there's that. Now I'm afraid rather than their being useful I'm going to desperately need them!
OK. Getting ready to play what I am almost sure is the last mission. It's day 9 and we attack the Dam.. This is not a spoiler as you will see this coming a long way off.
I've spent about 15 hrs or so on the first play-through. Your mileage can, and will, vary as I like to stop and smell the roses along the way. I always say that to avoid having to just say I am slow. Still, I feel like I've already gotten my money's worth.
I like what they did with the difficulty levels. Once you decide what level in general to play at you can then fine tune even further. Nice. Unfortunately the level/tuning cannot me adjusted once you start the game and you won't realize what fine tuning you want to do until you've played the game a bit. Catch-22. So, get through the initial couple of missions and then revisit your difficulty options.
It looks like there is no <save> key, but it does seem to auto-save whenever you quit. To be careful I never quit until I finish a mission and then just hit <resume game> next time I want to play. So far, so good.
Still unable to find the in-game mission clock, although a timer does show up time to time. Of course that is meaningless unless you know how much mission time you have left. If someone finds it please let me know.
Speed seems to be the key to being awarded salvage, but there just doesn't seem to be enough to buy adequate new weapons. Of my 8 guys, 3 are still basically equipped with their original kit. Simple newbie mistakes probably cost me a couple of more items. We'll see how I do the 2nd time through.
First play through you cannot play every mission as your mission choices will send you towards some missions and away from others. Also, I did not see all the bad guys or their weapons. I suspect they will be seen in missions yet to be played.
Many events are purely random so you never quite know what is around the corner. I will give you a heads up though. I think it was Day 6 and the mission was to attack an enemy camp that had a radio tower so we could try to send a message to get rescued. Up until then I was facing maybe 4-5 bad guys per firefight. In this one, as I approached the hill with the tower, I triggered something and about 14 bad guys charged down the hill all at once! It took me 4 tries to win it and I was dreadfully slow doing it. I had to move a trooper forward to recon to lure a couple of bad guys towards me at a time without alerting the whole bunch. Just no way to do that quickly. A reasonable result is 17-18 salvage per mission. That one only got me 10. (sigh)
Most missions you get 4 troopers to use; some have 5. The Tower was 5. The up coming Dam is 5.
Wish me luck.
I've spent about 15 hrs or so on the first play-through. Your mileage can, and will, vary as I like to stop and smell the roses along the way. I always say that to avoid having to just say I am slow. Still, I feel like I've already gotten my money's worth.
I like what they did with the difficulty levels. Once you decide what level in general to play at you can then fine tune even further. Nice. Unfortunately the level/tuning cannot me adjusted once you start the game and you won't realize what fine tuning you want to do until you've played the game a bit. Catch-22. So, get through the initial couple of missions and then revisit your difficulty options.
It looks like there is no <save> key, but it does seem to auto-save whenever you quit. To be careful I never quit until I finish a mission and then just hit <resume game> next time I want to play. So far, so good.
Still unable to find the in-game mission clock, although a timer does show up time to time. Of course that is meaningless unless you know how much mission time you have left. If someone finds it please let me know.
Speed seems to be the key to being awarded salvage, but there just doesn't seem to be enough to buy adequate new weapons. Of my 8 guys, 3 are still basically equipped with their original kit. Simple newbie mistakes probably cost me a couple of more items. We'll see how I do the 2nd time through.
First play through you cannot play every mission as your mission choices will send you towards some missions and away from others. Also, I did not see all the bad guys or their weapons. I suspect they will be seen in missions yet to be played.
Many events are purely random so you never quite know what is around the corner. I will give you a heads up though. I think it was Day 6 and the mission was to attack an enemy camp that had a radio tower so we could try to send a message to get rescued. Up until then I was facing maybe 4-5 bad guys per firefight. In this one, as I approached the hill with the tower, I triggered something and about 14 bad guys charged down the hill all at once! It took me 4 tries to win it and I was dreadfully slow doing it. I had to move a trooper forward to recon to lure a couple of bad guys towards me at a time without alerting the whole bunch. Just no way to do that quickly. A reasonable result is 17-18 salvage per mission. That one only got me 10. (sigh)
Most missions you get 4 troopers to use; some have 5. The Tower was 5. The up coming Dam is 5.
Wish me luck.
Dam! C'mon people, open those gates and let's see the "Best of Lucks" come flooding out.
Well, all I've got to say is it's a good thing I didn't need it!
Slight miscalculation. Day 9 is not the last day. Game runs 10 days.
There were a couple of unpleasant surprises, but dealt with them pretty well and got max rewards for the battle.
I suspect the last one will be, uh, a challenge?
Was able to pick up a Browning auto shotgun which is pretty awesome, so there's that.
Time to use some brute force!
Slight miscalculation. Day 9 is not the last day. Game runs 10 days.
There were a couple of unpleasant surprises, but dealt with them pretty well and got max rewards for the battle.
I suspect the last one will be, uh, a challenge?
Was able to pick up a Browning auto shotgun which is pretty awesome, so there's that.
Time to use some brute force!
Yea me! I win! Day 10 is, in fact, the last day.
Ready to try 2nd play through.
There are five different endings and other missions I never got to so it's almost like another new game.
Got 28 hrs of game play first time. I am soo slow.
Seriously recommend this.
Ready to try 2nd play through.
There are five different endings and other missions I never got to so it's almost like another new game.
Got 28 hrs of game play first time. I am soo slow.
Seriously recommend this.
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Alright! Finished second play through. End game stats showed quite similar as to my first effort. That suggests the learning curve is very short, which I appreciate.
I think I've found pretty much everything there is to find, or at least enough wherein it is unlikely it would be able to keep my attention for a 3rd round so I'm going to call it quits for now. Besides PC2 release tomorrow and I'm ready!
I got about 50hrs of play time, but that may be a bit high as the Steam clock kept ticking even when I went off and did something else w/o logging off as something shiny would catch my eye.
I hope the game does well as the system is quite good and I would think there is a lot of room for some DLC if the developers so choose.
Me:
I think I've found pretty much everything there is to find, or at least enough wherein it is unlikely it would be able to keep my attention for a 3rd round so I'm going to call it quits for now. Besides PC2 release tomorrow and I'm ready!
I got about 50hrs of play time, but that may be a bit high as the Steam clock kept ticking even when I went off and did something else w/o logging off as something shiny would catch my eye.
I hope the game does well as the system is quite good and I would think there is a lot of room for some DLC if the developers so choose.
Me: