reviews: 19

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id	game_id	external_id	review_text	added	posted	allowed
19	636320	45093228	I bought this game on a whim, and while the gameplay is competently executed, the harder I tried to build a good team with 2 frontline mercs (shotgun/SMG), 1 midrange merc (rifle/minigun) and one sniper, the maps and encounters rarely rewarded such a balanced approach. The mechanics favor a strategy with three snipers that camp outside a door, and one super-mobile frontliner that goes in, aggros the mobs, then runs back through the door and takes cover while the snipers overwatch everyone to death, emerging to activate snap shot to empty both barrels of their shottie into anyone left standing. That just isn't challenging, so it isn't a lot of fun. Another obstacle to building a balanced team is that the snipers and frontliners get the lion's share of the kills, because the cover is generally close to or far way from the enemies, so the slow-moving merc with the minigun is left overwatching next to the sniper turn after turn, rarely shooting at anything, and since kills are based mostly on hits and kills, the other mercs level up faster. You could put the midrange merc up with the frontliners, but again, there's usually only one or two good cover spots within range of the enemies, especially when coming out of a corridor or doorway, which is usually when you spot the enemies. One of the biggest problems is that the enemy AI doesn't seem to know how overwatch works. Not only do the enemies not use overwatch, they will blithely run into the middle of the room to get a shot off instead of staying in cover, and can be counted upon to follow your mercs into another room, even if doing so will end their move in open ground. All squad-based tactics, even simple flanking maneuvers, are completely unnecessary when the only tactic the enemy employs is 'shoot at the mercs, even if you die right afterwards'. This is even more disappointing when the level design clearly favors some kind of tactical engagement, with tons of destructible cover, rooms divided by hallways, and narrow bottlenecks, but after playing through four missions, and hitting every node I had fuel to hit, I never needed to use any of it. All I needed was a fast merc with a 12 guage and six overwatch sniper bullets. I'd like to say that there's a good game in here somewhere, with tense skirmishes where a raider with an SMG destroys a merc's cover so the sniper raider can take him out, or where you have to split your team to take the bad guys in a crossfire, where tactics are rewarded, and the enemies can throw grenades, and maybe that stuff is in Depth of Extinction, just at some arbitrary point 10 hours in when you finally get a gun with no rust on it, but I'm not willing to make that journey. ~Fake	2021-03-14T05:51:55.100715	1	1