Completionist 2014: Breach & Clear

This was a fun game. I picked it up as part of the Humble Android Bundle 10. Brach & Clear originally was released as a mobile title that was ported over to the PC. It was more fun than I had bargained for.

Breach & Clear's gameplay is a turn-based tactical RPG. You command a squad of 4 special force soldiers. At the start, you are able to pick from one of the many different Special Forces units from around the world. Each with their own different specialties and boosts to stats. If anything, it only provides a temporary boost, because leveling up allows you to quickly make up for whatever stats you are lacking. Each unit in your force is assigned a special role that provides them with abilities or passive attributes.

The game plays out with a planning phase and an action phase. As the name implies, the planning phase, you assign the actions your troops will perform during the action phase. You are given control of the direction and their facing in every step of the action phase. This can lead to some very interesting and complex movements. However after doing it 10+ times per soldier per map, you get a little tired of planning and simplify the movements for speed. Once the planning phase is completed, the action phase executes the movements of both your and the computers planned movements. I enjoy this style of execution of planned tactics a little more than the turn by turn actions of other tactical RPG's. The executions felt organic and my troops were, for the most part, competent.

Probably my biggest gripe with Breach & Clear is the weapon balancing. It felt like there was no real reason to use anything other than an Assault Rifle. Shotguns required you to be prohibitively close, and I felt like you soldier didn't fire nearly as many rounds as they should have with the shotgun. LMG's were abysmally under-powered. LMGs would fire more rounds, inaccurately, and do less damage. The idea was for them to have a "suppression effect" which didn't really do anything. Sniper rifles do a fair bit of damage from a greater distance. However, it appeared as though my snipers would only fire once every other turn. Assault rifles would put down multiple rounds, accurately, and do a good amount of damage.

ANYWAY. Game beat. Score goes down. Yay!

SCORE++;
>SCORE = -21;