3000AD, the company founded by long-time PC game developer, Derek Smart, has released its real-time squad tactics game, Line of Defense Tactics, on the PC. Originally a mobile title, Line of Defense Tactics puts you in command of a four-person squad as they undertake 16 missions of various goals and settings. Of course, one must ask if a game ported over to the PC from a mobile experience can successfully make the transition. For example, what used to be all gesture controlled is now a keyboard, mouse, and gamepad affair.
Unfortunately, the controls are Line of Defense Tactics biggest hurdle for players to overcome. Controlling your squad with the mouse and keyboard causes great frustration as you “chase” your units around with the mouse cursor in order to select them. Sometimes, selecting a unit will not actually select them, instead it brings up an interaction menu based on the last character that was selected. This is a huge problem as Line of Defense Tactics has some enjoyable gameplay moments which are ruined by the controls.
Aside from the glaring control problems, Line of Defense Tactics doesn’t really have any discernible storyline. This is not always a bad thing, and Line of Defense Tactics doesn’t lose anything because of it. Throughout the game’s 16 levels, your 4 squad members will level up, gain new skills, and be able to purchase new weapons and gear. Doing these things is essential as the difficulty level of the game’s AI bad guys grows rapidly after the first few missions. Each member of your squad has his own area of combat expertise, but the clunky controls make wielding them effectively very challenging.
Visually, Line of Defense Tactics lacks a lot of detail – I would imagine a symptom of its mobile game roots. The camera keeps back a bit to try and cheat the lack of detail, but it doesn’t do much to help the situation. The game’s music and voice acting are equally “so-so”, and I just kept wishing that this game had been developed for the PC platform first with a lot more detail, story, etc and then ported over to the mobile platforms. 3000AD has made some of the most complex PC games in history, so it is surprising to see something like this come from them.
Overall, Line of Defense Tactics is an “okay” port of a fun mobile game. It has a few interesting, engaging moments, but lacks overall polish – especially at a $24.99 dollar price point. If this game were on sale for $9.99 dollars or less, I would be a lot more generous in evaluating it.
[easyreview title=”Line of Defense Tactics Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”2″ ]
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