AntiSquad Tactics Premium from InsGames

InsGames grabbed my attention by releasing Antisquad Tactics in both a freemium and a premium version.The premium is being sold as “Complete freedom from the premium currency,energy … just the game itself!”. I love this idea and I feel games with “energy” are just a bad idea. Why stop someone playing your game? I’ve never been one for turn by turn tactic games but Shadowrun by Harebrained Schemes changed my views as that was such an amazing game and ported beautifully for tablet play.

Antisquad has a cartoony style resembling the artistic style of Team Fortress 2. I’m sure the graphics won’t wow anyone but they are pleasant on the eye. Game play is basic; you tap to move and tap on enemies to select your attack. As with most turn based games you get action points that limit your turn. Once your points are spent its the enemies turn to lay the smack down on your arse.

The game is split into 3 contracts that change the level background styles. It has 42 different missions with names based on quotes or film names (nice to see the dev having a bit of fun).You also get 3 different difficulty levels but I can’t even do normal so will never experience these. For fans of turn based games this adds a lot of replayability. For people like me struggling to beat the first few levels you can spend in game money on health kits, armor and other bits to help you try and stay alive (but without in app purchases [IAP] you will be grinding those first few levels trying to get that money).

While this game may suit experienced puzzle players or turn based players it doesnt suit  casual gamers. I have found that while the game is called “Tactics” there is only one way to beat the levels. The key is just working out what steps you need to take making it feel more like a puzzle game. If you make even one mistake in a level you are pretty much dead and need to spend in game money or just try again, until you work out what the level expects you to do.Most of the starting levels don’t let you use all your players abilities; I think this is to train you to use others. For me its just annoying, I spent loads of in game money buying a new assault rifle for the next mission to be a knife only level. My plan was to knife a bad guy, run away and then mow them down with my AR, but no – I had to stab, move out of range, next turn, stab, move out of range.

What I feel has happened is the premium version was a last thought and is more of a gimmick as the game hasn’t been balanced. It’s like it still wants to to spend money on IAP but you have no choice.  Even the loading screens have things like “ use cool items” –  I would really like to see the starting levels on the premium version being a lot easier for those of us not used to turn based games. Not punishing players from the start and including a fully fleshed out tutorial for the first level would really help new players.

I cannot recommend the Premium version – go for the free version and spend £4 in IAP or just buy Shadowrun and get an all round better game. If you disagree please let me know in the comments.