14 DAY TRIAL // I’m moving up very slowly, searching for full cover and using it when I can, spraying enemies with bullets even if I’m unable to hurt them to get more suppression. This takes away one of their action points, which makes it harder for them to actually deliver damage on their turn while allowing my own team of five operatives to execute more actions.
The big problem is that, while I have two operatives on good flanking maneuvers, it’s tough going in the center. There’s limited cover and my attempt to use one grenade to shape the terrain did not go great. So I risk and advance one guy to half-cover, using overwatch to try and take out enemies who will be coming for him.
The computer-controlled team isn’t dumb. One of the opponents draws fire and takes a little damage. But two of his companions then manage to deliver accurate fire on my advanced operative and kill him. I am now a man down, enemy reinforcements are coming in a few turns, and I might not have the firepower to hold them off and get the supplies.
Mars Tactics is developed by Takibi Games and published by Hooded Horse. I played a demo of it on Steam on the PC. The title uses all the main ideas of the turn-based tactics genre, adding a new take on suppression and action points.
The game will take players to our nearest planetary neighbor, where two factions, Labor and Capital, are fighting for control. The conflict takes place in the future and will feature soldiers that learn from their experiences. Battlefields are destructible and can be shaped using explosives, airstrikes, vehicles, and artillery.
The demo scenario puts players in charge of a five-man squad seeking to liberate some supplies from an ambushed convoy. Each turn, characters get an allotment of action points to spend on movement and weapon actions. Cover is crucial for success and players need to pay attention to cover and, especially, suppression.
If a soldier takes enough fire, even if none of them hits the target, it will lose an action point, limiting its ability to contribute. The other team will also get an extra AP, that can be shared, offering them an expanded set of tactical choices.
All battlefields are designed to be destroyed during combat and each bullet is tracked as a physical object. It adds to the depth of the battles and forces players to constantly adapt to the conditions and find ways to surprise enemies.
The computer fights well in Mars Tactics. It focuses fire to create its own suppression and quickly moves to eliminate the player’s vulnerable soldiers. This is a good sign for a tactics-focused game. The mechanics allowing players to gain AP and distribute them to comrades is also interesting.
What I have seen of Mars Tactics is kind of drab. Think closer to classic XCOM than the modern version of it. There’s limited detail for the characters, and the world is pretty empty, but the game offers clear indicators for status effects and possible actions. The soundtrack is thumping, with a techno-future that really sells the action-focused dystopia players are in.
Conclusion
Given the relatively limited presentation and narrative, the developer really needs to work on as much systemic innovation. Although absent from the demo, the title also promises strategic choices across a detailed map of the Red Planet. Mars Tactics has one cool core idea and it will be interesting to see how it develops from now on.
A preview key was provided by the publisher
