Guns. Grenades. Knives. What’s the mental picture you’re painting right now? If you’re me, it’s probably something akin to Weird Al Yankovic dressed up as Rambo. Certainly not what you’d expect from what I’m playing in this week’s review.
The game is a tactical “shooter” that has you controlling military units in turn-based missions. The concept appealed to me, so I thought I would give it a go. Brace yourself for RAD Soldiers.
OK, so before we get into the meat of what this game is. I have to tell a personal story. Last night, our Internet wasn’t working at home (100 percent my fault, playing with custom firmware is fun!) and because of such playing, this game was about as easy as winning the Indy 500 while running barefoot. Everything in the game needed Internet access. Want to shop? Go online? Want to get a skin for your soldier? Go online. Oh, look a mystery prize dropped on the map what’s inside? AN ERROR TELLING ME TO GO ONLINE. Introducing the iFrisbee!
That aside after putting up a portable Wi-Fi spot from my phone, I started getting into the good stuff. While I love shooter games, and I’m typically a snob, I make exceptions here and there, and had to for this one. While it’s not my typical first-person shooter style, the tactics involved are good, and as you progress the levels get quite challenging. Because of that this game will actually appeal to anyone who is a fan of puzzle games as well, as some of the missions require you to really think about where you are moving your squad and not just rushing in like Leroy Jenkins.
So when finally killing a unit, some of the death animations are just plain laughable something akin to this. (Once upon a Time, great series by the way) Enough nit picking. All in all the game plays great, the amount of units is fair, and there seems to be plenty of playable missions, as well as the expansion out to Rio, with a whole slew more. The game is by no means shy on content.
While I definitely feel that skins for each of the characters is both a nice touch, and sort of a silly way for the developers to make money off the title, I get it. As someone who loves making games in his free time, we find the most obscure ways of trying of get money, and hey, whatever works.
The games interfaces and menus are super sleek, and by no means confusing, even with the amount of content displayed. For those of you who have played Team Fortress 2, the interface should look very familiar. That same cartoony outline style. Everything is customizable, from the characters looks to their equipment and skills. You can even change their names, and let me tell you it was really hard to not name them awful things and send them in to their deaths, and laughing gleefully.
Graphics: 
Cartoony graphics seems to be the theme as of late, but hey that’s fine. The graphics mesh well with the theme of the game, and everything appears very fluid. With nothing out of place here, I cant really knock the game for its artistic use of cartoon shading, however the lack of special effects and missed opportunities ( bullet holes, shell casings etc.) I can’t give it a flawless score.
Gameplay:
Chess with guns? Maybe. However it still feels more like a puzzle game at times. The gameplay is solid, and defiantly has me hooked, though I’m still a little bent out of shape about not being able to play this on my Wi-Fi only iPad too much since it has a near
“vampiristic” need for a data connection. If it wasn’t for that little irritation I would have happy given this a 4.
Audio:
The sound in the game is pretty good. Nothing to be especially ecstatic about, but you know, I’ve heard far worse. The gun sounds, which should be the meat and potatoes, sound a little lame truthfully.
Innovation:
Don’t think there is very much in this sort of a genre to be found in the app store so I really have to give them a 4, though the concept is by no means a new formula. It really reminds me of the absolutely ancient game of BattleChess. Bonus points to those out there who recall that title.
Overall:
Good game. Solid. Absolutely solid. It’s really only its absolute need for the Internet that kills me here. Again that being pretty much the only thing stopping this title from earning a 4 here. I really enjoyed the time I put into this title, so don’t let the 3 scare you off.
