Phantom Doctrine

okay you gotta be extremely patient with this game as it can be very complex. Don't expect adrenaline soaked shootouts of any nature turn based or otherwise; this is a thinking man's game. It's about investigation, analysis, and revelation. The gameplay encourages a tactical and/ or stealthy approach to situations as your attack options are limited by your 'awareness" which is used offensively and defensively. You don't get to just blast your way out of a situation like in other turn based titles however, ive found the overwatch feature to be very useful and a little more robust than other games but that could just be the way im playing. At any rate; be aware of what you're getting into if you buy this game- it's not to everyon's taste i.e, your love of xcom is not going to be much of a factor in how much you'll like this game but if you're looking for a change of pace with a little brainwork then this might be right up your alley.

Long as you can ignore the popping sound in the menus, it's a good game. Less of a shooter and more of a plan out how you're gonna knock people out and then hide their bodies. Every so often you will get into a shooting fight, but it's a lot more sneaking and planning. If you're into that, then this is your kind of game.

Has depth, a lot of thought went into this game. Would like to see a sequel if they put as much into it as this one.

XCOM blending CIA/KGB Spy Games. Slip in and turn Enemy Agents to your side with an MKULTRA catchphrase; infiltrate then extract your team after acquiring mission critical documents, decode the intel onto a police-style corkboard mini-game, linking the strings from gathered intel to potential Targets. The Safehouse and identity of your team has been compromised; time to stop printing counterfeit bills, change the identities of your Agents, and swap safehouses... If you like XCOM you'll dig this game. Has more emphasis on mechanics rather than graphics. And the load times are rough, but the game is worth it - more especially when on sale.

I knew nothing about this going in, didn't hear any hype, don't like hype. I played the Russians and my first thought was "lol this is like The Americans the video game", shady contacts and 1970s vans dropping off spies on dark alleys. It's nothing like X-Com but so what? The pace is like Hitman, except you control multiple people and levels are auto-generated. The game is made by amateurs and that's fine. I don't require games to be perfect, many of my favorites are very broken. The enemy AI makes no sense, doesn't feel human, but it's easy to learn the rules. Bigger problem is the very dark lighting for outdoors at night, realistic but hard to see. This game feels like a labor of love from a very small core team. Huge ambitious scope, run your own spy agency, and very fun when missions go south. But the drawback of these kinds of games is that there's no real "QA department", the devs focus on parts they enjoy making and don't stress about polish. Great game if you don't mind that.