Genre Examination: Turn-based Small Squad Tactics Games

This time, I want to briefly write about one of my favorite genres: turn-based small squad tactics (TBSST). As the name suggests, these types of games focus on strategically and/or tactically managing a small-ish squad of troops in battle, utilizing a turn-based battle system. Certainly the most well-known modern example of such a game is the excellent XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Some other notable examples include the older XCOM games, the Jagged Allience series, Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, Silent Storm, and Frozen Synapse (although that one has a simultaneous turn system, which makes it somewhat different from the other titles). Unfortunately, the list of examples is quite short; for whatever reason, this seems to be a rather niche genre. It is such a niche genre, in fact, that it doesn't really even have a well-established name!

Frozen synapse has a very simplistic and distinctive look, but underneath the surface, there lies a deep layer of tactics.
Picture taken from <http://www.frozensynapse.com/>

What Are Typical Features of the Genre?

So, for the uninitiated, what are TBSST like? Often times, they share certain gameplay features, which include:

General

• There are typically two distinct modes of play: a strategic/world map mode, where you manage your units, select which missions to take, purchase new equipment, etc., and the battle mode, where you control a handful of units from a isometric point-of-view.
• The battles are fought on pre-determined maps/locations.
• The player faces unfair odds in terms of the number of enemies he or she has to fight - this forces careful planning to succeed.
• The game works with odds of success. For example, you may have a 57% chance of hitting a shot - do you take the risky shot, or look for a safer play to make?

Units

• Units specialize in different combat roles (machine gunners, snipers, close-quarters combat specialists, medics, etc.).
• An important aspect of your overall game plan involves customizing your units (their gear, stats, and possible special abilities).
• The death of your units is often permanent.
• Your units often improve with experience, which rewards keeping them alive.

The excitement of XCOM:EU's combat is complemented by base management.

A Genre for Armchair... Sergeants?

TBSST is an intriguing genre; to me, it feels like a halfway point between real-time strategy (Starcraft)  and larger scale strategy games, such as 4X (Civilization) and grand strategy (Europa Universalis). That is, TBSST focuses on a small number of units - a smaller number, in fact, than most RTS games - as opposed to the larger scale strategy games that are not interested in single units, or even single armies, but look at the bigger picture of politics, economy and geography. This puts the player close to the combat, where the excitement is. On the other hand, the game still plays in turn-based fashion, making the gameplay slower and generally more ponderous than RTS games (which tend to be very frantic), but not nearly to the extent of grand strategy games' spreadsheet-like gameplay.

The combat in XCOM:EU revolves largely around the use of cover and flanking your enemy.

The way I look at TBSST is that if RTS games are mostly action games with layers of strategy and tactics on top of them, and hard-core strategy games are for self-proclaimed armchair generals who are interested in high-level empire management, then I guess TBSST is for the armchair sergeants who want something in between. Basically, a game that is primarily concerned with low-level strategy and tactics, but also one that never gets too far away from the action. Add in a healthy serving of role-playing elements, such as improving your squad, and you've got a recipe for success.

Silent Storm is definitely a one of the better entries in the genre.
Picture taken from <http://www.giantbomb.com/s2-silent-storm/3030-10967/images/>

Tactical Squad-Based First-Person Shooters

Before wrapping this post up, I want to go on a little bit of a tangent here, and also write about first-person shooters that incorporate strong elements of squad tactics into their gameplay. Now, TBSST is a niche genre, but this goes way beyond even that. In fact, as far as I know, there have only ever been a handful of titles that really belong into this category. The best examples are the old Rainbow Six games, up to and including Raven Shield, and SWAT 4. Unfortunately, although this has never been a popular genre, nowadays it seems to be essentially dead. The only relatively recent game that could fall into this genre is Takedown: Red Sabre. Too bad that according to every account I've read, the game is an absolute disaster. So, hear I am, hoping for some (most likely indie) developer to breathe some life into the the tactical shooter genre. Unfortunately, I have a feeling I might have to wait for a while before any worthy candidates arise...

The butt-clenching moment before breaching a door in SWAT 4.
Picture taken from <http://www.kaskus.co.id/thread/52a747a4f9ca170e2d8b4696/swat-4/1>

In Closing

I honestly don't know why TBSST is such an underrepresented genre; to me, it seems like a nice mix of brainy tactics and up close and personal action. I guess maybe that type of gameplay just doesn't appeal very much to modern gamers, who look out for, shall we say, well-established action franchises and cinematic experiences that can be easily and quickly consumed. Strangely enough, the few recent entries I have seen in the TBSST genre have been mobile games, out of all things.

Still, I remain hopeful that there may be some light at the end of the tunnel, shining from the direction of indie developers. For example, a Kickstarter backed Door Kickers was released a little while ago in Steam, and although I haven't tried it, it seems like a promising title. It's basically a game about playing as a SWAT squad, breaching buildings and clearing them of threats, in the spirit of the legendary planning phase of the old Rainbow Six games. If I happen to buy the game and get around to playing it, I may write a post about it at some point later.

TF2: The Best Casual/Pub-Focused FPS Out There

A couple of months ago, I got back to playing an old favorite of mine, Team Fortress 2. I initially purchased the game back in 2007 as a part of Valve's The Orange Box, and played it quite a bit. As such, I've played TF2 from the very beginning, back when it only had six official maps, only the stock weapons, no hats (!), and tc_hydro was actually a commonly played map. Basically, in the TF2 circles I'm not really an old fag, but an outright ancient fag nowadays. With that little bit of background info out of the way, I am here to tell you why TF2 is the best casual FPS to be played on public servers (i.e. not in a competitive environment).

Now, make no mistake - TF2 has numerous problems regarding some of its game modes, maps, class design, and especially weapon balance. I am not going to delve into the negatives here, because doing so would make this post ridiculously long. Rather, I'm just going to get the positives out of the way, and possibly return to discuss the negatives in the future. That being said, on to the positives!

1. The Aesthetic

TF2 has some of the best aesthetic design I have ever seen, in any media. Everything in the game, from the character models to the environments and the voice work, is positively dripping with flavor. The cartoony visual design gives the game an instantly recognizable look, and creates a wonderful setting for gory but always light-hearted fun. Unsurprisingly, the visual look of the game garnered high praise from both critics and consumers back on release, and has become iconic by now. Landing on the ingenious final design, however, did not just naturally occur, but was rather a result of an extensively long and troubled development cycle. The game was first announced all the way back in 1998, but it took nine years of development before the game finally saw release. During the those nine years, the visual style changed drastically. The original vision was for the game to feature a pseudo-realistic military style, as depicted below.

An early design of TF2. Picture taken from
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Fortress_2>

Of course, as we all know, the final product looks completely different:

The modern look that we all know and love. Picture taken <from http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/team-fortress-2>

The stellar visual style is perfectly complemented by the excellent audio design, which makes up the second half of the game's overall aesthetic. When mentioning TF2's audio, undoubtedly the first thing that comes to peoples' minds is the quirky and funny voice acting of the different classes. Although, from a purely gameplay perspective, the voice acting serves relatively little importance, it adds an immense amount of character in to the game. As a matter of fact, TF2 is very noteworthy for utilizing heavily characterized and personified classes in what is strictly a multiplayer game. The voice acting really brings the classes to life and gives each of them a distinct personality, all without featuring any type of narrative whatsoever. The only other game that I can think of which does something similar is Tripwire Interactive's Killing Floor. Interestingly enough, both are class-based multiplayer only FPS games.

2. It Facilitates a Number of Different Playstyles

TF2 is an exceptional FPS in the sense that it is very strictly class-based, and the classes are all completely different from one another. The heavy emphasis on class-based gameplay has a couple of important consequences. First of all, teamwork is practically mandatory. Teams who refuse to pick classes in at least semi-reasonable manner (i.e. going five Snipers and four Spies, as seems to be the standard in Valve servers) stand no chance against better team compositions. Secondly, the different classes have different jobs to do: Engineers build defensive sentry nests, Demomen destroy said sentry nests, Medics heal their teammates, and Heavies and Soldiers act as frontline meatshields. What is more, the different classes also play out completely differently: Scout is a blazingly fast, hyperactive class well suited for people with ADD; Medic suits people with nurturing instincts and an eye for strategy and the flow of the battle (or perhaps people who just want to win); Sniper is made for MLG pro 360 no-scope Call of Duty rejects (or people who are otherwise very good at clicking at stuff quickly and precisely); Engineer is perfect for people who absolutely cannot aim at all; Demoman is the go-to class for people who hate Engineers; etc. The point is, TF2 offers something for everybody, regardless of what type of gameplay you happen to enjoy. There is even a stealth class that hardly does any shooting at all, and must instead try to blend in among the enemy team to score backstabs!

Gentlemen.

It is also interesting to look at how the different classes interplay with one another,  in some cases forming smaller metagames inside the bigger picture of the battlefield. Probably the most obvious example of such a metagame is the largely self-contained battle between Spies and Engineers (with the occasional PyBro getting involved as well), where the Spies try to kill the Engineers and destroy their buildings, and the Engineers try to defend against the Spies.

Ideally, most of the players are focused on playing the objective, be that pushing the cart or capturing control points. Some classes, however, operate more independently from the rest of the team, focusing on doing other stuff instead. Spies are certainly the most independent class in the game, and they spend most of their time getting to good positions behind enemy lines and picking off key targets. I suppose that's why they seem so attractive to new players, and why nearly all servers are filled with spies (most of who get very little done). Some other examples of classes that can work well independently are the Scout and the Sniper. Scouts can cause havoc running behind enemy lines killing unaware stragglers and just generally being a nuisance. Snipers, on the other hand... well, snipers usually kinda just hang back and do nothing. That is, unless you meet one of the few good ones, who actually consistently hit headshots and thus cause tear-jerking and anus-clenching fits of rage among the opposing team.

I'm sniper, I'm helping!

3. The Gameplay Experience Is Unique

This point somewhat ties in with the previous one. In a market completely oversaturated with modern military shooters (the Call of Battlefield, Postmodern Offensive syndrome), all of which boil down to American special forces mowing down hordes of people of various skin complexions, TF2 is a breath of fresh air. Or perhaps rather a breath of musky, old-school air that brings back memories of ye olden days of the arena FPS. Although TF2 is a much more accessible game than Quake 3, for instance, TF2 still retains certain elements of the classic arena shooter gameplay: it tends to play quite fast, it utilizes both projectile weapons (rocket launchers etc.) and hit scan weapons (sniper rifles, pistols, etc.), combat usually takes place over medium to short distances, and classes aside from the Scout have enough health to survive a few hits from most weapons, which emphasizes aggressiveness, teamplay, and tactics over twitch shooting and camping.

If you don't really feel like playing, build a sentry gun to play the game for you!

TF2 also takes class-based gameplay to much greater heights than other class-based shooters, such as the Battlefield series, for example. Switching between classes makes a considerably larger difference than switching to a different weapon loadout, because the classes have different movement speeds and health pools. More importantly still, most classes have unique gameplay mechanics, such as being able to construct buildings, backstab enemies for one-hit-kills, rocket jump, or double jump. Out of the above mentioned examples, I want to particularly highlight rocket jumping, because it is such an essential part of the gameplay in TF2, and something that is (understandably) not really found in many games.

If you get good at rocket jumping, you can pretty much fly from one end of the map to the other.

4. The Objective Is Usually Obvious

A huge advantage in TF2's primary game modes (Payload, Attack/Defend, 5 Control Points, King of the Hill, and Capture the Flag) is that they are all fundamentally very simple, and therefore easy to pick-up even for new players. What is more, many of the maps tend to also be quite easy to navigate, and they mostly naturally help players find where to go. As such, the essential problem that players face is not "what am I supposed to do", but rather "how should I go about doing it".

The maps have arrows to point you in the right direction.

The two most enjoyable game modes in TF2 are certainly 5CP and Payload. Although I find 5CP to be the most balanced game mode overall (every class is useful in it), Payload still tends to be the most functional in terms of public play. The disadvantage Payload has compared to 5CP is that it is more focused around brute forcing your way forward, without worrying too much about flanking the enemy or picking them off individually. This results in the Scout being somewhat less useful than the other classes, because he is designed to be a fast-moving flanker. The advantage of Payload is that the objective is so simple and obvious that even the most retarded mouth-breather can understand what to do, and thus contribute on at least some level; literally all you have to do is follow the tracks that go across the map, and you will inevitably end up right where you should be. That, right there, is ingenious game design.

Just follow the tracks and you're good.

5. F2P

The final edge TF2 holds over most of its competition is that it's free to play. There really is no reasons not to give it a try try. I don't really have anything else to add to that.

Who doesn't like free stuff?

Summary

So, to recap: TF2 is the best casual FPS because it is reasonably easy to get into for a new player, it features a wonderful aesthetic that adds a ton of flavor to the game, and the variety of classes available means that there's bound to be something for everyone. Also, fear not if you do get into TF2, but are afraid that it has no depth for skilled players - there is a lot of room for skill lying under the light-hearted surface, and very skilled players can single handedly wreck a pub server.