Incline Brigador: Up-Armored Edition - isometric mech action game

[laclongquan]

And they suffered for it. With that monicker mech, there's certain expectations from fans: either a robot simulation, or menmachine management game.

 

[agris]

I think they suffered a lot from the price point. Who cares that you *think* it's worth $30? If you make 2x the revenue at $20 per unit than you do $30, $30 is objectively the wrong price.

 

[RoBoBOBR]

I'd say there are several things, that make this game worse than it could be:
- price - i got it cheap, rus region and all, but i wouldn't pay 30 for that definitely
- samey levels - those maps look too similar
- no way to save your progress mid-mission in freelance. later freelance stages are made of 10+ maps, and that take A WHILE to go through. Difficulty is usually increasing as you go (with most pilots anyway), so you can spend and hour or two grinding through first 5-6 maps only to be blown-up on extraction map and get like 50k instead of millions.

 

[BlackGoat]

I think a Multiplayer versus mode might have been a good idea.

 

[SCO]

Reminds me of a modern 'robot' Arcus Odyssey.

 

[Destroid]

They can price the game however they like but I don't think many people are interested in paying much for simple arcade games.

 

[Blaine]

Finally picked this up the other day. I'm beginning to doubt if the people trashing it ITT have actually played it—for example, the liar who claims it's two hours long. The sheer idiocy of some Codexers never fails to amaze.

It looks like a fairly straightforward action game at first glance, but it isn't. You can't simply rush in like an idiot stomping and shooting everything. Past the very first babby missions, you must develop situational awareness, tread carefully (e.g., don't back into a gas station while aiming across the map), take facing into account (flanks and rear = more damage), take terrain and map layout into account (and use it against enemies where possible), manage sound because it attracts the attention of enemies (an exploding space cannon makes a great deal of noise; firing a quiet weapon, very little), prioritize targets, conserve your ammo, aim carefully, and use your special equipment wisely.

There's quite a learning curve at first. Learning to steer and aim simultaneously takes some getting used to, as does figuring out the flow of the game and what does what. One mistake can get you blown up or swarmed and botch an entire mission.

Personally, I think the maps and terrain are quite varied, from landscaped suburban housing enclaves to open fields to neon-bedecked cities to pipe- and factory-filled industrial zones. The faction and unit composition of the enemy force also differs and makes for markedly differently play, especially during the campaign. Then again, I've only been playing ~10 hours.

There are currently 52 vehicles to choose from, more-or-less evenly split between mechs, tanks, and agravs (hover vehicles), and further split between three factions. Their attributes and handling vary widely, and many have special traits; even their profile can have an effect (needle-like vehicles are harder to hit head-on, for example). The smaller, frailer vehicles cost more to unlock and are harder to play but grant reward multipliers at mission end. There are 40 weapons split between five hardpoint categories and 4 pieces of special equipment (smokescreen, EMP grenade, optic camo, and demolition blast). These can be mixed and matched however you see fit, although the type of hardpoints (each vehicle has two) are fixed. These options allow for a great deal of flexibility and variety.

Most of the unlocks after vehicles and equipment are for progressively longer and harder Freelance campaigns, and for pilots. Higher-level pilots increase mission difficulty and payout, and cost progressively more to unlock. There are also a bunch of Intel/Lore items to unlock that offer a lot of backstory for the game.

The game's almost purely skill-based. Taking a frail vehicle piloted by a high-difficulty pilot through a long, high-difficulty Freelance campaign is possible (and I've seen such runs completed in the Steam forums) but requires a great deal of practice and familiarity with the game.

A mech simulator it ain't, but it is a beautiful, detailed, well-made game that requires a lot more than mindless button-mashing and features hard, but fair, difficulty.

 

[Riskbreaker]

Aye, it's neither swallow nor repetitive, and it offers quite a bit of content for the right kind of player. I've spent 30+ hours on it, and will probably go back for more at some point.

And yeah, some of the posts here are rather awful. Mech game that is neither a sim nor a strategy, such travesty is not to be tolerated!

 

[orcinator]

for example, the liar who claims it's two hours long

You have to be pretty special if it took you longer than that to beat the 20 mission campaign.

 

[Blaine]

You have to be pretty special if it took you longer than that to beat the 20 mission campaign.

The campaign is 25 missions long now. I'm sure it's possible to complete in two hours if you rush through finishing the minimum objectives required while playing only one vehicle per mission and not bothering to unlock much of anything, yet there's far more to the game than rushing through the campaign mode. Personally, I like to complete all objectives and also use several of the available vehicles to run through each campaign mission.

Freelance is the meat of the game, and choosing to ignore that is asinine. The campaign serves as an extended introduction and sampler platter of the various vehicles and weapons.

Fallout 2 is about two hours long if you rush straight to the water chip and finish ASAP, yet I'm fairly sure most people whose brains are fully functional don't claim the game is two hours long.

 

[80Maxwell08]

I forgot about this. I want to get it but $20 is a bit steep for me right now. On a side note, does buying it from the developer's website give you both a drm-free download and a steam key?

 

[Great Deceiver]

This is around $6 on the Steam sale right now. Worth it?

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

This is around $6 on the Steam sale right now. Worth it?

I would say yes.

 

[laclongquan]

Blaine is pretty persuasive in his defense. I say yes.

 

[Infinitron]

Brigador: Director's Cut http://steamcommunity.com/games/274500/announcements/detail/223333117189561228

The Design Bureau Update & Re-Launch Announcement!
2 APRIL - BOSS TWEED

Brigadors! We're proud to announce the game will re-launch on June 2nd as a free update, a special thanks to all of you for sticking with us.

The changes include:

• A new intro campaign
  
• New pilots and playable vehicles
  
• Achievements
  
• Complete rebalance of difficulty to better ease in new players
  
• Localization to German, Russian, Japanese, French, Spanish, & Brazilian Portuguese
  
• A few more things we're keeping secret for now

In the mean time, we've used your feedback to guide today's Design Bureau update, which includes a major rebalance to all weapons, better descriptions for weapons and campaign loadouts, more LORE (we always have time for more LORE), an FAQ section with a more thorough explanation of gameplay mechanics, and three new playable vehicles: The Spacer Zöllig Heavy mech, the Loyalist Kilgore Ultra tank, and the Corvid Canavan Light anti-grav.
A complete changelog can be found here.

To celebrate this update we've also discounted Brigador for the next 4 days, so if you've enjoyed the game please tell your friends, and if you haven't picked up the OST + audiobook now's the perfect time to do so!

We'll continue with minor updates between now and the re-launch, and remain happy to answer any questions you may have over in the discussion forums.

Thanks again, and as a small reminder if you haven't left a review for the game yet please do—recent changes to how Steam collates reviews brought us back below the minimum 500 review threshold for the Overwhelmingly Positive rating, which is pretty important for us. If you like the game, let us know, and if you don't, well tell us what we can do for you and we'll see what we can do. Otherwise, catch you all in June!

 

[Blaine]

• Complete rebalance of difficulty to better ease in new players

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

http://steamcommunity.com/games/274500/announcements/detail/1252410330038923310

Presenting Brigador Up-Armored Edition!
2 June - Boss Tweed


Massive thanks to all our players who've stuck with us over the last year, especially those who've been with us all the way since Early Access. Having a community like this makes all the difference in the world – and it's what kept us going through another year of development. Thank you, Brigadors.

Now for the re-launch! What wonderful new things await?

Achievements!

New Campaign!

New Pilots!

New Playable Vehicles!

Better Explosions!

Other changes include spawnlist scaling, allowing us to better tailor enemy unit spawns relative to the level size (no more enemy tidal waves on Gasworks Turnpike), and more weapon / vehicle balance tweaks. We'll continue fine-tuning these elements, but for now get playing and tell us what you think in the discussion forums! And if you haven't posted a review for the game yet, now would be a perfect time.

As a special gift for those of you who own the Deluxe Edition, we're adding the Up-Armored EP to the audio collection. Curated by Makeup and Vanity Set and featuring tracks by a variety of outstanding musicians, the Up-Armored EP puts the total Brigador OST length at over 3 hours, and the total Deluxe Edition audio to 10 hours of content. A labor of love, all for your listening pleasure.

Also released on GOG and they reduced price to $20.

 

[Severian Silk]

Is the terrain always flat? I'm wondering if there are hills/valleys/etc.

 

[Haba]

Yeah bought the game.

It doesn't launch. At all.

GG, WP.

Game breaking bugs at (re)launch date, gotta be fun.

 

[RoBoBOBR]

Downloaded new version, runs ok. They've added several new control schemes, and not struggling with tank controls makes the game so much more enjoyable. Several new mechs and vehicles, also cool. Plus steam forums indicate that devs are quite active and more stuff is expected for that game (like saves for Freelance mode).

All in all there's no excuse to not buy that game now, with lowered price and adjustable controls.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

the game has huge slowdowns when the actual game starts, lasting for minutes, i have no idea why.
anyway, the game feels like an alpha, a structure without anything built on. and the separation between equipping and buying is beyond trump-level retardation.

 

[Tom Selleck]

I got this as part of the humble monthly, and it's fine. It definitely feels like a SNES game, I guess. I don't mean that in a pejorative sense. That being said, I've played 20 minutes of it.

 

[Astral Rag]

Is the terrain always flat? I'm wondering if there are hills/valleys/etc.

it's always flat

 

[Carceri]

Bought the game from GOG and it works flawlessly. It's a cool little game.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

http://steamspy.com/app/274500

Owners: 149,161 ± 11,242

Well, that's somewhat successful re-launch.

edit.
Ah.
http://steamcommunity.com/app/274500/discussions/0/1353742967809495042/

Boss Tweed [developer] 10 Jun @ 7:06pm

Our sales have gone up, but the majority of those are from Humble Monthly activations, which we did get paid a lump sum for but is not at all representative of actual sales. So we're doing better, but not remotely close to what steamspy might indicate.