Tactical combat game my ass, this game plain sucks.
It feels more like playing a baseball simulator for dummies than a combat game.
Instead of thinking, the game encourages you to :
- rush your units past Gatlings-equipped tanks to "capture" flags for the win
- warp your units in and out near your own camps, making them virtually impregnable
- ignore most of your units, since, barring some rare exceptions, you'll only ever want to deploy shock-troopers and their variations.
- ignore most features of your hard-earned upgrades, since 99% of the time they're basically useless (orders, armor upgrades of the tank, bought missions, etc.)
Engineers are useless, since you never run out of ammo with conventional weaponry, which is sufficient to "win at the game", and your units magically auto-heal at the end of any turn.
Lancers are useless, since most of the time, you can just rush/sneak past enemy tanks. Did I mention that the AI doesn't move her tanks ?
ATs are useless, since mines will never be an issue (you can spot them from miles away), and shock-troopers are better at what they're doing anyway.
Scouts have one useful unit at the end of the game (the sniper girl), but till then, you can just forget about them. The little you gain with their enhanced movement, you lose with their laughable pew-pew rifle.
Your units will somehow survive enemy gunners unloading their clips, while standing right in front of them. Enemy units seem able of the same dumb feats, since some of them can dodge incoming tank shells, mortar and/or Gatling fire.
Finally, the idiocy of the AI seems abysmal, since it allows you to take their camps, without even showing the slightest attempt at taking them back. All you have to do is... rush, rush and rush, mission after mission, without caring about casualties, supplies or positioning.
This is not to mention that if you wish to upgrade your units, you're FORCED to grind stupid-ass certificates and rare materials in missions that you've already done 50 times before. Since it's all luck (as in RNG-) based from what I gather, God speed on getting all your (30?) units upgraded.
Whatever.
Comparing this even remotely to JA/JA2 is an insult to the magnificence of the latter. The
cliché-infested background story and protagonists don't help to save the little that may have been salvaged.
There are good and interesting tactical jRPGs out there, but this one isn't one.