First things first: This is not a clasic turn-based rpg, let's just get that clear (I have no idea what that other review is talking about). This is styled very much like those games but there is no character progression, no army/party building, no skills, etc. TBS game maybe, rpg definitely not.

This is really a puzzle game using some mechanics from tactics style games. Think of it like playing challenge mode in chess games. There is a board setup and you basically have to figure out a strategy to solve it.

General graphics/audio: Very barebones, you basically get to toggle fullscreen, lighting & shadows (I have no idea why in the hell anybody would turn off lighting and shadows unless they were trying to run this on a rig from 20 years ago), music and sfx. The game is locked to 60fps but I'm not even sure 60 is necessary considering what is happening.

Story: Somewhat amusing story which I did not expect at all. I don't mean an actual plot because there is barely a story, there aren't really characters and stuff but the overarching narrative basically makes fun of tactics style games. Every couple of centuries sky-people who aren't really sky people go into a world where everybody is getting along and just makes them all fight on these square floating islands for their amusement. It's accompanied with little bits of text at the start of every level that are somewhat amusing.

Gameplay: Very straightforward tactics-style mechanics thrown into a puzzle. Units move on a grid, they have basic stats and attack stuff, enemies have movement preferences and if you mouse over them it shows exactly where the enemy will go. Some boards have a very specific way to beat and is basically trial and error. Most of the time a wrong move will ruin everything and you gotta restart or hit the turn back button. One mechanic I'd definitely recommend turning off is the one where when enemies attack your units it pauses the game and you have to click for the attack to go through. Since you can't press the turn back button this serves no real purpose, units move quickly and there's no actual need to see when the enemy attacks, if it does and you didn't know it was coming odds are you f*cked up.

My main complaint would be the weird difficulty curve(?). With most puzzle games you expect it to start easy and then slowly and consistently ramp up until it is ridiculously hard. With Monstro the difficulty goes up and down, every once in a while you hit a hard level but in between them are levels that are not only much easier but also don't require a specific way to solve (a lot of the easier ones just require you to gather your guys up and wait for the enemy to walk in and get slaughtered).

Overall: Would recommend as a casual strategy/puzzle game. If you are looking for a new Tactics Ogre/Final Fantasy Tactics then this is definitely not for you unfortunately. There is decent enough value for the money, The first Human wing took me about an hour and there is a monster wing and a ++ wing for both races.

I think I’ve never played a game as Monstro: Battle Tactics. This game is best described as a mixture of turn based tactical battles with a puzzle game, in the sense that you have to find the correct way and order to take out the enemy units or complete a certain objective without getting your troops killed.

The story of the game is presented to you in the form of an introductory cutscene and via little text windows at the beginning of every mission. The game takes place in Ludus, a place where monsters,mythical creatures and humans live in peace but once in every hundred years the Skygods summon some sort of floating islands, with perfectly shaped squares, in order to humans and monsters fight among themselves for the amusement of the gods.

Core gameplay:

The gameplay is pretty simple and easy to understand but, however, this doesn’t mean that the game doesn’t offer a challenge, it is quite the opposite. On each mission you’ll have control over one or more units, and usually your objective is either to slay all enemy units or to eliminate a certain enemy. The loss condition, of course, is not to loose all your units. Sounds simple enough, right? This is where Monstro: Battle Tactics really shines, it takes a simple and easy to learn gameplay formula and makes it challenging and hard by turning the fights and the levels themselves into puzzles of some sort. What I mean by this is that you’re able to move your units as you see fit, but most often the not, if you don’t plan ahead and find the correct order to attack and which enemies to go after first, you’ll end up loosing pretty quickly. Still, no need to worry about restarting the level since the game kindly offers you an “undo” function.

The game adds some variety to this by putting you against different types of enemies with different stats and by putting down some traps and movable and destructible walls. Your units also have their own stats, and some might even have specializations which increases a certain stat of a given unit. It is also in this sense that each mission is somewhat of a puzzle, because you have to compare your units stats with the enemies and figure out if you have what it takes to take the enemy down before it takes you.

Pros:

• Nice and clean pixel art style
  
• Really good sountrack
  
• 5 different campaigns, each with hand crafted levels
  
• Hilarious and funny dialogue
  
• Simple and easy to learn but yet challenging gameplay

Cons:

• Dialogue can be somewhat confusing to understand at times
  
• Story could be a bit more developed
  
• Some missions have a steep learning curve
  
• Could use more unit variety

Despite the cons I’ve mentioned above, Monstro: Battle Tactics manages to keep things varied and interesting enough to make me want to keep playing it. As someone who has never really delved much into tactical RPGs, I must say I like the way this game mixes some aspects of that genre with some light elements of puzzle solving. Therefore, if you’re a fan of light puzzle games, turn based strategy in general or are just looking for something unique with a twist, I recommend you check this one out!

I thoroughly enjoyed Monstro the little bit I played of it, while I wouldn't necessarily call it a traditional tactical rpg, it is a very retro throwback type of experience. The game isn't really styled after the newer tactical roleplaying or strategy games. You don't form parties, you don't mix and match units to find the best possibly combination for each battle. From the outside looking in the game may appear to be a bit too old school..

In spite of the fact that it's not your typical strategy game, a lot of thought and careful planning is involved with each and every new battle you face. You'll be forced to discover the correct order to attack, the right way to move your characters around to best strike and destroy the enemy. This type of game is really geared towards someone who thinks outside the box, if you go all out and blitz each enemy you'll find yourself on the losing end time after time after time.. Although like they said, if you fail, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and try again.. try try again.. Trust me you'll be trying again with this game..


The game plays like your typical strategy game, the characters move on a grid, you can move so many spaces and pick a few limited options in regards to your enemies. The main game play element is trying to figure out how to clear the stage, often times hitting with just a single character won't be enough to kill the enemy, other times the enemy character may obliterate you with a single turn leaving you running around with no chance of winning.


Fairly challenging,
a hybrid mix of strategy and puzzle game
well put together game


A bit frustrating in some areas
Tutorial leaves alot to be desired
Alot of potential but the barebones nature of the product was kind of detracting.


I'd recommend this game to fans of strategy and puzzle games, being a hybrid of the two suits this game really well and will stimulate lovers of both genres. The game has quite a bit of challenge, although kind of limited on the replay value as once you know how to solve the battles not much changes. The game has enough to offer so that it'll keep even the most seasoned gamer on his toes.

First impression: Mobile tactics game for beginners (not (yet?) available on mobile).

There is a pay-what-you-want deal for Monstro on IndieGameStand for the next 65 hours.

It's tactics because you command up to 10 units, turn-based, with predetermined battle outcomes and a predictable AI. (There is no multiplayer.) It's mobile because the maps are small and the interface is huge and the windowed resolution is fixed at 1280x720; space is optimized so you can play it on your phone. It's for beginners because games often last less than 10 turns (did I mention the maps are small?), and I managed to beat the achievement missions including mission 20 of the human and monster campaigns (they have 20 missions each) after completing the tutorial, skipping the rest -- well, all except monster mission 19, which requires careful counting so the AI splits up the way you want, which is too much micromanagement for me right now.

Each side has 6 units types, with HP, walking range, attack range, attack and shield; at the beginning of your turn, your shields regenerate, then you move and attack with each unit, and then it's the opponent's turn. You need to plan your moves in advance, and, in many cases, predict where the AI is going to move so they step on traps properly (you need to stop on a trap or it won't trigger) or split up into smaller groups. There are 9 tutorial levels and four campaigns of 20 levels each; two campaigns are fully unlocked once you complete the tutorial. If anyone knows how to unlock the ++ campaigns without having to complete all of the other levels, I'll gladly have a go at them. I did complete the human campaign and found the difficulty a tad uneven, but since all of the levels are unlocked, that's not really a problem.

If your looking for "my first tactics game", then Monstro will do decently; if you want a casual tactics game with more tactical depth, try Militia.

This game runs fine on my old Windows XP computer.

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an excellent tactical game with funny writing, pleasant graphics and music (don't forget to grab the free soundtrack dlc), volume sliders, speed settings, zoom in/out, and plenty of challenges in achievement form if simply completing the 4 campaigns (20 levels each, plus 8 tutorial levels) on their own isn't enough. it's possible that it will be, as there are a few really difficult levels, but no rng, everything's explained, you can see which unit can move where, how much damage they can take and deal, and what will happen at the end of the turn.

highly recommended for tactics/puzzle fans, though I wish audio got muted when the game's minimized, and there's an annoying amount of missing apostrophes and other typos all over the place. unfortunately, I haven't been able to complete it yet, I'm stuck on human++ level 19, so 2 levels and the entire monster++ campaign left to do, but since the game's practically unknown, there's not much helpful info around.

This is a fun puzzle game, and I use the word puzzle because this is not an RPG and it's also not a classic a turned base strategy game like the King's Bounty series - you cannot upgrade any skills or learn new ones, which means the scenario is very predetermined and it becomes more of a puzzle. The game contains 80 puzzles/levels, 40 playing as the humans fighting the beasts and 40 more as the beasts fighting the humans. The majority of the human puzzles can be won without losing any units, which is a fun optional challenge if you like that sort of stuff. Overall it's a nicely balanced game that's fun to play in short bursts between doing other things.

The short version first: If you're after something a bit like a Fire Emblem game, but with a focus on tactical "puzzles" over stats and experience points, this may very well be your game - but an RPG it is not.

Monstro: Battle Tactics takes the guise of a strategy game, in the vein of a Japanese-made grid-based game. The "Battle Tactics" moniker, then, is a further element of said guise. The game is not necessarily lying to us; the core element of the game is the tactical movement of your army. But rather than being able to win a fight by sheer attrition, or because your units have gained more experience or had better weapons or were carrying healing items that could be leaned upon, the average battle in Monstro tends to be won by either very careful manipulation of unit movement, or sheer manpower (when a given map even grants it to you). You'll be cleverly keeping your soldiers just out of reach of that approaching minotaur, sneaking your archer around a wall so she can snipe at angry mushrooms with near-impunity, shifting mobile walls to block off points of entry.

When combat inevitably happens, there are no random numbers, chances to critical-hit, or any semblance whatsoever of character growth. Attacks always hit and always deal the same damage. Therefore, the clever tactician must ensure that a given foe has enough accessible sides (and enough nearby men) that a given monster can be killed in a single turn, OR that enemies only have access to a small number of said men at the end of the turn, or else they'll spend the next turn watching their army be handily converted into a fine red mist. And while armies both human and monster alike are largely generic (there are no unique characters to my knowledge), they all fill different roles that all play into the great tactical puzzle that the game presents. Soldiers, archers, mobile walls - you'll need to leverage their abilities if you want anybody to survive at all...even if your average map lasts roughly two minutes and tends to end with nearly everybody dead.

That brevity may in fact be this game's greatest gameplay strength. This game is not keen to waste your precious time. The enemy turns are over in mere seconds; there are no complex character skills, and if you botch a move by accidentally double-clicking a unit, you can undo it. In fact, you can undo to the very beginning of the level if you want. Just because you've failed the map doesn't mean the game is about to force you to do it all over again, because there's an "undo last turn" button that lets you see about taking a different approach. And because the game has no randomness whatsoever, you have no need to constantly undo and redo the same action in hopes that the RNG will roll in your favor. If it didn't work the first time, try something else. And if nothing seems to work, nothing's stopping you from skipping that level and seeing what the next level's puzzle has to offer.

Having said most of what I can say about the gameplay, I feel like special mention must be made of the creativity on display. The sprite-and-tile artwork of the game is fantastic, with a nice bold choice of color, sprites that don't just sink into the background, lush grass tiles and chilly ice tiles and everything else in between. Even the interface buttons are big, bold, and clear. Simple, effective, and very pleasing to the eye. The music fits the general mood of the game quite well, and I absolutely love the writing on display at the start of every map - the sardonic narrator constantly going on about how these battles are ultimately the work of Skygods in search of cheap entertainment, while gleefully trivializing the actual fight. Each map description I read managed to elicit at least a giggle out of me, so that's certainly a major point in favor.

All this said, I would not blindly recommend this game to everybody I know. The type of gameplay on display here would not appeal to everybody; those looking for a strategy game of more substance - especially if one is after that elusive PC equivalent to a proper Fire Emblem game - would be soundly disappointed. The lack of character growth, and RPG elements in general, would probably annoy a player in search of something deep. But "depth" is not what this game aims for. It aims to be a bite-sized, play-in-short-bursts sort of strategy game, for the player that does not want to spend hours poring over their units' stats screens and buying them all pairs of boots. It boils down to the chess-like tactics of pieces meant to do very specific things, and figuring out the best way to use those specific things to clear each little situation. It's a "small" game, for the player who wants to do a lot in a little time.

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The game is well designed, even when some rules are kinda tricky to understand, the misions are fun to do, specially trying to get the achievements. The art is great and imo one of the strongest points. the music is nice, but kinda distracting if you end turns fast. overall is a good game.

I have barely scratched the surface, but I am loving it so far. The tutorial / intro experience is well done; not too wordy. It surprised me to find that it was more of a puzzle game then anything, and I liked that. Totally worth the price.