Recent reviews by Dark Derby

There's a story in there somewhere, but I'm too busy ramping boats over small islands, high-speed motorcycle jousting in crowded streets, or rampaging unarmed tuk-tuks into military bases to care about what's going on. 20/10.

Funny how after 11 straight years, this game still holds up with the right stuff.

I'm not usually a fan of CCGs, but as a huge fan of strategy, the Civil War, and steampunk, I loved Ironclad Tactics. It's fun, to put it simply.The pacing of a match is sufficient where you can plan without being rushed, but you don't have to wait a long time. The variety of cards and factions means that you can focus on different tactics, and have many unique decks without old cards becoming obsolete. And of course, who wouldn't want to command an army of giant robots?

There were a couple foibles, though. The first cards had an interesting mechanic where completing mini-achievements would unlock new cards (e.g. deploying 30 riflemen--->veteran riflemen). This is really only seen in the first few missions and then not really at all from there on out. A shame, considering that hey, it was a cool idea.

The basic story was okay; not great, but not terrible. The characters were unique, but not really memorable. I thought one particular character, Joseph Ashdown, should have been in the story a bit more, given that he's the main character's lifelong friend and shares equal billing with him. He kind of gets kicked out of the story early on, and doesn't show up again till near the end. But that's only my opinion.

All in all, though, I'd still totally recommend Ironclad Tactics. It's a pretty solid choice, with a vibrant, unique art style, a really, really great sort of American-orchestral soundtrack, and quite a lot of post-main-story fun (including a harder version of the campaign and two DLC campaigns), Ironclad Tactics is a stable ride that just needs some polish. I'd give it an 8 out of 10.