Key provided by the developer through curator TURN-BASED TACTICS | Click to follow and receive updates for similar reviews

More info below....

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3209435992

► The CAMPAIGN is a story-driven affair designed to finish on D-Day after conducting x25 out of x45 possible missions. Some are binary, which means those not chosen will be missed. Others are not. There is no free map roaming.

► TIME-LIMITS are present within mission objectives, reinforcements and even dictate the length of the campaign forcing gameplay, reducing leeway to choose alternate strategies.

► REPRISAL SQUADS bring jeopardy to the strategy map, ensuring the need to periodically counter damaged sectors or stall Gestapo [et al]. Keeping these in check are the repair TASK or deployment of Free French (FFI) assets.

► MISSIONS have good variation as layouts are mostly unique. Objectives are a variation upon a theme. Assault, Ambush and Stealth types play out loud, in partial stealth or at full stealth. The multitude of factors that go into design make only a very few missions feel over-engineered. Lacks a deployment phase.

► Unique and shared skills of the x4 CHARACTER classes makes them role oriented, which are defined by their own special actions and solitary weapon type. Characters cannot be generated. A total of x8 characters from x12 can be recruited.

► The SKILL TREE makes for versatile character progression. Each one is divided into x4 sections of which x2 can be fully specialised if max level is reached. There are a good range of passives to raise stats. Skills that augment mechanics or provide actions make a big difference in missions.

► INVENTORY loadouts are chosen between missions and are fixed. Weapons can only be exchanged for those of better quality, through mission rewards or trader purchases. Era themed clothing assigned to x3 slots is a great addition. They buff stats while changing the appearance of operatives to match. Ammo capacity is unlimited, but abstracted.

► AP makes TBT COMBAT feel more JA, despite mission design being like X-COM. There is no sequence. Attacks include: melee, explosives and aimed or hip fire. Without certain skills and leaders, only one attack is permitted per turn. Crits are vital especially against enemies in armour which stunts nades. Overwatch and friendly fire tend to be more lethal than regular shooting.

► COMBAT ROLLS are more consistent than in X-Com 2. Low hit chances tend to favour the enemy. There are inconsistencies such as missing at point-blank range with 50% and no morale issue.

► The wealth of COMBAT MECHANICS makes combat really involving. POSITIONING and, COMBAT and MORALE STATES applied from weapons, shooting or skills provide a breadth of options which must be maximised due to the limited attacks of the squad. The use of stationary MGs may not cost any AP, but are underwhelming.

► The MORALE system is mostly good, deducting amounts when attacked. The loss of AP means even a miss can be effective. Loss is countered by small doses of auto-recovery. Not losing morale when flanked or facing fewer enemies seems an oversight. Nor gaining any after enemy kills or completing objectives.

► OVERWATCH provides flexibility when choosing to use it or not, though not the order. Useful to opt out when there is friendly fire. Can be lost when suppressed. Interlocking fields of fire makes it deadly. Can only be used once per turn without skills.

► When in stealth the AI is rigid with scripted patrol patterns. In combat enemies use cover, fire in the attempt to suppress or damage, and then move to flank. It uses its numbers to overwhelm, but retreats infrequently. Uses overwatch and class skill(s) intermittently.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3210096506
🔶 ACCESSIBILITY - Has a x2 mission tutorial. New concepts are explained with pop-up windows when first encountered. These are collated within a training manual. A real lack of tooltips can slow gameplay down.
🔶 DIFFICULTY - On normal diff the squad is always at a disadvantage. The design to have one attack per turn that uses up remaining AP diminishes enjoyment while making the game harder.
🔶 BALANCE - Standard missions felt balanced. Many elements such as; missing the few attacks per turn, not having a semi-realistic injury system that affects enemy targeting make brutal and lethal missions unbalanced.
🔶 PACING - Is fairly on point. Mission times deduct from the D-Day time-limit consistently. New and enough encounters come routinely. The strategic layer does not detract from mission focus.
🔶 SCALING - Tends to rise in conjunction to operative capability, apart from when tougher soldiers are introduced. Of the x25 missions faced x3 were taxing. New gear becomes available at a good rate, as long as region reputation is raised promptly.

🟨 REPLAY VALUE - Binary missions, different approaches to province control and alternate recruitment options bring higher than expected replayability. Unhistorical campaign variant would have added to this.
🟨 LONGEVITY - Designed to be replayed at least twice. Some achievements require multiple playthroughs. Its possible to fail D-Day. Included is a editor for one-off missions.

🟣 QUALITY - Well made with a good amount of polish. A low number of bugs have been reported and some design issues with mechanics have been questioned. ** More in the FULL REVIEW **
🟣 STABILITY - No crashes experienced.
🟣 STEAM - A mix of organic and missable achievements. Cloud saving. Screenshot capture. Almost full controller support.
🟣 OPTIMISATION - Runs at 45-60 FPS in missions. Slows during transitions. Gfx card runs a little loud at high settings.


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3210113484

Thank you for reading. | Click to follow my curator THE IRREGULAR GAMER.

[h3]RANKING:[/h3] [table] [tr] [td] [h3][strike]AVOID | LACKING | MAYBE[/strike] | [b]WORTHWHILE[/b] | [strike]COMPELLING | UNMISSABLE [/strike] [/h3] [/td] [/tr] [/table] [h3]SYNOPSIS:[/h3] [table] [tr] [th][b]ASSESSMENT:[/b][/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] Classified France '44 is an entertaining squad-based TBT game with an engrossing story-driven campaign that plays like X-Com 2 with AP. It has many well conceived combat mechanics that make for an absorbing experience. A strategic layer is taut and relevant brings together battles. While high-def visuals and quality audio create a wonderful ambience. It has a preference for streamlined gameplay and surprisingly more replayability than it should. Despite a good level of polish there are some inconsistencies with mechanics, a few features that break immersion and some omitted ones that take it down to a commendable [b]WORTHWHILE[/b] purchase. [/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [td][b]STATUS:[/b][/td] [td]Fully released and very playable. Some features aren't quite nailed. Total of x4 DLC to be added. Needs a little QoL, balance and bug-fixing [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]APPEAL:[/b][/td] [td]For fans of X-Com and Jagged Alliance with a Commandos influence. Must enjoy WW2 setting and not be upset with the use of period language in a historical context [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]VALUE:[/b][/td] [td]The 30h+ of content is worth the full price. Would vouch for a small sale given its few issues [/td] [/tr] [/table] [quote=]Key provided by the developer through curator [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/tbtactics/][b]TURN-BASED TACTICS[/b] [/url] | Click to follow and receive updates for similar reviews[/quote] [i]More info below....[/i] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3209435992 [h3]OBSERVATIONS:[/h3] ► The CAMPAIGN is a story-driven affair designed to finish on D-Day after conducting x25 out of x45 possible missions. Some are binary, which means those not chosen will be missed. Others are not. There is no free map roaming. ► TIME-LIMITS are present within mission objectives, reinforcements and even dictate the length of the campaign forcing gameplay, reducing leeway to choose alternate strategies. ► REPRISAL SQUADS bring jeopardy to the strategy map, ensuring the need to periodically counter damaged sectors or stall Gestapo [et al]. Keeping these in check are the repair TASK or deployment of Free French (FFI) assets. ► MISSIONS have good variation as layouts are mostly unique. Objectives are a variation upon a theme. Assault, Ambush and Stealth types play out loud, in partial stealth or at full stealth. The multitude of factors that go into design make only a very few missions feel over-engineered. Lacks a deployment phase. ► Unique and shared skills of the x4 CHARACTER classes makes them role oriented, which are defined by their own special actions and solitary weapon type. Characters cannot be generated. A total of x8 characters from x12 can be recruited. ► The SKILL TREE makes for versatile character progression. Each one is divided into x4 sections of which x2 can be fully specialised if max level is reached. There are a good range of passives to raise stats. Skills that augment mechanics or provide actions make a big difference in missions. ► INVENTORY loadouts are chosen between missions and are fixed. Weapons can only be exchanged for those of better quality, through mission rewards or trader purchases. Era themed clothing assigned to x3 slots is a great addition. They buff stats while changing the appearance of operatives to match. Ammo capacity is unlimited, but abstracted. ► AP makes TBT COMBAT feel more JA, despite mission design being like X-COM. There is no sequence. Attacks include: melee, explosives and aimed or hip fire. Without certain skills and leaders, only one attack is permitted per turn. Crits are vital especially against enemies in armour which stunts nades. Overwatch and friendly fire tend to be more lethal than regular shooting. ► COMBAT ROLLS are more consistent than in X-Com 2. Low hit chances tend to favour the enemy. There are inconsistencies such as missing at point-blank range with 50% and no morale issue. ► The wealth of COMBAT MECHANICS makes combat really involving. POSITIONING and, COMBAT and MORALE STATES applied from weapons, shooting or skills provide a breadth of options which must be maximised due to the limited attacks of the squad. The use of stationary MGs may not cost any AP, but are underwhelming. ► The MORALE system is mostly good, deducting amounts when attacked. The loss of AP means even a miss can be effective. Loss is countered by small doses of auto-recovery. Not losing morale when flanked or facing fewer enemies seems an oversight. Nor gaining any after enemy kills or completing objectives. ► OVERWATCH provides flexibility when choosing to use it or not, though not the order. Useful to opt out when there is friendly fire. Can be lost when suppressed. Interlocking fields of fire makes it deadly. Can only be used once per turn without skills. ► When in stealth the AI is rigid with scripted patrol patterns. In combat enemies use cover, fire in the attempt to suppress or damage, and then move to flank. It uses its numbers to overwhelm, but retreats infrequently. Uses overwatch and class skill(s) intermittently. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3210096506 [h3]COMPLEXITY:[/h3] 🔶 ACCESSIBILITY - Has a x2 mission tutorial. New concepts are explained with pop-up windows when first encountered. These are collated within a training manual. A real lack of tooltips can slow gameplay down. 🔶 DIFFICULTY - On normal diff the squad is always at a disadvantage. The design to have one attack per turn that uses up remaining AP diminishes enjoyment while making the game harder. 🔶 BALANCE - Standard missions felt balanced. Many elements such as; missing the few attacks per turn, not having a semi-realistic injury system that affects enemy targeting make brutal and lethal missions unbalanced. 🔶 PACING - Is fairly on point. Mission times deduct from the D-Day time-limit consistently. New and enough encounters come routinely. The strategic layer does not detract from mission focus. 🔶 SCALING - Tends to rise in conjunction to operative capability, apart from when tougher soldiers are introduced. Of the x25 missions faced x3 were taxing. New gear becomes available at a good rate, as long as region reputation is raised promptly. [h3]STAYING POWER:[/h3] 🟨 REPLAY VALUE - Binary missions, different approaches to province control and alternate recruitment options bring higher than expected replayability. Unhistorical campaign variant would have added to this. 🟨 LONGEVITY - Designed to be replayed at least twice. Some achievements require multiple playthroughs. Its possible to fail D-Day. Included is a editor for one-off missions. [h3]PRODUCTION:[/h3] 🟣 QUALITY - Well made with a good amount of polish. A low number of bugs have been reported and some design issues with mechanics have been questioned. ** More in the FULL REVIEW ** 🟣 STABILITY - No crashes experienced. 🟣 STEAM - A mix of organic and missable achievements. Cloud saving. Screenshot capture. Almost full controller support. 🟣 OPTIMISATION - Runs at 45-60 FPS in missions. Slows during transitions. Gfx card runs a little loud at high settings. [table][tr] [td]Click for:[/td] [td][h1][url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/TheIrregularGamer/discussions/0/4360121366673174367/]Full Review[/url][/h1][/td] [/tr][/table] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3210113484 [table] [tr] [td][b]REVIEWED WITH:[/b][/td] [td]Build v 1.0 - 2107 to 1.01 - 2193 INTEL i5 6600 3.3GHz, 8GB RAM, GTX970 @ 1GB 1920x1080 fullscreen, EVO850 SSD, Speedlink XEOX Pro Analog Gamepad [/td] [/tr] [/table] [quote=]Thank you for reading. | Click to follow my curator[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40556040-The-Irregular-Gamer/] THE IRREGULAR GAMER[/url].[/quote]