Bionic Battle Mutants

Feels a bit like original Fallout. Surprisingly good game.

8/10 An XCom-style TBS/RPG mix in post-apocalyptic mutant battles setting. TLDR: After the first somewhat negative impression from the blurred UI, you have a great intricate turn-based strategy game in the style of XCom and Jagged Alliance series. This game was most likely developed for mobile first and then ported to PC, yet ported properly. Mouse controls are fine, there are helpful tooltips for everything and the grindy crafting and progression of characters is actually fun. The onboarding is very well done, as is common for mobile games, and the game opens up its complex systems in a delicate way without any hiccups. My only real complaint would be the absence of any overwatch/reaction fire or turn interrupt system. Though the game plays kinda well without it. Good: - very good onboarding - an intricate RPG system of characters, with classes, skill trees, attributes - reminding of Fallout Tactics, Jagged Alliance, XCom series, Wasteland - an in-game wiki tells exact formulas for how character stats depend on each other - crafting, weapon upgrades, bionic upgrades - you can replay missions to grind exp and loot if you like - the story is pretty well written. You participate in…

I have not insignificant nostalgia for this game. It's got heart. And character portraits/visuals that change with different equipment :) There is a lack of polish (UI clunk, sometimes confusing visuals) but not enough I had a bad time. In terms of gameplay, running two snipers kind of rolled over a lot of the encounters once they got up to two attacks per turn. Fully maximizing a squad is kind of grindy (optimal comp is nowhere near required to beat the game and also savefiles are in plaintext).

No verbosity necessary, terrible.

meh

This is one of those games where I could see myself either going Yes or No to a recommendation. The tipping point into positive is the price point of five dollars full price. This is worth five bucks if you're looking for a potential tactical game. While it lists Jagged Alliance and X-Com as inspirations I really don't get those vibes here. This feel far more like a game of Mordheim or Necromunda, both in design and overall feeling. Specifically, this isn't a large scale strategy game with tactical combat but a small-skirmish game with persistence and randomization. Each mission has you taking a small team up against an enemy team. The objectives have a nice variety of combat, defending, looting, etc. At the end of each mission you gain XP and loot, and any KOed characters roll for lasting wounds or even perma-death. Over time you unlock weapon crafting, cybernetics and chemical upgrades and the ability to mutate your soldiers to make them more unique and powerful. These mutations even have a visual effect that is unexpected and cool. Overall, this is a definite high point that made this well-worth the price for me. But like the tabletop games I mentioned, it feels like you'r…