Invasion: Neo Earth

For a title in its first month of early access, I've been playing this much more than I expected. + Xcom aesthetic + A fantastic soundtrack + Decent amount of levels to keep you busy + Varied unit roster with multiple loadouts to experiment with + The developer is responsive to player feedback and bug reports. I've made bug reports and then seen patches released within 10 hours of the report! Currently, this game focuses more on team composition with the different unit types that give you access to 2-3 different loadouts for each unit. The unit types consist of stock infantry, commandos, snipers, RPG guys, men on small hover craft, tanks, artillery, AT-ST-like mechs, various kinds of fighters and bombers. Each have different values of movement, hover craft bypass water, and flying aren't limited by any obstacles. Each unit has multiple available loadouts that vary in their range, damage value and damage type that can be more or less effective against the various enemies that are expected in each mission. Each level will have some objective, usually to defeat the alien base, protected by multiple enemies. You will see a handful of enemies to start with, and more will teleport i…

Do not expect a retro X-Com, there is no xp system or overworld management. This one is all about strategic turn-based combat with an emphasis on optimal positioning. PLANNING PHASE: First, pick a front/middle/back set of units ranging from your four regular ground soldiers to heavy bombers and their drones, or super soldiers and their heavy weapons. The more powerfull the units are, the more funding they eat up. Once you've picked your three sets of units, it's time to decide what pre-set weapons they get. This is impactful because it defines the shooting range, damage and damage type of your units for the following battle. FIGHTING PHASE: Plays out a bit like an old x-com mission, but with simpler rules: A moving phase allowing all your units to move in the order you choose, allowing to explore, get to cover... Then comes the firing phase, again each unit in range can shoot once in your order of choice. When your fighting turn is over, the aliens and civilians get their turn. Battle maps are small and bring some thrill to your cold plans when a unit turns into an alien or when you realize you need to destroy a generator because that big alien base is under energy shield protec…

5/10 A sci-fi TBS. TBS similar to Advanced Wars, Panzer General, Battle Isle, UniWar and others. In tactical battles you pick up crates with credits ("PR"s). Credits don't get spent but simply add up and allow you to pick more expensive units for the next fight. TLDR: it offers traditional gameplay on a tiled board. Yet its lackluster presentation, poorly designed UI and unbalanced (way too low) difficulty after you've completed a few missions make it look more like a prototype or an early build that wasn't playtested. I did enjoy it somewhat until about mission 5 when it became so easy that it wasn't even a strategy anymore. So, a neutral vote from me, 5/10. Good: - a couple dozen different unit types in total, land and air - before battles, instead of individual units, you select 3 squads, each with 4 units. While this doesn't affect battles themselves, it's an interesting realistic touch because in real armies indeed regiments have varied units in them - can customize weapons of every unit before battle start. E.g. the bazooka guy can turn into a machine-gunner or a flak cannon guy. Depending on which weapon you choose, the unit will be more powerful vs some aliens and less p…