Team Assault:Baptism of Fire

[ArizonaTank]

I am having a bit of fun with this game....reminds me of playing WWII minis.  But far from perfect:

On the plus side:

-Turn-based...I'm no twitch jockey...so this always brings me in.

-Weapon ranges seem to be realistic....a sniper, with a good view can really "reach out and touch someone"

-Plays fairly quickly, my matches seem to last about an hour.

-Some realistic tactics do work....putting one squad in a good firing position to cover another squad while it advances for example.

On the neutral side:

-The game forces squads to act as squads...no lone wolves need apply.  Realistic to some extent...but the game makes no provision for splitting a squad up into fire-teams.  The game is about squads, not so much individual soldiers.  Squad members can't go outside of a certain range of their squad mates.  So you can't just send one guy out to capture a victory flag...the entire squad goes as "company".  Think Close Combat, not Soldiers at War.  This may let some folks down.

-Interface.  Once you get used to it...works pretty well.  But my first couple of games had me scratching my head a few times, and documentation is sparse, so it was of only marginal help.



The down side:

-Lack of opportunity fire.  There are some strange moments when an entire squad can run past an enemy squad.  While I can't say this completely hoses the game play, it does hurt the suspension of disbelief now and then.  However, there is a counter-move phase, that somewhat helps (but not completely).  Also weapon ranges are long enough that any squad trying to move in the open is going to get caught in a crossfire anyway.

-My guys sometimes seem to finish their turns on the wrong side of a wall.  And while talking about walls, they don't seem to be able to climb over them; even low ones.

-Buildings?  They are there, but haven't figured out how to get inside of them....if I even can.

-I have had a couple of CTDs just as games were getting good

-The game could really use campaign and role-playing elements.

Overall, my initial impression is that it is a generally good game.  Possibly a great MP game (but haven't tried that yet) for the non-twitch jockey....but without roleplaying or campaign, not certain how long it will stay on the hard drive.

[Nefaro]

That's always been my big concern about it, since being previously mentioned:  lack of extended play mechanics (campaign, RPG/exp-type carryover stuff).  Playing one-off battles (in WW2 of all things!) makes me  :-\ . 

I recently tried to get back into WW2 games, and failed to get a spark for long.   *sigh*  :-[