Broken Lines - izigame

Game Info

Broken Lines is a war-game with a serious story, told from the perspective of the individual soldiers. A game for people who likes real-time tactics and strategy games, but are too slow to play them. Give orders to you men, while in pause - and total control. Then see the execution in real-time - sometimes resulting in catastrophic failure. Play the campaign with randomized missions and non-linear stories. Select and equip your squad. Train them in unique combat skills and perks. Plan your turn in pause mode and see it play out in real-time. Use cover and flanking to overcome the opposition. Rewind the level to avoid casualties and achieve better loot. Manage resources and survive until you either find your way out of the valley or lose your way and your conscience in the process.

Name

Broken Lines

Companies

PortaPlay

Released

2/25/2020

Platforms

Linux, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One

Engines

Unity

Type

Role-playing (RPG), Strategy, Turn-based strategy (TBS), Tactical

Social Networks

0

izigame

members favorited

Reviews

Tuesday, August 6, 2024 12:20:10 AM

7 Steam users votes up

freaky.ashes

Steam user

A good tactical strategy game. The only problem I have is with the stress mechanic that cannot be turned off in the custom difficulty settings. The one thing I absolutely cannot stand in these kinds of games is soldiers disobeying orders and getting themselves killed because they didn't execute my plan, It really annoys me. I get that this is one of the themes of the game, as it's a bit of a Spec Ops The Line in strategy form. But you let me tweak difficulty to my liking in other areas, why not this?
The gameplay is a solid compromise between real-time and turn-based. A the start of each turn you get to plan your actions. Each turn lasts 8 seconds. During that process there's nothing you can do, as the decisions have been set in stone, meaning you gotta think well before committing to ending the turn. The enemies move in real time during those 8 seconds. So a grenade that you threw at their position might not actually get them because they have moved on by then. If you ever had the chance to play Frozen Synapse you'll feel right at home here. I like this style of this gameplay a lot personally. A full on tactical pause is great, but it makes for a different game. Broken Lines is all about positioning, flanking, using special abilities and anticipating the enemy actions. It's good.
The story seems very mysterious at first, especially if you keep picking wrong missions. However all you gotta do is to listen to your recruits instead of the veterans, and do more investigative work to understand what's going on. It's not that complicated once the cards have been laid out on the table. The atmosphere really shines through though. The enemies you face are intriguing, as nothing is as straightforward as it seems at first. I got in my opinion the best ending out of the five available ones, which really could just have been cut down to three. There's three extraction endings that differ little from one another, and make little sense with certain choices preceding them.
The narrator as almost always in other media is freakin' annoying and should have been cut from the game completely. All she does is take away from the game. I kept skipping all of her word salad nonsense right before the final cutscene.
I'd say it's worth picking it up on sale, but your mileage may vary on this. It's supposed to be played several times in order to understand the story... unless you luck out like I did, After that there's little point in staying. I'm yet to try the complementary DLC. But even now I'd say it's worth it picking up on sale.

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Storyline

Dusk. An army transport plane crosses the red evening sky. Motor humming. Plane cargo hold, only light is a lazy wall mounted bulb. A team of soldiers are fast asleep despite the bumpy ride. Heads bounce on their shoulders. Suddenly the light turns off, everything is darkness. And then all motors give out. The plane silently drops. Soldiers, weapons, papers are thrown around in the cabin as everything turns vertical. The machine disappears behind treetops and a huge explosion follows. The few surviving soldiers wake up in the scattered, burning wreckages. As the soldiers gather, it turns out all superior officers are dead, with the mission plans presumably destroyed in the fire. Only eight soldiers have survived. Four rookies and four veterans. They argue over who should lead, who should eat, who are expendable and who should survive, but decide to stay together for now. The squad begins an uneasy trek towards a nearby village, but are soon hunted by the local enemy forces, who aggressively aim to terminate the intruders. Fear creeps in as the squad slowly realizes they are stranded with no allies, no supplies, no clear orders, and no purpose. There are two main approaches the squad can decide to take. Try to continue the original mission - or save themselves. The Rookies are convinced there is something sinister going on with the fog and the enemies in the valley. They want to solve the mystery, destroy the potential threat and go home as heroes. The veterans simply want to gather resources, to enable them to survive and escape - no matter the cost. Broken lines It is a game about a group of soldiers being caught in a bad situation and about how they react to increasing pressure and stress. Some soldiers are more affected than others, creating a bigger rift within the squad. The soldiers’ lack of any clear leadership and plans make conflicts arise within the squad. The player decides which direction the soldiers should head. Do they try to find out what their mission is, or simply just survive and escape their situation. What is acceptable during war-time and which lines should never be broken, even if your life depends on it?

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