Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun

Absolutely fantastic from the start to finish. Really kept me scratching my head for ways to finish the missions which there were more of than I actually anticipated. Took me a long time to finish and for not-so-hardcore player like myself the difficulty was just on the edge of being able to finish. But every time I really hit a bump it was just my own fault, and when doing the same thing the next day I suddenly found a way out of the difficult situation very easily. All about keeping your mind fresh :) Buy it. Really. Worth every penny if you're into puzzle/strategy, and you really can play it just at your own pace which I really enjoyed. Doesn't hurry you up at any point. The characters are also nicely varied and the game really does use every single skill at your disposal.

Shadow Tactics is bringing back to life the old style of stealth tactics that we saw in the “Commandos” series. This game comes with great graphics, many quality of life improvements, and as a setting, instead of WW2, we have Japan in the early modern period. One of the improvements is that, at a basic level, you can synchronize actions between your characters. But if you’ve ever played a “Commandos” game, then you’ll feel right at home. Missions are like a string of mini-puzzles, where you have to figure out in which order, and how you’ll take the enemy soldiers out. Unfortunately, with time, it becomes a bit repetitive because you’ll use the same tricks (tactics) in many similar situations. Some deaths that look accidental are not investigated much or at all, and it’s my personal opinion that in such a game, stealth should be rewarded more. I played it on the maximum difficulty setting, and I only had problems with the last mission. So if you want a challenge you’ll have to go for earning badges in each mission. But the criteria for awarding badges is only revealed at the end of the mission, this is quite annoying. Rating: Where did everyone go?! I'm sure this is fine... *Editors' Pick* http://pixelloot.com

It's no secret that Shadow Tactics is a Commandos clone. Let's be honest, though: there hadn't quite been any "Commandos-likes" in a long time, so that alone makes Shadow Tactics worth playing but I can honestly say that ST is easily the best game in this genre thus far. What ST does well is that it focuses on recreating the magic of the original Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines, unlike any of its successors and other clones that, in my opinion, unnecessarily bloated the formula with too convoluted missions and too many mechanics. Lots of the stuff in the game is just a reskin of things from BeL and all of the additions are perfectly legitimate and genuinely enhance the gameplay. You can hide in bushes, there's night missions where you're generally less visible but light sources are hugely dangerous, there's a lot of climbing and kinda platforming. Your characters are generally more useful and there's lots of small enhancements like cones gradually filling up when you're spotted, often giving you time to get out of danger, and Shadow Mode which makes it super easy to set up synchronised actions for multiple characters. There's nothing quite as satisfying as setting up a combined move for all your characters that brutally brings down multiple enemies at once. And something I appreciated very much were distinct enemy types that can be easily told apart, have distinct behavioural patterns and require different approaches. Especially samurai, who can see through disguises and are generally hard to kill, were a brilliant addition. Why only four stars, though? For one, I didn't feel the story was particularly captivating nor did the game make best use of its historical setting. There's no big surprises and the characters are pretty shallow. The other thing is that the game is still utterly based on scumsaving which feels very out of place in a modern title and could have been handled better. None of that keeps the game from being the best title in the genre, however.

I've been on the fence with this game for a while. Have had it on my wish list, but never made the leap. Figured it wasnt quite my style and afraid it would fall below expectations as so many games do. This is a game I need that I didnt know I needed. It's so refreshing to play a different style of game and have it be fun. The art and music is great - sharp, smooth, stylish. The characters are easy to like and unique to play. It can even be challenging at times, and experimentation is encouraged as it is easy to recover from miscalulated or unlucky moves. The story is decent enough, and the presentation and style is top notch. After you beat a mission for the first time, badges are unlocked for that level. Badges are basically special challenges for a mission, such as special/alternative objectives, certain handicaps (like no swimming), etc. This adds some replayability if you're into that sort of thing. You dont necessarily play all 5 characters each level, either. You start out with one, meeting and recruiting others along the way. Oftentimes, even when you have all 5 characters, you might only play 2-3 certain ones at a time. I like this, as it allows the levels to be different enough to be accomodating for certain characters, and it also encourages you to learn each character. Im really glad I finally started playing this game, and theyve earned a fan. Excited to see whats next

This game is one of my favorites of all time. The use of different characters' different strengths to complete missions all while trying to avoid being noticed is an enjoyable challenge. Yes, you will be frustrated and you will reload many times, but because the game lets you save at any point, you don't have to redo things. And because missions can be completed in many different ways, I've never messed things up so bad I had to start from the beginning. I have only completed one mission, and while there is a story, it's not very deep and there doesn't seem to be any "leveling up" of characters, but the strategic/tactical side is what this game is about.