Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun

Stealth, in all it's glory. Stealth. + The mechanics are great. + The levels big and there's lots of room to play around. + The characters are likable and have great personalities. If you have ever been a fan of Commandos or Desperados and you have not bought this yet you should be ashamed! Only one nitpick in this game. Loading the level for the first time that session can take a minute or so. And this is exactly what they say in the little tooltip. On quicksaves it is a matter of mere seconds and you will become bests friends with your F5 button. Buy it. Support this studio for giving us this gem.

The game was amazing in the first levels, it was so well done with timing and such. Then the end levels came... They were really, really awful. I couldn't bring myself to finish them because it was too inconsistent and too much frustrating to play. One, two end levels made me hate the game.

This was the first game I had bought in a while where I didn't do much research nor read that many reviews, my decision was based purely on the subject matter (Edo period Japan), and the fact that I hadn't played a tactical game in a while, and was feeling a bit soft-headed. Much to my surprise it was actually a throw-back to the old Commandos games, the first of which I played ages ago and absolutely loved. This is a great update to the Commandos style formula - in brief, it's using a small squad with varying and complementary skills to tackle espionage/infiltration style missions. Each mission boils down to a multitude of interlocking puzzles to solve using the unique skills of your squad members, either by incapacitating or avoiding enemies - and the result is incredibly challenging and addictive gameplay. It's a good feeling when you've set up the perfect ambush, considering all enemy patrol routes, accounted for noise and viewing distance... you set it off and appreciate the silence of zero alarms once the dust and blood settles... only to have it shattered by that pesky civilian you ignored who proceeds to ruin about 20 minutes of hard work! Annoying, but still, if you're chasing the satisfaction of executing and reaping the rewards of perfectly laid plans, this game delivers. The only reason I've dropped a star is due to the games' story - it's fairly predictable, there's little character development and it's pretty unengaging. To be honest, I don't think it needs a great story - that's not the point of the game, but it's nice the developers tried to link everything together. Sometimes the controls can feel a bit janky, but compared to Commandos are a dream. Other than that, there's not much to say - shadow tactics is nearly flawless... in short, buy it, and encourage more of this type of game! By the way, if you don't like save scumming, there's a simple solution. Don't do it... but let all of us other mere mortals enjoy saving if and when we wish.

In my opinion, this is the best real-time strategy I've ever played. Totally amazing game. The game is so cool and fun. I really recommend this masterpiece.

Just wanted to say, finished it in 3 days. And I'm not very good at these kind of games, so a lot of F5 & F8. Overall, boy what a ride! The game holds both as a surprisingly well thought of and very genuine Japanese visual movie (I never remember felling that attached to my soldiers or cowboys in original Commandos or Desperados and all our main heroes are fantastically well realised) and a fantastic tribute to said masterpieces in actual gameplay terms. The pacing, the mission variety, the skill required to complete later levels (this game has a genuine difficulty curve, and as opposed to most modern titles is a challenge throughout) make it truly remarkable. The last couple of levels in particular are daunting at first, but quickly descend into a playground of your newly gained skills. Stuff that at the beginning would seem impossible becomes second nature, and you truly feel like an assassin. If you've been on the fence before, just do yourself a favor and buy this now, especially if you've ever played Commandos or Desperados. Finally, to the DEVs: a fantastic job! Can't wait to play your Desperados III, if you do half of a job as you did here it will be amazing..