I keep returnign to this game wondering what I missed that other people saw with it and I keep drawing a blank. The good to the game is in how well it creates the early 80s atmosphere for a cold war espionage game. Get that same Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy vibe as the more recent film version had it. There's also some nice ideas to the mechanics - the breach mechanic (later picked up by the XCom series) in particular is pretty enjoyable to watch play out. Against that, well, it's pretty clunky and for a game where much of your time is spent stealthily moving across a map it's not actually a good or particularly engaging stealth game. I'd compare across to Invisible Inc. for how that can be done whereas Phantom Doctrine just has some real problems with conveying information in an intuitive way and even occasions where you're left scratching your head (eg jumping through windows attracts not a bit of attention or the 'click to make body disappear' solution to downed enemies). Overall, a solid and worthy effort which should be praised for trying something a little different even if it doesn't quite hit the mark much of the time.
I've been waiting on this game since I first heard about it. The demo had me sit down and play all the way through - the game world has some nice ideas and the artwork for the game is absolutely gorgeous. You take control of a caravan of workers, slaves, and guards. Throw in special characters who act as your lieutenants (including in any battles). And then you're set loose into a morally ambiguous world in a text driven RPG. It clicked near perfectly for me. Where I would criticise right now is in the UI being clunky in places and not particularly intuitive initially given how many menus are tucked out of sight in different places. I'll be buying for sure when this is released.
