I will preface this review by saying that I am not an avid Tactical-RPG player. I have watched others play this specific genre of game, but I have never really taken the time to try them out myself. Broken Lines is my introduction to the Tactical-RPG genre, and I couldn’t have asked for a better place to start.

The game provides many options when it comes to curating your difficulty setting. On top of the three presets that are available (easy, medium, and hard), Broken Lines allows you to change what types of enemies spawn, what abilities they can use, damage multipliers, and so much more. This only makes it that much easier for new players to integrate themselves into the genre.

Had it not been for the emphasis on story-telling and narrative elements, this game would not have even been on my radar. Although not necessarily my favorite style of game, if another title like Broken Lines comes along, one that shares the same focus on narrative elements, I may just have to try it out.

Story

Roughly around seven hours long with 21 hand-crafted levels, Broken Lines follows a team of eight soldiers who have crash-landed behind enemy lines in an alternate version of the second World War. The team must attempt to fight their way out with what limited manpower and resources they have. On their difficult trek back home, they will experience the common horrors that come with going to war, as well as other horrific sights that can only be found in this alternate timeline.

Gameplay

The game features player choice which provides multiple endings, and opens up, or closes other opportunities based on your choices throughout the game. You have the ability to decide where your team goes, and who you bring with you on each mission. A lot of the choices you will be presented with will challenge your team’s morals, one squad member’s solution may contradict another’s, so it is ultimately up to you to make the heavy decisions.

Broken Lines also contains a good mixture of real-time and turn by turn gameplay elements. After distributing commands to your squad, there is an eight-second action phase where your team and the enemies both make moves simultaneously. The action phase is stopped if something unexpected happens, i.e. discovering enemy troops. This pause allows you to change up your strategy if you wish.

Each soldier in your team is affected by the events that happen around them, and the way they handle these events can make or break your team. Each character (including the bad guys) has a stress bar. If put under a lot of pressure, a soldier may snap and not follow your commands, seeking the nearest cover, potentially leaving them vulnerable to enemy attack. Some scenarios in the game can also strengthen a character’s resolve, providing combat bonuses.

Visuals

The game’s cutscenes have an art style reminiscent of a comic book, or graphic novel. In my mind, this helps reinforce the idea of an alternate WWII with a completely different, and outlandish plot. It’s like I’m reading the story right out of a comic book.

The overall colors that are used have darker tones and help establish the dark environment that the characters have been thrust into.

Audio

The soundtrack in Broken Lines is great, with each track fitting each moment just right. Whether I am in the heat of an intense gunfight, or I’m just chilling at the campfire just before a well-deserved rest, the soundtrack successfully sets the mood for each situation.

The narration during the cutscenes is absolutely wonderful. It’s almost as if the story is being read to me by an old relative, through the aforementioned comic book.

Replayability

Broken Lines offers multiple endings that are determined by the many different choices that you can make throughout your run through the game, providing plenty of excuses to come back and play again. There are also 21 different missions to choose from, but you won’t get to play them all in one run, so you’ll have to come back for more.

Among the squad of eight soldiers, you can only bring 4-5 with you depending on the size of the mission. So you can also experiment with various strategies by building different squads out of the troops that you are provided with, and approaching levels from another angle.

What It Could Have Done Better

Even though my experience with Broken Lines was very solid and didn’t present any major problems, I still ran into the occasional bug every now and then. Sometimes enemies would just run in a straight line towards my squad, even though they weren’t even close to a panicked state. There were also times when I would command a soldier to move somewhere, and they would completely ignore me and stay put.

Although 7 hours is a good length, I think that the campaign could have been a bit longer. The camera controls are also very finicky and hard to maneuver. I found myself stopping multiple times during the pause between action phases just to try and angle the camera properly.

As for what I would like to see in the game, I think it would be cool to see a map builder of sorts for the community to mess around with, allowing others to play custom built missions. It would also be really fun to have co-op mode added to the mix.

Verdict

Based on my experience, I feel very strongly that Broken Lines is a good start for those that are new to the Tactical-RPG genre. Priced at $24.99 on Steam, the game is very affordable for those that might want to just give this style of game a try. If you find yourself not too hooked on the gameplay, the rich narrative aspects of the game will keep you playing.