This squad can absorb a lot of punishment before collapsing, but casualties are mounting fast, especially with an unseen artillery emplacement seemingly intent on flattening the base if it takes me with it. I try to re-position my remaining squads to provide cross-support so a downed unit can be rescued, but that costs precious time — and now I face a wide, exposed stretch of desert I must sprint across if I want anyone to survive.
By now my veteran teams have cleared most of the undisciplined pirates standing between us and the extraction point, but the enemy artillery still dominates both flanks and we have no effective way to eliminate it — my driver never got his vehicle into position and the rocket launcher was with the other squad leader. This mission was the perfect test of Menace’s loadout mechanic, but it’s backfired here. Each mission gives you a limited supply weight based on how many soldiers deploy, so you must choose who carries what. I outfitted my sniper team with lighter armor, a recon drone and smoke grenades — a sensible setup, except they couldn’t fire a single accurate shot. Grenades served the support squad well and the shock troops performed admirably with LMGs, but losing access to the rocket launcher has been costly.
One squad makes it across thanks to a trait I equipped that grants extra action points while moving. The support squad, however, is slower and gets pinned under artillery from both sides until they’re completely suppressed. With no means to neutralize the big guns, I can only watch. Eventually an enemy barrage misses its mark by luck, opening a narrow corridor that allows my final squad to reach the evac zone.
Menace’s demo is lean — just three missions in a single playthrough with largely predetermined gear — but it made clear why there’s excitement around it. I enjoy turn-based tactics, and while XCOM 2 has long dominated the genre (a game I never quite bonded with), Menace refines the familiar formula in refreshing ways. It strips out some of the cheap frustrations I associate with XCOM, and the suppression mechanic in particular is a brilliant way to convey the terror of incoming fire without simply wiping out your favorite characters. It’s left me eager to play the rest of Menace when it launches next year.
A new contender for our list of the best strategy games, perhaps?
Source: gamesradar.com
