"The Ambition of the Battle" review: Small and compact pixel "Pacific Rim"

Subset's new title, into the breach, from the maker of critically acclaimed strategy game Subset Subset, hit Steam in late February. Silence for more than five years, when everyone is about to forget Subset, they once again recalled the majority of players to the love of strategy games, fully confirmed what is called "slow work out fine work."

The game uses a normal sci-fi style, and the background design is easily reminiscent of the movie "Pacific Rim" : the same Earth is invaded by alien monsters, and the same humans are piloting giant mechs to fight. The difference is that the "Trap" introduces a more mysterious concept: time jump, which involves a setting in the game, we will talk about later.

"Pixelated Pacific Rim"

No easy "Roguelike-SLG"

The game follows a Subset of familiar strategy play, this time in the form of battle chess, and if you use the most intuitive feeling to rate this game, it is "difficult", once reminiscent of the fear of being dominated by Fire Emblem. Yes, games that aren't too difficult will always turn off some players, and sometimes it's frustrating that we can't get through them even though we've tried our best. However, if these works have mature gameplay, polished excellent systems, then the psychological feedback corresponding to high difficulty can be given very well, I believe that real players are always willing to accept challenges, and "The Trap" is such a category.

Compared with many strategy games, "The Trap" does not have gorgeous pictures, mecha and special effects are not cool enough, even the scene map is a little "shabby" 8x8, independent game volume is understandable. In fact, without the countless factors that may cause interference, the core fun of "The Trap" presented under the pixel shell is very pure. The game opens with a future where monsters are raging and humanity is on the brink of extinction, and the only remaining humans travel back in time to change the status quo with the help of advanced technology - time-hopping technology.

"The Battle of the Enemy" is a typical strategy game, both sides according to the turn-based rules of action, at most one move and attack behavior. However, our operational units are only three in most cases, taking the initial mecha as an example, divided into fighting mecha, artillery mecha and anti-aircraft mecha, corresponding to melee, long-range straight line and cross-terrain shooting three attack methods, in addition, each mecha will have a driver, can be understood as the existence of additional attributes provided by Mecha. The game has nine optional model series (including a hidden monster Mech, achievement unlock), each series contains three Mechs with completely different attack methods and special effects. In order to facilitate everyone's understanding, the following content is introduced on the premise of the simple initial mecha of the above hand.

In the 8x8 map divided into squares, players will control three mechs to fight against a swarm of insects far more numerous than our own, and the enemy not only has the upper hand in numbers, some types are very powerful special effects, at first glance is already very tricky. Each level of the game will set the number of countdown rounds, and do not fail before the end of the number of rounds. Accordingly, the failure determination mechanism is also very special: "energy" is the fundamental human counterattack, but also the necessary thing to drive the mech, in the game as a variety of human-built facilities. Each time these facilities are attacked by monsters, the energy slot will be -1, when it drops to 0, the game will pronounce the current time line human failure, the current time line progress will be lost, the player will time jump, shuttle to another time line to start from the beginning. The only thing you can take with you in the process is one of the three drivers, and the rest is completely lost in the timeline of destruction, which is kind of a nice way to blend into the background.

The timeline of failure

In addition to the existing four main map areas, most of the rest of the content, such as level generation, monster configuration, special events and other elements follow random rules. The introduction of Roguelike elements makes the game hardcore enough, and the severe death penalty can't help but encourage the player to think more carefully. After a few close finishes, you can see that the game encourages players to think about how to reduce their losses, rather than wipe out the enemy. This also makes the idea conveyed by the work quite real, after all, when the end comes, it is the reality to take care of one thing and lose the other, not always the best of both worlds.

Sometimes there will be enemies after playing the level

Displacement is the "noumenon"

The above are some of the content of the setting, the battle content is the big head of this game, but also the core fun of the game. This is because the combat mode of this game is not limited to the direct damage of you hit me, I hit you, and in most cases, the Mecha attack will have an additional effect in addition to the damage - displacement. Displacement is an extremely important setting in the game, it can be said that the reasonable use of displacement effect is the key to effectively reduce the loss of players and improve the efficiency of attacks.

This attack will also "push" the enemy

Each of the initial three Mechs can attack the enemy to move in one direction, which will cause a collision between neighboring units and cause both units to take 1 more damage, and this 1 damage can sometimes kill two birds with one stone; Secondly, because the game will inform the monster's attack intention in advance, sometimes moving the monster can prevent the friendly unit from accepting the attack; In addition, displacement is also the key to terrain killing, pushing the enemy into terrain such as the ocean, silos and even other enemy attack locations will have unexpected effects. From a terrain perspective, the forest will burn when attacked, causing sustained damage to units standing on it. The mountain withstands some forms of attack and can also inflict damage on enemy units that collide with it. Mines will kill any unit that passes by... The rich combination of terrain effects and displacement creates a variety of strategic options for the game, and it is up to the player to use his creative ideas to find the best solution. In this way, the 8x8 map seems to be no longer small, but like a chess game produced a kaleidoscopic charm.

The tides devour the units they encounter

You can also use the air raid area to kill the enemy

Especially the later the level, the role of displacement will become more important. When you're dealing with a large and diverse array of Zerg armies, dealing only one damage per attack is far from enough to last the corresponding number of turns. There are many things you need to consider before triggering an effective chain reaction: the use of terrain effects, the predictive handling of the enemy's next move, the balance between mechs and defense facilities, and so on, all of which show that strategy is absolutely central to the game.

One attack produces more effects

Subset, of course, is a subset of a good strategy board game, Subset of which strips nearly all of the outer skin off, like a fruit, and gives the player the most delicious flesh. The core fun of strategic chess games is clearly revealed in the "Trapped Ambition", without redundant factors, the only requirement is the player's thinking and thinking. However, it is also an independent work, the existing playable content is not much, continuous play can be completed in the second half of the day, fortunately, a variety of mecha and randomly generated levels provide a high degree of repeatability for the game, but as mentioned earlier, the game is somewhat difficult, or in the eyes of the author who plays the game intuitively, it is moderately difficult (the feeling of ordinary difficulty, Difficult difficulty dare not think), especially the further back, looking at the map constantly breaking through the surface of the monster reinforcements, and then look at the top of the picture to see the bottom of the energy trough, the despair of the future is even worse. It can be said that the difficulty of "The Trap" will douse the enthusiasm of some players, in addition to thinking, there is almost no other path to play experience, and the simple picture also limits the audience of the work to a certain extent. We encourage you to try it out, but this game may not be to your liking.

Multiple upgrades and achievements (Have you ever seen a flying tank?)

Conclusion

Subset has returned five years ago with a test of exceptional quality that is not easy but rewarding. In the uncertain future of SLG game today, "The Will of the Trap" this kind of work exuding a "small workshop" atmosphere still shows an excellent understanding of SLG, simple and exquisite. If you're a fan of strategy games, this one is definitely worth picking up.