Alright, so I played about 2+ hours of it. That should be enough to form some solid first impressions.
The good:
+ Nice music. I really like the combat and base music. Solid vibes and really gives the impression that this isn't about law and order so much as it is about delivering street justice. There's only one track that I don't really like (the one with the woman singing in the background)
+ Good, clean UI. Can still be improved on with some keyboard shortcuts (e.g. switching members) and quality-of-life additions (e.g. selling from personal inventories rather than base inventory), but overall good layout.
+ The 'cityscape' (Geoscape equivalent) function is very promising. I really like the idea of gangs functioning as they would while you're trying to crush their operations. If you can deliver more simulationist mechanics here, including inter-faction conflict, it'd be a real winner.
+ I hope you go crazy with the base elements. I think because it's still in EA, it's going to be limited with what you can do as far as research and crafting are concerned, but it'd really be nice to have a non-linear track there like what X-COM did with laser vs plasma vs equipment.
The neutral:
= Combat is, hm... I'm lukewarm. It has things to like about, and vice versa, so let's start with what I didn't really like. I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of nuXCOM mechanics, and it was in spite of (and not because of) them that I enjoyed games like Shadowrun Returns. The cover in particular has that annoying vulnerable angle in which an enemy can always hit you no matter where you take cover. I'm not really sure how to explain it, but I can take screenshots if you'd like. Again, some people would overlook this, but I can't help but sperg over this kind of thing. May just be me
Maps are small, and are more akin to smaller skirmishes (e.g. 4v6) . I've no problem with this. I suppose since you're going with probabilistic to-hit mechanics, you'll want to implement more sub-systems that will mix things up a bit. As it stands, I'm in a lot of situations where I can win simply by taking cover, firing potshots, and taking the occasional flanking route. Lack of friendly fire is kind of a downer too. I can imagine how it will start to feel like a grind later on.
Now what I do like about combat is that it has some nice features that I've not seen before in other tactics games, like the ability to switch between lethal and non-lethal KOs. Would be cool to see these have more gameplay effect beyond a different ending.
Glad you guys went with multiple APs rather than sticking with 2-AP (which, to its credit, can be done correctly, but not the way nuXCOM did).
= Sound effects are okay. The pistol sounds like a BB gun, but the sounds of enemies getting shot are satisfying.
The bad:
- There's consistent lag when clicking on stuff, like it takes a noticeable while before the game responds to your mouse clicks.
Might come up with more thoughts when I play it some more. Overall, I think the foundation is there, so I'm really looking forward to future updates.
