LUKEWARM WAR.

I am fairly vocal about my feelings on the Metal Gear series, but I will say that the two titles in the Metal Gear AC!D series are pretty cool. A unique marriage between turn based strategy titles and Metal Gear stealth (and a card game for some reason) made for a really fun experience. The only game that has come close to that turn based stealth gameplay for me so far has been Invisible Inc. from Klei. I was hoping for Phantom Doctrine to be the game to join this group of games that I love. It tried hard but Phantom Doctrine just falls short.

The Cold War instantly had my attention, because no other time period lends itself to espionage and conspiracies better than the Cold War era. Initially there are two campaigns to choose from based upon the CIA and KGB that feature different plots and actually different languages (the KGB campaign is voiced in Russian surprisingly), with a third being unlocked after finishing one of the other two. The plot is fairly basic and can only be continued after enough time is spent collecting intel which leads into the main loop of the game.

PLATFORMS: PC, XB1, PS4
MSRP: $35.99
PRICE I’D PAY: $19.99

From the main base I send my agents out to investigate occurrences. Sometimes there’s an informant, sometimes it’s just intel, and other times there are enemy agents (I’ll touch upon this in a second). Each piece of intel received was put into a separate menu that had me reading each document for keywords and classic spy speak. The keywords were then listed out next to the document and I got to do the classic string across the pins on the cork board to connect all the information together. Completing enough of this unlocks the next story mission and really brings the spy motif to life.

Looking for clues, however, is not enough for the game so this is where the main gameplay section comes in. Using various agents (each with their own skills, backgrounds, and equipment) of my choice, I infiltrated enemy areas using the turn based strategy mechanics. Besides the tutorials and story missions, the majority of missions are to eliminate enemy agents by either killing them or capturing them (which will end with a bullet to the head as well). Each turn I moved my agents one by one around the map, and when I completed my turn the enemy moves. The game doesn’t stray too far from the turn based strategy norms. Movement is based on a grid system, sometimes missions have optional secondary missions, and there is a limited amount of actions characters can take each turn. There are two main modes of engagement: infiltration and aggression.

While infiltrating I’m silently taking down guards by knocking them out (until I get a suppressor for my firearms), disabling security measures at computers, and looting cabinets and photographing intel. This part of the game is a blast. There’s a lot of strategy to moving around enemy walk patterns and breaking into certain areas. In larger missions I even had the choice to have other agents watch from nearby rooftops and assist in various ways. What if, however, there was something I needed in a room filled with enemies? Well, it was time for me to move into the aggressive state and that is where the game becomes less fun.

I had set off the alarms, my characters all pull out their firearms, combat was ready to go. Backup was instantly called. I took a shot at an enemy. I hit. I hit because I would always hit. I can not miss. This is because Phantom Doctrine decided that XCOM’s method of dice rolling to determine whether or not an attack hits an enemy is absurd because how many times can I stand directly next to an enemy and unload a shotgun blast to their face only for the game to say I missed? This sounds like an amazing thing until it’s the enemies turn and from outside, on the street below, and enemy can somehow see one of my agents in a window on the SAME SIDE OF THE STREET THAT THEY ARE STANDING ON (please try this and realize how difficult it is in real life) and shoots and seriously wounds my agent. Not only does that enemy agent somehow magically know exactly where I am and have bionic eyes, but also impossibly great accuracy with an AK-47 from that range. That is some JFK magic bullet type stuff there and more importantly it is a problem. It is a problem regardless of whether I could do it or the computer could do it, but really only the computer could do it because I can’t see the enemies until they were in my agent’s vision, while the computer will always know where I was because it’s logic is not built like a stealth game but a turn based strategy game.

Now some of this was fixed with a patch and enemies seemed a bit more reasonable when engaging, but there are still some big issues, like not actually searching for an intruder and seemingly knowing the location of all my agents even if one of them has yet to engage anybody and is still technically not seen. If I am to the right of a doorway and an enemy takes a shot he doesn’t shoot through the wall to hit. My character actually steps into the doorframe out of turn and takes damage instead of remaining in cover. All this while more reinforcements are on their way, and they will keep coming until I leave the area via extraction which takes three turns to arrive and once compromised (the alarm has been set) will leave in three turns. I am outgunned, outnumbered, and apparently out of luck when it comes to combat and because stealth clearly isn’t a solution to certain areas of this game I am forced to deal with terrible unfair scenarios.

Technically the game is fine. I found it too easy to scroll across the map using the mouse instead of the WASD keys. The game autosaves after every turn which makes it easy to undo a mistake and it can be turned off if wanted. There are plenty of difficulty options (I chose normal). A lack of compass means I have to scroll the map to remember where to move my characters to; I would rather just remember that my extraction point is to the East of the map just in case things got intense I wouldn’t have to keep scrolling to know where to head. The biggest technical sin is that load times can be a minute or longer at times for the most basic of maps.

I can see that there is a game to be enjoyed in Phantom Doctrine. I really want to enjoy it, I can’t though until the issue with combat is fixed. So far the best solution has been what Mario + Rabbids has done with its cover system, but even that isn’t a perfect response to a clear problem with turn based strategy games. There’s some unique aspects that I hope are observed by other developers but there are better strategy titles out there like Invisible Inc. that do the core basics better.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.