Are you looking for a new turn-based tactics game? Do you like animesque graphics, characters, and story? Is the allure of number crunching tactical combat appealing to you? Then Crimson Tactics: Rise of the White Banner might be up your alley. I had a chance to play the Indian studio Black Marsh Studios beta version of this new tactics game in the vein of Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre and here to give you the lowdown.
The introduction to the game, which also starts the story of the game, starts strong. It reveals its motivation slowly as you begin to realize that you are playing a villain rather than a hero. The intro gives you a solid foundation in the mechanics of Crimson Tactics gameplay, with the ability to move, attack, and special attacks. All of these options are available via a series of clickable menus. If that sounds familiar, I’m sure it was intentional (again, we’re talking Final Fantasy Tactics influences). Each scenario has its own map that allows you to explore a variety of settings.
Once you start the real campaign you now take on the role of your actual protagonist. The story involves an evil empire and ruler, of sorts, and your plucky band of rebels. Each scenario has a little intro with dialogue that moves the story along and it is very reminiscent of the fantasy type anime and games that it takes its inspiration from, including a formalistic type of dialogue that places it in a medieval setting.
Your rebel band has many class choices from melee classes like fighters, ranged classes like archers, and support classes like priests. There is a lot of variation to choose from and the ability to change or even mix skills of various classes as you progress is a bonus. One skill, however, I enjoyed the most was the ability to recruit enemy soldiers into your army, effectively turning them to your team mid-battle.
If you like a high difficulty in your strategy Crimson Tactics does not disappoint. I failed a number of my conflicts on the standard difficulty, but it gives you the easy option to redo that conflict and try a different strategy. At times there did seem to be some unexplained luck rolling in the background and some of my battles may have hinged on it, but it wasn’t a game breaker. If you’re used to luck rolls in other tactics games, you’ll feel right at home with a “miss” (as frustrating as that might be to see).
So you can see this a very crunchy tactics game. There are a lot of systems and mechanics to dive deep into. If that’s your tactics jam, then give Crimson Tactics: Rise of the White Banner a look on Steam (on sale if you’re buying in the first week of release).