14 DAY TRIAL // 
Although it’s hard not to compare every new turn-based strategy game that comes out with XCOM, I’ll make an exception with Broken Lines. Developed by PortaPlay, the story-driven tactical RPG comes up with its own take on the turn-based tactics genre.
Initially released on PC three years ago, Broken Lines was ported on consoles to tap into new audiences. At first glance, this doesn’t look (nor plays) like XCOM at all. The core gameplay loop is completely different and there’s no aiming at enemies. Apart from that, everything is simplified to the point that it detracts from its appeal.
Broken Lines adopts a pretty different genre formula, which is in no way innovative, just less used for whatever reason. Unlike traditional turn-based strategy games where turns resolve one after another, in Broken Lines both the player and the AI execute simultaneous turns. This means that the game pauses when you encounter an enemy and waits for you to give commands to your unit.
I believe there’s a 8-second timeline that you can fill in with commands for each member of your party, after which you sit back and watch the action unfold. The enemy acts at the same time, so your strategy might be countered by the AI. Unfortunately, I found that the best strategy is to go YOLO because finesse is not rewarded in this game at all.
Although it’s possible to flank the enemy, it takes too long for your flanking units to get into positions, leaving your other teammates exposed to a charge. Because enemy units won’t act right away from the moment of contact, you have time to issue charging orders and successfully route them before they even start moving.
It doesn’t always work the way you want, especially if there are units hidden waiting to ambush you, but more often than not this is the key to success. In Broken Lines, you can recruit up to 8 units that will stay with you until the end of the campaign, unless you treat them so badly that they’ll desert.
Each unit comes with their own perk that makes them unique, but typically that perk doesn’t specialize them in a certain class. In fact, you can use any unit for whatever role you want, they will perform similarly. Since there are no particular classes in the game, your strategy in battles will be defined by the weapons your units use.
Rifles and submachine guns perform well together, so that’s what I used for my playthrough. Your soldiers can also carry med packs, bandages, grenades, and other such accessories that will go into either the main or secondary utility slot. These have limited uses, but they replenish automatically at the beginning of each mission.
I sincerely believe that Broken Lines would have been a much better game if it went for a traditional turn-based combat system. The fact that you can’t make any changes to your actions once you have started your turn leads to some weird outcomes, which more often than not will not be in the player’s favor.
It takes just a few hours of gameplay to realize that the combat system lacks depth. The developers went for a rather streamlined recipe, but forgot to make it interesting in the process. Broken Lines is very light on RPG elements and while there are some choices that you can make that offer different outcomes, it’s not enough to make it interesting.
Although Broken Lines is a story-driven game, this is hardly the reason you’ll race to the finish line. Set in an alternate-history version of World War II, your squad will be fighting Nazis for the entire game. After crash landing somewhere in Eastern Europe, you must slowly build your team by rescuing the soldiers who survived.
You’ll soon discover a macabre plot that involve some mysterious Nazi units called The Faceless. The amount of mask fighters your soldiers will be facing across 21 levels seems endless, but that’s because there’s little to no variety when it comes to enemy units.
After each mission, the surviving soldiers will gather around a campfire, which is also your base of operations. This is where you can trade any salvage you obtain for newer, better weapons and other gear. More importantly, your soldiers will socialize and will soon develop affinities or aversions towards one another.
Throughout the game, you’ll be presented with some choices (help the locals with food or get it for yourself), which will also influence your soldiers’ attitude toward the war. Make too many bad decisions and they will leave your party never to come back. Once the campaign opens up, you’ll be able to choose what missions to tackle, which will probably depend on what resources you need. The missions that you don’t take will disappear, which leaves room for some sort of replayability.
Visually, Broken Lines doesn’t look good at all on console. It’s probably different on PC, but the console version is serviceable, although that’s probably an overstatement. The soundtrack on the other hand is pretty decent and greatly adds to the tense atmosphere.
The Good
- Interesting alternate World War II universe
- Plays well on console
- Nice art style
The Bad
- Contrived combat system
- Visually unpleasant
- Enemies lack variety
- Most mechanics are very basic
Conclusion
I wanted to recommend Broken Lines, but there are simply too many gameplay aspects that don’t work together. One of the few positive things is that it plays rather well on console, but that’s certainly not enough to like it.
There are some good ideas hidden under the contrived combat system and very basic RPG elements, but Broken Lines fails to be enjoyable. It will probably scratch a certain itch, but I expected a lot more based on how it’s advertised.
Review code was provided by the publisher.
