WARBORN

This game is great, and I can't believe how few reviews it has. It's like those older Gameboy Advance games like Fire Emblem or Advance Wars but with a twist, using mechs instead of tanks or infantry. There are four factions, each with unique hero mechs and abilities. The game also includes a map editor for creating your own skirmish games. The campaign and story are quite fun and reminiscent of the IBO Gundam universe. The balancing could use some work, but overall, this is a really fun turn-based RTS that will remind you of those older handheld turn-based strategy games with a lot of fun and character.

I played through the entire campaign on Normal mode in around 16.5 hours and loved every minute of it! This is the sort of game that the world needs a LOT more of. It's a welcome fusion of so many great ideas, ranging from 90s Masaya games, Starcraft, hex-based strategy, and Famicom Wars, among other things. In particular, I would suggest that fellow fans of Masaya's 90s games will love Warborn. There are lots of parallels, whether intentionally or not, between Warborn and Masaya's 90s catalogue: a protagonist (Luella) who resembles Lucia Cabrock from Gley Lancer, the 10 HP system from Langrisser (retooled to 1000 HP to allow for more variance), the turn-based, mission-based format of Guyframe, and an interesting take on mech-based strategy which surprisingly doesn't take any influence from Front Mission or Super Robot Wars -- Masaya's Vixen 357 followed this same premise, too. (I say this is "surprising" because those two series are the granddaddies of mechs within the context of Strategy RPGs/Turn-Based Strategy.) Oh yeah, then there's the often rock-based music of Warborn, which will likely resonate with any fellow fan of Noriyuki Iwadare's music. I don't usually get too much into traditional Turn-Based Strategy because sometimes, it feels like battles can drag on for way too long, essentially boiling down to a glorified tug-of-war capture game; this is one problem I had with WarGroove, and perhaps the main reason I don't enjoy that game as I should. Warborn, on the other hand, somehow manages to avert this, at least during its campaign mode. Most of the battles, particularly towards the endgame, are pretty challenging, even on normal mode. I can't imagine what hard mode would look like, so I definitely need to replay the game on hard at some point. Hooray for replayability! Balance in the game seems really well done. I didn't find myself relying on just one troop type throughout the campaign, and in fact, every type has its uses. Havoks and Pathfinders are useful for their high mobility, with Havoks doubling as your "capture" units. On the other end of the spectrum, slow-moving Insights and Farsights aren't going anywhere anytime fast, but they've got lots of applications for tower-defense type battles due to their long-range nukes. Invaders are lowkey great, due to their strong damage, decent mobility, and crippling debuffs. Throughout the campaign, I found I actually had to think about how to approach these battles. It's such a refreshing change of pace from all these grind-based FFT clones which insult your intelligence with their "lol just grind more" philosophy. Warborn's UI could've probably used at least a LITTLE tweaking. There's no way to view enemy move/attack ranges, and there's also no easy way to tell which damage type each attack does. Even so, I found the game to be completely bug-free, which is a rarity for a game with such a small development staff. The soundtrack is spectacular in all aspects. It's got more soul and excitement than just about anything that AAA games are putting out these days, and I find it a shame that the composer hasn't even uploaded it on any of his platforms. There's a good blend of rock, metal, orchestral, country, and a genre which I can only describe as "Cowboy Bebop-esque space western-inspired blues," which perfectly befits Warborn's atmosphere. The basslines throughout the [i]entire[/i] soundtrack are splendid -- aside from vintage Wishbone Ash (like "Vas Dis" or "Handy"), I usually don't hear such high basslines, and it's a real refreshing treat. In particular, I found that Luella's B Theme, Izol's C Theme, and Vincent's A Theme were standouts. Then you have a song like the Shadow Wolves' theme, which sounds eerily similar to the Enemy Battle (Swift Attack) theme from Front Mission 2. All in all, Warborn has the best soundtrack I've heard in quite a long time. There's also multiplayer, in case that sort of thing tickles your fancy.