AntiSquad Is Pretty Pro-Squad, Actually [Review]

Alright, so they’re the “AntiSquad” because they’re a ragtag bunch of misfits with little in common who still manage to pull together and get the job done when it counts. But sometimes headlines are hard.

AntiSquad is a new tactical game with a cartoonish art style and a whole lot of things to tap on. If you’ve played games like Breach & Clear or Final Fantasy Tactics, you get the general idea: Your group and the enemy take turns moving across a map trying to get into position to attack or outmaneuver each other. You have grids and buffs and cooldowns and all that other genre-standard stuff.

And other than its cool art, “genre-standard” is the best way I can think of to describe this game.

That’s not to say that AntiSquad is a bad game. If you like tactical titles, you’re in for a good one. It’s just that the game — again, other than its neat art style — does nothing to distinguish itself. You still have a range of movement and action points to spend and cover to take and health packs to use, and … you get the idea.

Again, it’s not bad. I had a bit of a problem on my iPhone with tapping the wrong spot (sometimes the quarters are a bit too cramped), but it never led to a critical failure; just some minor annoyance.

“Genre-standard” is the best way I can think of to describe this game.

The AntiSquad itself presents some interesting gameplay options. You have five characters with which to build your one- to three-person team, and two more are available for hire. Most of them closely resemble the classes in developer Valve’s Team Fortress 2 (Scout, Sniper, Demolitons, Heavy, etc.) with the same general abilities and personalities, so if you’re familiar with that game, you know what you’re getting into. And if you don’t, the class names basically tell you what you need to know.

The different stats on each class present a lot of options for combining abilities and building up The Perfect Team, which is yet another thing that you do in every tactical game ever. But AntiSquad is a perfectly functional and fun entry, and it certainly scratches that itch.

Game Name: : AntiSquad The Good: It’s a fun tactical game with a lot of personality. The Bad: It’s not much different from any other tactical game you’ve ever played, and it’s a paid title that contains in-app purchases. The Verdict: Mostly harmless. Buy from:App Store

[rating=game4]