Tacticolor - Indie Game Review

PROS

• Stylish graphics
• Fast paced
• Fun gameplay
• Multiplayer

CONS

• Lack of variety
• Controls aren't the smoothest

The easiest way to describe Tacticolor is that it’s a faster paced version of Risk.  Though it isn’t a Risk copy either; the game is played on a white plain with polygons being the territories you try to capture.  Each territory also only holds a limited amount of troops, so holding a lot of small territories isn’t always best.  The game boasts two modes, a landrush where everyone starts with one territory, and filled in which everyone starts with an equal numbers of territories throughout the map.

The main difference between Risk and Tacticolor is that the game isn’t turn based, and in turn is much faster paced and the games don’t take nearly as long.  You simply gain a troop every 5-10 seconds and can place it on whichever territory you wish.  The strategy comes from the 5-10 second spawn time for each troop after you place it, so you can’t actually use it until it spawns.  Couple that with being able to hold a lot of troops at once and you can choose to either go all out, or wait and then deploy all your troops and go on a rampage.

The gameplay itself is solid and most games take between 5-10 minutes.  The AI difficulty is alright, easy is easy, normal is….still pretty easy, and hard is actually a challenge.  The gameplay itself is a simple as moving pieces and placing down new ones, though despite its simplicity, it is still fun.  Strategy comes into play as far as choosing either to build up or charge your enemies, though you don’t need to actually use a lot of strategy to win.  The real fun comes from the multiplayer though; playing this game with 3 of my friends didn’t only work well, but was also fun.  So if you are looking for a good multiplayer game to play with friends for cheap, definitely check this one out.

The game boasts a nice 2 track soundtrack, they are pretty basic techno tracks but it works well.  As far as graphics go, they are stylish, yet simple, as they are mainly just colored squares.  Besides the two modes and multiplayer, the game also boasts an achievement system, but I don’t really care about achievements so it seems pointless in my opinion, besides those that’s all the gameplay the game offers so it can get boring fast depending on your attention spawn.  The only problem I have seen is navigating between territories doesn’t work all that well, mainly because selection is based on up, down, left, and right and the territories are diagonal, and with a fast paced game like this, simple and smooth navigation is necessary.  Besides that small flaw it is a solid indie game which I recommend for people wanting a cheap thrill.