“Top Down Tactical Fun”
About The Game
Phantom Squad is an intense 1-4 player tactical top-down shooter that blends fast-paced combat with real-time strategy.
Pre Mission Area
After a short tutorial Phantom Squad put you into an area filled with activities and benches this acts as your hub for you and your team allowing prep and more so lets dive into this a little you can get a feel of what is actually available in the area.
First of we have the mission bench from this bench you can choose which mission you would like to play, now initially you only be able to choose the first mission after you complete each mission a new mission will unlock, unless you play a mission further down the line with a friend then it will unlock the mission you played with a friend (play mission 9 with a friend and you will unlock mission 9 in single player even if your still on level one).
The second bench in the Hub is an Equipment bench, here you and your team can edit your loadout this allow for some tactical planning if you have a general understanding of what your about to walk into. Weapons and equipment within Phantom Squad unlock during mission completion so the further you get into the game the more you and the team will have at their disposable
Along side the mission and equipment bench you will notice a few training areas within the hub. One of these area is a grenade range which allows you to practice your grenade throwing skills, this also allows you to ensure you are able to get the angle and grenade throw you want in minimal time.
The last area here is a kill house minus the live targets of course as you press into the kill house you will see targets now the aim is to get through as efficiently as possible running the kill house will allow you to train room clearing and team plays on sweeping buildings.
Gameplay Loop
Phantom Squad’s gameplay loop is quite a simple one, you select a mission from your hub and then you have to GET TO THE CHOPPA!!! Once in the mission you will be tasks with eliminating all the hostiles and rescuing the hostages. Depending on the mission you choose the objective will change some mission will require you to exfil a hostage some mission will require you to do other objectives but the core gameplay here is spawn in do missions get out.
You and your team will be tactically sweeping through rooms in order to make sure your mission is a success, bringing the right tool for the job is pretty critical, making sure the team has enough grenades, heals, ammo to progress through each level effectively.
Our Thoughts
We really loved our time playing the game on single player and multiplayer with up to 3 people, However when running with 4 people we found the game was seriously easy and almost changed the game entirely, It went from a tactical shooter that required planning to a run and gun, upon talking to the developer he adjusted the game and its plays a ton better in 4 player now due to limited med refills.
Our only other issue with the game was a mission called Chain breaker which sees the team chained together pressing to far from your team mate will give the player an electric shock but you have to stay close all while sneaking past enemies and the enemies can hear you if you let the shockers beep. Once again the developer has since changed this mission to add checkpoints allows for a much smoother run through this map.
Overall our experience with the game was a fun and enjoyable experience.
Interview With Developers
Q: What inspired you to make the game?
A: It's mostly feelings I get when playing other games, or at least how I remember them. The satisfaction of seeing your plan unfold perfectly (or most of the time, very wrong) after you've tried to think of every possible outcome during the planning phase in early Rainbow 6 games. The bond that's created between players when they successfully communicate and act in a co-op game. I also love when multiplayer games have their player study the map together, like in Sea of Thieves or GTFO.
At the same time, like many players I can't spend dozens of hours in a game and it was important for me to create something that's easy to get into, while still offering a proper challenge.
Q: How long has the game been in development and how big is the team working on the title?
A: It's been in production for a year, the team is composed of myself and 2 "main" freelancers (One doing level design, one doing level art). And the various help I got for some parts like music, voice over, 2D art for the cutscenes…
The top-down view allows for producing way quicker because everything is seen from far away and up-top so it's pretty fast to get to a "good enough" state.
Q: Who is responsible for the sound design within the game? How did they go about creating the suppressed SMG sound?
A: I'm responsible for all the sound design. For the suppressed SMG particularly, I may have put some muffled impact SFX on top for instance, to have it punch a bit more.
Q: Is there any intention of adding a lean mechanic into the game?
A: Probably not; the game is too fast-paced for it, it would ruin the pacing in my opinion.
Q: Is there any intention of adding customisable characters?
A: Maybe! it's something I know players are happy to have, and it wouldn't be too hard to implement especially if it's mainly a cosmetic thing. It won't be in the initial release, but it can come in later updates.
Q: What does the future look like for Phantom Squad?
A: It's really going to depend on the game reception, but if Phantom Squad finds its audience, the first priorities will focus on replayability. Difficulty modes, more RNG on levels, leaderboards, maybe procedural levels, a map editor… Probably public matchmaking as well.
Verdict
Phantom Squad is a tactical shooter that can be played with up to 4 players. The game requires the team to plan and manoeuvre through different maps where they will capture hostages and eliminate enemy threats.
Complete levels within Phantom Squad will unlock additional weapons allowing for faster or more tactical plays. There are a multitude of different levels within Phantom Squad and each level provides a different challenge to the player.
The Developer of the game is more than happy to take on board the communities opinions and adjust the game accordingly.
