Breach and Clear (out now, $1.99) is a squad-based tactical game that has you controlling a group of four soldiers to, well, breach and clear a set of rooms. This review is going to be particularly difficult to write simply because at the time of going to press, the game is less than half complete. You’ll find out why in a few paragraphs’ time.
If you’re a fan of customization of both weapons and you, you’ll want to listen in. You can modify almost every detail of your squad from the weapons to individual soldiers. If you’re following the game’s Twitter account like me, you’ll notice the multiple users tweeting screenshots of their custom squads. Each member plays a different role and you can level them up as you progress. It’s clear the developers spent a lot of time on this aspect of the game as everything you customize, including helmets and camouflage, affect the skills of your soldiers. Sadly though, this is the deepest that the game will go.
The gameplay isn’t so interesting. This only goes for the exclusively available ‘Terrorist Hunt’ mode, which is one of the three modes (the other two are blocked by a ‘coming soon’ banner). At first I was very interested in the core gameplay of assigning soldiers to doors and breaching them, using various in-game tactics to clear. But then I played past the first few levels and whilst the normal difficulty mode gives you a sufficient challenge, the game becomes very repetitive. What’s worse is only three of the five scenarios in Terrorist Hunt mode are available to play, so you can only play through fifteen levels (5 levels per scenario).
It’s unfortunate because the two gameplay modes plastered with a ‘coming soon’ banner sound really interesting — ‘Hostage Rescue’ and ‘Bomb Defusal’. They seem like they can add the much-needed variety to the game.
iFanzine Verdict: If the developers deliver on their ‘coming soon’ promises, Breach and Clear has the potential to be very entertaining and worth a recommendation. Now though, it’s up to you whether or not you believe the new modes will make the game worthwhile, and if you don’t mind waiting for them. The depth of customization is admirable and is definitely the main plus side of the game, but sadly it hasn’t transferred to the gameplay side of things.