Guards

 PC
Metascore
49

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 5 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 5
  3. Negative: 2 out of 5
  1. PLAY! Zine
    Oct 12, 2016
    40
    A game that strips the concept of turn-based strategy to its bare bones, without an intriguing story, but with a tedious grind that will turn the player away very soon.
  2. GameSpew
    Sep 28, 2016
    40
    PC just isn’t the right platform for a title like Guards.

User Reviews

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User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 8 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 8
  3. Negative: 1 out of 8
  1. BrianPickens53
    Aug 28, 2016
    7
    I picked up Guards because I am a huge fan of turn-based strategy games. I opened the game, selected my four default heroes (peasant, healer,I picked up Guards because I am a huge fan of turn-based strategy games. I opened the game, selected my four default heroes (peasant, healer, archer, and witcher) and began my first attempt at survival. My archer shot arrows, my healer healed, my peasant threw pitch forks, and my witcher witched! I crushed the first 3 enemy waves, but on wave 4 I was immediately crushed by them. Upon returning to the main menu I thought, “That was fun, but the difficulty curve was crazy!” and then I realized I had gained enough Mithral (the in-game currency) to upgrade a few of my heroes and even unlock a dwarf with a shot gun! After a tearful farewell to my pitchfork flinging peasant, and the joyful welcome of the shotgun dwarf, I immediately started out on another mission feeling more powerful than ever! I blasted through wave 4 with my new dwarf, but was then crushed on wave 5. Upon returning to the main menu I thought, “That was fun, but the difficult curve was crazy!” and then I realized I had gained enough Mithral to upgrade a few of my heroes and even unlock a... “Wait a Minute! I’m stuck in a loop!”, I thought, but then decided I should unlock the Amazon.

    Overview

    Guard’s a very simple game to understand and play. You select a team of four heroes, and then try to survive an onslaught of enemies that are separated into 10 levels. Once you get to level 10 you have to defeat a final boss while surviving the relentless assault. Between deaths, you have the opportunity to upgrade you team, buy items, and unlock new heroes to take into battle.

    How It’s Played

    Guards is played on a 3-lane grid with your heroes lined up in a sideways “T” on the left, and the attacking enemies on the right.

    It has a unique swapping mechanic that drives it strategic gameplay. Each turn, you swap the position of two of your heroes, and then all of your heroes (besides the one in back) make an attack. The enemies then advance toward your heroes, making their attacks. As you eliminate enemies, new ones will continue to spawn. Swapping with the hero in back will make that hero recover some lost hp, but will also make the hero brought forward unleash a usually devastating special attack.

    This swapping mechanic allows you to strategically adjust your team based on the type of enemies you are fighting. For example, if my knight (melee) is in a lane facing down a goblin shaman (ranged), and my low health archer is in a lane cowering in front of an armored cow-mammoth-turtle then I can swap my knight and archer to allow my archer to shoot the goblin, and let my knight take the hit from the cow-mammoth-turtle. Since a variety of enemies are always spawning, the battlefield is always changing, which means you need to continue to swap hero positions to succeed.

    What I Liked

    If you’re on the fence about this game, play it for the hero swapping. Hero swapping is a simple mechanic that allows for complex gameplay. Given that there are eight heroes to choose from who all have special attacks, there are many potential strategies for progressing through the game. I opted for a team of low health ranged heroes so I could eliminate enemies quickly at a distance, but if I allowed too many enemies to gang up on one hero, it was game over. I also enjoyed the difficulty curve that the game presented. Each time I played, I made it a little bit further before I would die, and of course I would get upset, but never at the game. I was angry at myself because I could have totally avoided dying if I would have just swapped my healer with my archer.

    The visual style of the game is simple, yet cohesive, and you probably won’t even care because you will be too busy planning your next hero swap.

    What I Didn't Like

    The grind is real with this game. Each time you die, you have to start over from the beginning and that can be extraordinarily disappointing. Mainly because once I make it to level 8, I know that I can always make it to at least level 8. I don’t want to have to replay levels 1-7 just to try my luck at level 8. This just feels like an artificial way to increase the length of the game.

    I also found myself wondering if the visual aesthetics were the right choice for this game. The swapping mechanic is amazing, but maybe using heroes that fight enemies was not the right choice to match. There is no indication why the heroes must swap places in order to attack. Is their commanding officer a huge fan of music chairs? Also what exactly are they guarding? It seems to me that there is never anything of value behind them. And why does the game end when only one hero dies. Are they such a tight-knit group that when one comrade falls, they consider it a defeat even if the player wants to press on?

    The Verdict

    Guards unique swapping mechanic makes it worth a playthrough for fans of turn-based strategy games. If you can get past the grind, the game offers a lot of variety and complexity of gameplay for being a small indie game.

    7/10 Good    … Full Review »
  2. Chr15P
    Aug 28, 2016
    9
    Guards is a colorful 3D TBS and I have to say it’s one of the better ones I played in quite some time. I enjoyed the seemingly simple combatGuards is a colorful 3D TBS and I have to say it’s one of the better ones I played in quite some time. I enjoyed the seemingly simple combat system which encourages pacience and while it does involve some grinding eventually, I never felt bored or compelled to stop because of its increasing difficulty. I welcomed it with open arms, but perhaps for some newer players to this genre, this might represent a hindrance. The art style in Guards is reminiscent of cel shading and I enjoyed the ragdoll-like appearance of characters and units within the game. The presence of items and hero skills, does spice things up and offers plenty of strategic variety on its own. The soundtrack was pleasant enough, though nothing out of the ordinary. Still, the game looks and plays great for most strategy fans out there who don’t mind some degree of repetitiveness. Guards received recently a hefty patch and I for one never encountered any glitches or bugs. Any recently released indie title which already gets patched to this level, deserves praise since we’re getting more and more used today, seeing big-budget games fail miserably from a stable gameplay perspective. So Battlecruiser Games made a stallar job at providing and updating a very well polished game, their first project released on Steam. The price tag is fully justified.… Full Review »
  3. Supereme
    Sep 14, 2017
    9
    I am acutually surprised that this game got 49/100 I said this PC is Hilarious but sadly I'm not getting this game due to it having a lowI am acutually surprised that this game got 49/100 I said this PC is Hilarious but sadly I'm not getting this game due to it having a low critic score.:(… Full Review »
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