Its non-linear campaign and loads of strategic depth make for a thoroughly engaging experience.

Silent Storm is a turn-based tactical RPG in the vein of classics Jagged Alliance and X-Com, and is a welcome resurrection of the genre.

Set during WWII, you choose either the Axis or Allies and lead a band of six soldiers on covert missions across Europe. Gameplay alternates between your main base, where you can outfit, heal, and swap troops, and battles, either missions or random encounters.

In areas, things pass in real-time until an enemy is spotted, and then the game switches to a turn-based format with a combat system similar to the Fallout series. Each character has a certain amount of Action Points (AP) to use in a turn and everything from crouching to firing a weapon costs AP.

The number of choices one has to make for their soldiers in a turn, from stance to mode of fire, and the interactivity and destructibility of the environments makes for some great strategy. An excellent tutorial is included and walks you through all the controls and basic aspects of combat.

The RPG aspects of the game further help lend strategic depth to the game. There are six types of units in the game: Soldiers, grunts good with all weapons; Medics, good at healing; Grenadiers, good with heavy weapons; Engineers, good at placing and disabling mines; Scouts, good at stealth; and Snipers, good at sniping.

They all level up as well improving in their basic stats and skills as they are used, and gaining special abilities, like being able to shoot through walls, on an ability tree similar to Diablo II.

The graphics are top notch as well. It never gets old seeing an enemy roll down the stairs after getting a stomach full of lead or a fence splinter and shatter as a sniper’s bullet passes through towards its target.

Sound effects and music are well done, but unfortunately, the voice acting leaves something to be desired. I just want to know why the people who recorded the voice-overs thought it would be good to have the characters yell all their lines in bad accents.

There are some annoyances, such as the static nature of the camera. It doesn’t always switch levels as bodies fall or your characters walk to a higher level requiring you to click on the change level view.

Also, there is far too much wait time between turns as you have to wait for the enemy and your allies to move and the camera again does not always focus on the action, even things happening in view of your characters, so you end up sitting looking at a blank spot of the map for a minute and a half.

Despite these problems Silent Storm, its non-linear campaign and loads of strategic depth make for a thoroughly engaging experience.


Review by Nickolas Marheine.