Tacticool is a 5v5 tactical multiplayer shooter developed by Panzerdog. Players from all over the world take part in massive squad battles throughout a diverse set of maps and can use different characters, weapons and abilities to ensure that they get that wonderful win!
The main game mode in this game is called Deathmatch. In this mode, two squads will fight and kill each other to reach 100 points or simply win within the space of four minutes! In addition, they have introduced Defend, where players have to control a certain site for a period of time.
Each operator has its own kit (as well as unique perks) and some operators can have up to two pieces of special equipment (i.e. mines/RPGs/emitters/etc.), which gives players a lot of room to experiment and use different things in battle.
Teams are matched randomly based on rating. This means that a player who has high gear and low rating can just dominate the matchup if he has considerable skill. However, for most of the time, matches are fair and square and it is not unusual to hear someone with low levels of equipment to string 10-15 winstreaks together (and end up with the MVP award for most of the time and have a massive 80-90 percent win rate), which shows that this game also allows for players to show off their tactics and skills!
(SIDE NOTE: The rating completely ignores player levels and equipment. Thus, a level 34 or 40 guy with high level equipment can be matched with a relatively new player with low levels of gear. This is the nastiest thing about Tacticool’s matchmaking…But for the most part, it tries to balance out everything, so guess one has to lose a couple of times to overpowered setups…)
There is a twist though: There is a bag in the middle that isn’t accessible at the start of the game. However, after the trigger (environmental effect) opens up the place where to get the bag, the bag grants additional points to the team who holds it. In addition, smart players who hold the bag guarantee a win for the team…as the enemy has to act recklessly in order to get that bag back…
The counter to this play is just pick off players from afar, ram them with vehicles (if one is sure that there will be no mines/RPGs) and just go at it with smokes and utility to get them out of their spots.
However, if your team has the bag (and if you are not the one carrying it), then it’s time to use your mobility and fire speed to your advantage by roaming around and killing any stragglers…or by placing mines…or by waiting in smoke and knife them quickly…or by stabbing them in the back while they are busy trying to retrieve the flag! The options are many, varied and it’s up to you!
Meanwhile, one of the most notorious tactics that I’ve seen players use, especially on open maps, is to spawn raid the enemy squad using a vehicle, with one serving as the driver and another player serving as the machine gunner. If there’s space for another player, that guy can go off once the vehicle reaches the spawn and start being a bloody nuisance to the enemy!
Another one is camping the bag site before it opens up, setting a perimeter to make enemies wary of approaching it. One can use mines, smoke (with someone carrying a knife), RPGs, machine guns – your mind is the limit!
The vision on the screen is top-down, meaning that you have a chance to see what’s coming for you before it even comes into the screen…unless there is a fast-moving target such as a vehicle that would come in. The UI is intuitive and blue arrows indicate clearly where your allies are. A yellow star pointer always indicates the location of the bag, no matter what happens to it.
It’s an amazing game with different ways on how to approach it. While I personally prefer the run-and-gun style with SMGs, supported by zoning through smart placing of landmines, there are a thousand ways on how to approach this game. In fact, one can spray-and-pray with a high-leveled machine gun and get away with it!
As for resources, they are easy to obtain, though they are limited in number (unless one pays for the privilege by buying resources or paying for the pass). As a result, one has to learn how to spend smartly and find the best equipment that will complement one’s playstyle.
With proper teamwork and coordination, one can still actually beat players with higher-level equipment (as long as the difference is not that oppressive). I do hope that the game stays in this way; after all, this competitive game seems to have a bright future ahead of it.
Going on to playability, the game is playable (even when one is lagging, as long as one has already aimed the weapon before the “lag tick” starts) – and anyone with a decent and stable connection should be able to enjoy this game. There are graphics options in the menu, there is a one-stop shop for the developers and there is a stats menu where one can see every relevant statistic for one’s profile.
Overall, this game is great!
I am looking forward to play it more whenever I have the time to do so! After all, this is an action-packed game!
Great write-up! Liking this game so far.