Taskforce

Fans of XCOM will find the gameplay of Taskforce familiar: you control a squad of heavily armed soldiers, and each turn you plan their moves. Each has a limited number of action points to spend, and movement, firing, and other actions require you to spend points. Opponents can 'opportunity fire' at you if you enter their field of fire (and they have action points remaining from last turn), so even though this is an "I move/you move" game, there's a sense of interactivity between the players as you move. Once you're finished with your turn, the other side performs its own actions under the control of the AI.

As with the original XCom games (and Laser Squad Nemesis), the result is gameplay utterly different from today's conventional shooters; winning requires painstaking planning and careful scouting, rather than the ability to manipulate controls quickly.

With 30 missions, many of them homages to B-movies (can you say "zombies"?), there's a wealth of gameplay here for those who like strategy games that actually make them think.

The Mutants of October Morgane

When the controversial animal testing lab Cyrus Life Sciences is invaded by heavily armed animal rights extremists, the international anti-terrorist Taskforce is called in to take care of the situation... but all is not as it first seems... Hostage situations need careful planning.

An upper level of the shopping mall in Born of the Dead. As a Taskforce Commander, you will control your elite squad of soldiers to fight exciting and terrifying enemies. You will fight on levels that are different each time, complete a large variety of objectives in day or night vision conditions, and play any completed mission at any time as a single game.

Elite Mission Command

Taskforce is a squad-level, turn-based strategy game in the style of games such as the X-COM series. The game has a 3D playing area (there are stairs and elevators), and the display is 3D and features a variety of camera angles.

Mood lighting in the sewers. Your team awaits. Taskforce includes over 30 training and story missions that unfold to reveal a twisting plot and thrilling climax. All of the missions have random elements, from different starts for the enemies to whole random maps.

The ability to listen for the enemy, true lines of fire, real body hit location and a detailed and realistic damage system, illuminating flames, and real lighting conditions all add up to make an innovative strategy game with real depth.

"Taskforce was Cornutopia's big game release of 2004 and provides many missions and a lot of gameplay for the price. Many missions hommage movies including Romero's Dawn of the Dead, The Day of the Jackal and The Andromeda Strain. Taskforce represents the latest evolution in a series of similar turn based strategy games created since 1994, and I am immensely proud of the resulting game." - Mark Sheeky

Reviews

"Taskforce might be a perfect buy for players looking for a serious challenge."
   - Game Tunnel
   (Note: Mark has toned down the difficulty a bit since this review ran.)