Crossfire: Legion – Review

Our Score: 7/10

A shattered version of the near future is the setting for the real-time strategy game Crossfire: Legion, which features tactical combat in fierce fights. Raising and customising your army will allow you to engage in fierce online warfare and carve out your own path as you go. The type of warfare is new.

Crossfire is set in the not too distant future, and its two main factions are Global Risk and Black List. Global Risk is a paramilitary peacekeeping group that exists exclusively to protect global corporations so that capitalism can flourish. They rely on largely conventional military forces, along with a few exotic, high-tech weapons. Black List are the world’s disruptors; they employ guerilla warfare and swift, lethal squads. Of course, each party believes that they are the righteous ones. One of Crossfire’s most interesting themes is moral uncertainty. The third faction, New Horizon, which employs mechs and cutting-edge energy weapons, is introduced in Crossfire: Legions.

Although less distinctive than, say, Zerg and Terran, the three factions are similarly well-balanced and enjoyable to play. The choices boil down to being aggressive or defensive, as with the majority of RTS games. Do you prioritise massive, expensive equipment or a sizable fleet of less priced units? Is it preferable to construct a huge base with strong defences or a vast network of smaller bases? As with anything, it’s usually best to split the difference. There is a quirk that will aggravate gamers used to building up big armies. Crossfire: A unit cap exists for Legion. You can construct fewer than twelve of any given unit.

Tactical Legion

Traditional strategies date back to games like Warcraft, Command & Conquer, and Age of Empires. They also hold true for Crossfire: Legion. On the one hand, I liked the standard gather/build/upgrade cadence. On the other hand, because the three factions play identically, it is challenging to form a strong attachment to any one of them. Terrans, Zerg, and Protoss in Starcraft couldn’t have been more distinct in terms of playstyle or unit composition. Global reach and the Black List are extremely similar. Fortunately, New Horizon adds some variety with its stunning area-of-effect weapons and massive mechs.

The single-player campaign in Crossfire: Legion is only a few hours long. Actually, it’s just a long tutorial. It requires the player to escort units, destroy and defend positions, and create some bases while transporting diverse armies from point A to point B. There are side missions, but they don’t really add to the experience and frequently make it harder to accomplish the primary goals.

Weapons Online

The single-player campaign serves only as a prelude. Like other real-time strategy games, the extensive selection of multiplayer modes steals the show. The competitive and cooperative features of the game will determine if Crossfire: Legion is a success or not. It’s amazing how many different ways there are to play against and with people.

Of course, there are the standard skirmish modes, which feature 3v3 battles between up to six players. Other, more unusual match kinds exist as well. Players must simultaneously attack and defend supplies in Payload. Battle Lines lets the user concentrate on strategy because, after deployment, AI will take control of the ground forces. Operation Thunderstrike is a cooperative wave-based mode where groups of players defend a succession of checkpoints from waves of AI opponents.

Perhaps the first point of contention for many players will be the absence of offline gaming outside of the campaign. AI does not engage in offline combat, for instance. This indicates that the core of the game relies almost entirely on a large number of human players, aside from the inconvenience of being “always on.” In place of other players, you can play a skirmish, but only if you have a connection.

Crossfire: Legion looks good overall. On the battlefield, it is simple to distinguish between units, and the urban and natural settings, which are beautifully diverse, have a good level of complexity and destructibility. The sci-fi, lighting, and explosion effects in the game are powerful and amazing. Weapon and mechanical audio effects are treated properly and with the appropriate impact. Voice acting, audio design, and graphic presentation all work well together to make the game engaging.

Final Verdict

Crossfire: Legion is a trip down memory lane, transporting players back to the golden age of real-time strategy games. The game has a traditional vibe that will appeal to genre purists.