Warhounds Gameplay Preview: XCOM meets Jagged Alliance in Africa

If you gave me money for every tactical turn-based strategy game I've played over the years, I'd be rich today. It's a fantastic genre and often so limited in scale that it retains both depth and delivers a great experience without becoming too drawn out. There are exceptions, of course, such as XCOM, where the length is considerably longer in terms of playing time. Warhounds is an exciting attempt to let you control a mercenary force fighting for the future of Africa. A mysterious group has begun dismantling country after country and is trying to conquer the entire continent. You are sent in to rescue one of the last surviving presidents in one of the countries and fight back against this threat.

In this preview version, the choices were quite limited. I got to spend time on three distinct missions in the game's opening moments. You are flown in to help a roaring president with a machine gun, and the first two missions serve as a training mode. My first thought was that it resembled XCOM and Jagged Alliance. Unfortunately, it doesn't feel quite as good as those, but in some respects it seems to be an entertaining alternative. If you can handle terrible dialogue with strange word choices and embarrassing macho stuff, you might appreciate the gameplay. I'm not kidding when I say the dialogue is embarrassing; there were moments when I wanted to hide my head under the computer desk. The questionable voice acting, recorded at different volume levels, contributes to dialogue that is rather difficult to appreciate. Unfortunately, only a few voice actors work in this game, and even they have questionable things to say. This means that the Jagged Alliance aspect cannot really carry the game.

However, if you appreciate tactical turn-based combat, this is quite decent. The gameplay is in place with full and half cover. You can equip your soldiers with protective vests, different types of weapons, hand grenades and much more. It was only in the third mission that we were able to test a limited amount of this. I appreciate the ability to rotate the camera, the movement system and the shooting. Just like in the modern XCOM games, you can move and shoot, shoot twice or move further. There are also abilities that allow you to both sprint and shoot. In this regard, I think Warhounds works well. Unfortunately, I can't really say the same about the computer opposition in this test version. The opponents often made rather clumsy decisions, putting themselves in danger, and it wasn't difficult to defeat them.

I assume that they will be strengthened by more protective vests, better weapons, and abilities. At the same time, I can already warn that the computer opponents have difficulty playing the game properly. You often end up in a superior position and can quickly destroy the opposition. It's a little early to criticise this too harshly, as we've only tested the initial levels. It is also unclear what difference the difficulty levels will make to the experience. The battles themselves are only one aspect of the title. There is also a mode involving base building, recruitment and money management. It remains to be seen whether the whole package will be good, and I believe that this will make or break the title. From what I have tested so far, it is not a promising game. It feels old and like something that competitors have already done better. At the same time, it may result in an interesting title that is heavily inspired by what came before and does not do anything completely new. Sometimes more of the same can work excellently, and that is exactly what I am curious about with Warhounds.

I am very curious about how the base on board the ship will interact with the rest of the game. How will you earn money and how will it all work together? We do not yet know how many of the missions are generic and how many are custom-made. The story itself builds solely on the premise of these three missions. However, it should be said that everything felt familiar. There was nothing that really stood out about the title except for its setting. Africa is a continent that is rarely used in computer games, which I think is a bit of a shame. My favourite in the Far Cry series is probably still the second one, thanks to the setting, the story and the cool gameplay elements that the series has not reused in the same way since then.

Although I had issues with the voice acting and the written dialogue, the music is fitting. The weapons also sound good, and from the little I've been able to use, the selection feels varied nonetheless. The graphics don't offer a game you'll praise for its visuals, but it looks perfectly acceptable despite some strange facial animations. Technically, it is somewhat dated in terms of effects and environmental destruction. However, I don't think it's unplayable, and at times it looks good. Unfortunately, beautiful images are replaced by hideous animations and low-resolution textures. However, I would like to point out that I have seen both worse and better examples in the genre. A typical example in this game is its cutscenes. These can look completely crazy due to the camera angle. In one of the buildings, I encountered a new type of enemy with a knife. This villain had his face covered with a low-resolution towel throughout the entire sequence. There are many things like this that detract from the overall experience.

Warhounds is a game about money and mercenaries in an XCOM setting. The characters talk a bit like in Jagged Alliance, and more than once I wished they would just be quiet. On the other hand, I liked throwing hand grenades, hitting that hard-to-hit enemy, and flanking the right way. The environments also feature houses, rooftops, and much more, allowing for free movement and many strategies. Unfortunately, I felt that the computer opposition didn't really take advantage of this in the free missions. In the training levels, they follow certain instructions from the developers so that you can learn the basics. This means that it's difficult to say anything about them. I am cautiously optimistic about this title. However, even in the pre-release test, there are obvious problems that I am not sure Everplay DMCC can fix before the full launch. If you are interested in XCOM and Jagged Alliance, this title may be worth keeping an eye on. However, it does not seem to be a title that will surpass these classics, but rather offer more of the same. From what I have tested, I am afraid that it will be no more than a mediocre or borderline good experience. However, I would love to be proven wrong, as I like this type of game.