Phantom Doctrine Reviews
Between the engaging base management and tense espionage missions, Phantom Doctrine is genuinely excellent at times. However, the frustrating combat and often unhelpful tutorials slide this tactical-stealth release down a few pegs.
We aren’t fans of how often “addictive” is used as a synonym for fun, but thanks to its loop of world map organisation and tactical missions, Phantom Doctrine is both.
Phantom Doctrine is a life-consuming espionage simulator that offers a deeply complex cluster of systems to explore. Its turn-based tactics gameplay is a feat of engineering that will offer players many hours of combat thrills and stealth schemes.
Phantom Doctrine will pull you in so hard you won't even notice when the night has gone by. It provides lots of fun thanks to some cool ideas and good implementation, but at the same time, it can also be very frustrating. If not for the cheating AI, we would have been taking about a truly wonderful game.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Clearly, fans of the genre, especially those that prefer to play on console as opposed to PC, should give PD a serious look. If you're on the fence about diving into the genre, and your committed, this is also a great way to jump in, just expect some frustrations along the way.available
You should play the Phantom Doctrine. Even if you are not a devoted fan of the genre. The pre-release version of game had a lot of bugs, but some have already been fixed. The climate of Cold War and spy cinema is a big advantage.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Tom Clancy like turn based strategy in the vein of X-Com.
Although the first look of Phantom Doctrine reminded me XCOM, I still think it has some different advantages. At least, if you are a fan of spy movies, I am sure you will enjoy this game. Right now it has many flaws indeed, but developers are listening to community's opinions, and working hard to repair.
Review in Chinese | Read full review
Phantom Doctrine is a game I was excited about, and that excitement had some serious staying power for the first few hours
XCOM: Enemy Unknown meets Mission: Impossible! But not as good as that pitch suggests
In conclusion though, if you are in the market for a super detailed, super hard strategy game, look no further. With a gripping cold war storyline up there with classic spy novels, Phantom Doctrine is a worthy game
Whether it's because I can play it untethered from the television or how it eschews the alien threat for a relatively more grounded espionage take on the genre, I found the break-up between on-the-ground missions and reconnaissance activities fresh if uneven, and the removal of dice rolls for hit rate removes obfuscation that for me made combat a much more rewarding endeavor. If you're someone like me who liked Mario + Rabbids but wished there was more depth or don't particularly love sci-fi themes, Phantom Doctrine is a worthy alternative.
Phantom Doctrine's biggest issue is that it compares unfavorably to X-COM. That doesn't make it a bad game, but it emphasizes X-COM's tight design. With Phantom Doctrine, you end up feeling like everything's a touch too unfocused. The metagame is interesting but messy. The combat is filled with interesting ideas but weaker execution. A lot of this may sound really negative, but I had fun with Phantom Doctrine. Fans of X-COM-style games will absolutely find it to be worth playing; it just has so much potential that it's easy to zero in on the little things that it does wrong. Hopefully, for a sequel, the developer can polish up the flaws to create a true competitor to Firaxis's sci-fi adventure.
I also think the game perfectly catches the Cold War atmosphere of the early 80s, and delivers it in the form of a tactical stealth turn-based formula. Phantom Doctrine tackles a sensible but fascinating subject, the Cold War, and does a damn good job at it.
Phantom Doctrine did come out of nowhere to become a truly enjoyable and memorable experience.
So in the end would I recommend Phantom Doctrine to fans of tactical or strategy games? Absolutely.
It's nice to see a studio try to tackle genres with hugely successful games such as XCOM while doing their own thing. I don't think CreativeForge have made a good effort with Phantom Doctrine , but they do fall short from being able to make a run at taking the crown from the big boys. I'm sure the study will take what they've learned from this project and improve on things for either a sequel or a new take on the genre.
Given its setting, the high complexity of its systems and the quality in which they are implemented, Phantom Doctrine is a great game. Even with some minor issues in the narrative, the excessive grind and very slow loadings, the game absorbs and challenges you in the right amount.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
It could be great XCOM style turn-based strategy from Cold War era. Management of operations is great, but combat with absurd ballistics is disappointment.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Even with its multiple problems, I can't deny that Phantom Doctrine presents a unique and enjoyable take on turn-based SRPGs.