Cortex Command

Occasionally entertaining, but plagued by AI bugs and hamstrung by a clunky user interface. Less than the sum of its parts.

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Cortex Command is a real-time and turn-based strategy game set in a 2D world. Command your faction's troops, construct buildings, and manage resources to defeat your enemies. The game features destructible environments, customizable units, and a variety of weapons to choose from. Your goal is to conquer your opponent's base and eliminate their cortex, the core of their brain-like neural network.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Reviews

80%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,259 reviews

gameplay41 positive mentions

stability59 negative mentions

Unique and fun gameplay with a mix of strategy and action elements.
Highly modifiable with a strong community that adds new content and factions.
Destructible environments and physics-based mechanics create chaotic and entertaining battles.

Clunky controls and a steep learning curve make it difficult for new players to get into.
The game feels unfinished and lacks polish, with many bugs and performance issues.
No online multiplayer, limiting the experience to local co-op only.

gameplay
119 mentions
34 % positive mentions
61 % neutral mentions
5 % negative mentions
The gameplay of Cortex Command is a mixed bag, featuring innovative mechanics and a destructible environment that can lead to entertaining moments, but is often marred by clunky controls, a steep learning curve, and numerous bugs. While some players appreciate the chaotic and emergent gameplay, others find it frustrating and lacking in structure, with many feeling that the game resembles a tech demo rather than a polished product. Overall, the unique blend of action and strategy offers potential for fun, especially with mods, but the execution leaves much to be desired.
- “The gameplay is probably the most open and captivating that I have seen in a game to date, and offers a lot of possibilities and methods of victory.”
- “The physics are great, everything in the game is destructible, absolutely anything as well as amazing combat mechanics; you can snipe someone from afar or gun them down with rifles or even slice them with swords!”
- “This game is totally wild - the movement systems and gun mechanics are a bit wonky and take some getting used to, but very quickly you will find that Cortex Command's gameplay is immensely satisfying.”
- “This game is a mess of complicated mechanics with no info on how to use them.”
- “The issue, however, is that the main gameplay mode is broken up into disconnected scenarios that don't fit together and make the game feel unfinished.”
- “Gameplay is unintuitive and makes little sense.”
stability
59 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is widely criticized, with users reporting numerous bugs, glitches, and crashes that significantly hinder gameplay. Many reviewers describe it as a "buggy mess" and express frustration over its unfinished state, suggesting that it feels abandoned by its developer. Despite its potential and entertaining aspects, the overwhelming consensus is that the game's stability issues make it difficult to recommend, especially at its current price.
- “This game is a buggy mess, if you lose a battle under certain conditions, the resource meter actually ticks negative past 0 and defaults to the maximum value, giving you a ludicrous amount of cash.”
- “It's horribly bug-ridden, there are amazingly careless and obvious mistakes and errors, there's huge balance issues and very little depth, and it's stagnated for a ridiculous amount of time.”
- “Overall, I've probably spent more time searching forums and fiddling with settings and third-party programs trying to get this game to work and getting frustrated over glitches than actually playing the game.”
story
52 mentions
17 % positive mentions
69 % neutral mentions
13 % negative mentions
The game's story aspect is largely criticized for its lack of depth, with many users noting the absence of a traditional story mode or campaign, leading to a focus on gameplay rather than narrative. While some players appreciate the chaotic fun and modding community that allows for custom missions, they express a desire for a more structured story or character development to enhance immersion. Overall, the game is seen as a sandbox experience with minimal storytelling elements, leaving players wanting more in terms of narrative engagement.
- “Cortex Command fits extremely well with its small but understandable backstory.”
- “I enjoyed the idea of the gameplay, but I think that story and world immersion matter the most in games.”
- “The original storyline and concepts are amazing; the units are varied and creative, the guns are very unique, and every unit has a jetpack.”
- “The tutorial is barebones and there's no 'story mode' to introduce you to the rest.”
- “The campaign, if you could call it that, has no story and no clearly defined goal other than to kill the enemy.”
- “Absolutely no story, nothing to work for, no progression.”
graphics
43 mentions
33 % positive mentions
60 % neutral mentions
7 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are characterized by a charming 2D pixel art style that evokes nostalgia, reminiscent of retro games. While some players appreciate the unique aesthetic and detailed physics, others criticize the visuals for being small and occasionally buggy, leading to issues with gameplay fluidity. Overall, the graphics are seen as decent but not groundbreaking, appealing primarily to fans of indie and retro-style games.
- “Unique and demanding gameplay is backed up by an excellent aesthetic.”
- “The graphics have a Metal Slug feel, and the terrain deformation (and formation from crashed ships and dead bodies) makes everything feel so interactive.”
- “2D sidescrolling pixel graphics with an extremely detailed physics simulation make for a mix of nostalgia and surprising gameplay.”
- “The graphics are mediocre, looking almost as though the whole game and all the assets are developed to play in 640 x 480. Aiming is terrible and unintuitive, sometimes working and sometimes not. Can we have an aim button so we know when we're aiming or otherwise?”
- “Even with a quad-core 4.2 GHz processor and a 1080 graphics card, I'll still end up staring at action frame by frame at times.”
- “I was met with severe graphical issues; I encountered poorly made, buggy gameplay that would make E.T. look good.”
humor
29 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is widely praised for its absurdity and chaotic physics, reminiscent of classic multiplayer experiences like "Worms Armageddon." Players find themselves laughing at the unpredictable and often ridiculous outcomes of gameplay, such as characters being launched across the map or failing spectacularly in their missions. Despite some frustrations with the game's mechanics, the overall experience is described as hilariously entertaining, making it a great choice for those looking to enjoy a lighthearted and chaotic gaming session.
- “The fun in this game is similar to the feeling of playing Worms Armageddon for the first time with your friends in primary school and laughing your arse off at all the absurd physics, destruction, and violence.”
- “However, while I'm doing that, I'm generally laughing my ass off because some Fallout power armor guy named Frank just got blown halfway across the map because of a failed attempt at collecting a pile of bombs, only to be left alive with no arms and one leg, hobbling across the rest of the map, which is literally made out of the blood and bones of all of his fallen enemies.”
- “Jetpacking out of control and then smashing into 3 enemy NPCs and watching everyone explode is hilarious.”
replayability
28 mentions
61 % positive mentions
29 % neutral mentions
11 % negative mentions
The game boasts high replayability, primarily due to its extensive modding community that offers a variety of mods and scenarios, enhancing the gameplay experience significantly. Players appreciate the unique mechanics and sandbox elements, which allow for endless ways to engage with the game. While the base game may become repetitive over time, the availability of mods keeps it fresh and enjoyable for many users.
- “It's a cheap fun game that's heavily replayable with a lot of different mods.”
- “The community mod support for this game is on another level and makes it insanely replayable.”
- “Cortex Command is an endlessly replayable action strategy game, and now with Workshop Corporation, it is much easier to install mods and now even more replayable.”
- “As for play and replayability, it truly depends on what kind of system specs you have. If you have a lot of RAM opened up, then it should run fairly smoothly. Just don't get mods that'll crash the game. For replayability, if you download some scenarios, it can be very worth it. All in all, it's a good game with a couple of rough edges like not enough maps or slow-moving characters, but the positives outweigh the negatives from my experience.”
- “Id hoped after 2 years the game would be a bit more playable than the reviews stated, but it is still ridiculous.”
- “With certain mods, the replay value can make you want to play it over and over.”
optimization
22 mentions
18 % positive mentions
59 % neutral mentions
23 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with many players noting significant performance issues, including severe lag, crashes, and FPS drops, particularly during intense gameplay. While recent updates have improved performance somewhat, a powerful CPU with strong single-core capabilities is still necessary for a smooth experience. Overall, while the game is enjoyable, its optimization flaws hinder its full potential.
- “You will need a computer that has amazing single-core performance; otherwise, you will lag within three seconds of starting the game.”
- “That was somewhat remedied by the latest update (at the time of writing), but you can still feel severe FPS drops in big battles unless your CPU has some serious single-core performance.”
- “I was worried for a while that they had given up on it, but now that there's more updates coming out, especially those that help performance, I'm very pleased with it.”
- “The game has flaws, such as shaky fullscreen initialization, poor performance optimization, crashes, and severe slowdown.”
- “Both mediocre optimization and a ton of moving physics parts at once mean that you'll spend a lot of slowdown time if you don't have the computer to be able to handle all the processes at once.”
- “The issue here is performance; on multiple rigs, I have had issues with not only crashing to desktop, but crippling lag as soon as a game runs too long or things start to get interesting.”
music
9 mentions
67 % positive mentions
11 % neutral mentions
22 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its energetic and memorable soundtracks, particularly the intro theme, which many consider one of the best. Reviewers appreciate the fun and engaging quality of the music, describing it as a blend of simple yet enjoyable tunes that enhance the gameplay experience. However, some users noted issues with the music volume settings during campaign creation.
- “But fun, and it has one of the best intro soundtracks I've ever heard.”
- “From one of the most memorable theme songs I have ever heard to the unending fun of littering the battlefield with crab shrapnel bombs, there is really something for everyone to enjoy.”
- “The intro music has absolutely no right to go this hard!”
- “The music volume becomes very loud when creating a new campaign, despite it being set to 1.”
grinding
6 mentions
0 % positive mentions
33 % neutral mentions
67 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and frustrating, often requiring significant time investment to progress. Complaints include a confusing tutorial, clunky movement, poor AI, and a poorly designed user interface, all contributing to a cumbersome experience that detracts from enjoyment.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “This can be tedious, especially before you start to learn to do it naturally, and even after.”
- “One of the most tedious and annoying games I've played.”
monetization
2 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy of the game has drawn criticism, as players feel that promised content from advertisements is not delivered, and recent updates have focused more on promoting the prequel rather than enhancing the current game. Overall, users express disappointment with the lack of substantial updates and the perceived prioritization of advertising over gameplay improvements.
- “If you want any of the promised features from the advertisements, then I can't recommend this game.”
- “It's funny that the update we received was an advertisement for the prequel, but there have been no major updates in years. They only changed the text on the campaign, and it is still not finished.”