Frozen Cortex
- February 19, 2015
- Mode 7
- 30h median play time
Get on Steam"Frozen Cortex" is a turn-based strategy game where you control a team of robots in futuristic sports arena. Your goal is to outsmart your opponent by planning your team's movements and attacks in advance, while adapting to the ever-changing game conditions. With a variety of game modes, teams, and advanced AI, "Frozen Cortex" offers a deep and rewarding strategic experience.
Mac OS
PC
Windows
Linux
Reviews
- The game offers deep and addictive strategy, requiring players to think multiple turns ahead and simulate opponent moves.
- The simultaneous turn-based gameplay is unique and engaging, allowing for a variety of tactical options and satisfying moments when plans come together.
- The visuals and presentation are praised, with a fun aesthetic and a great soundtrack that enhances the overall experience.
- The game suffers from a steep learning curve and an incomplete tutorial that fails to explain essential mechanics, leading to frustration for new players.
- There are significant issues with AI performance, including long decision times and unpredictable behavior, which can detract from the gameplay experience.
- The multiplayer community is nearly non-existent, making it difficult to find matches, and the single-player mode lacks depth and meaningful progression.
- gameplay54 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Frozen Cortex" is praised for its balance of simplicity and depth, offering a tactical turn-based experience that is easy to learn yet challenging to master. Players appreciate the strong AI, the absence of RNG once gameplay begins, and the engaging mechanics, including squad management and simulation features. The game encourages strategic thinking through simultaneous turns and provides a satisfying blend of casual play and deeper tactical decisions, making it enjoyable for both strategy and sports game fans.
“The gameplay is a strong mix of simple tactics vs more in-depth tactical decisions, simple to learn, hard to master.”
“To all potential buyers--there is some seriously deep gameplay here.”
“The universe that it is set in is interesting, the gameplay is simple enough to be easy to pick up but has great depth and is actually quite hard.”
“I see a lot of comparisons with Blood Bowl, which, given the rules of the game, is understandable, but the nature of gameplay is very different.”
“The online community is relatively small, but the nature of the asynchronous gameplay allows for matches to be played over long periods of time.”
“Just as someone who's a fan of both strategy and sports games, I think they could do more with the non-gameplay aspects.”
- graphics30 mentions
- 47 % positive mentions
- 43 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The game's graphics have received mixed reviews, with some praising the vibrant, high-budget visuals and character animations, while others criticize the overly flashy neon aesthetic and performance issues at lower settings. Many players appreciate the depth of customization and the enchanting visuals, alongside a standout soundtrack, which enhances the overall experience. However, there are concerns about the game's graphical demands, suggesting it may be more than necessary for its gameplay.
“Graphically very luscious, good sound effects, love the animations on the characters and am intrigued by the combination of turn-based strategy/real-time hybrid American football with robots.”
“The presentation is all you could expect from a high-budget AAA title, beautiful visuals, inspiring soundtrack.”
“I find it highly addictive, the graphics (at least in my opinion) look great, it's pretty easy to learn (although you do need a good pair of eyes sometimes to see every possibility you have to score).”
“Thirdly, this ultra-bright neon flashy aesthetic is awful.”
“This sounds weird, but they used way more graphics than they needed to for this game.”
“Graphical options are ultra, high or low - that's it, nothing else...”
- music22 mentions
- 73 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received high praise, particularly for its techno and club influences, which many players find energizing and inspiring. Reviewers recommend purchasing the soundtrack tier, highlighting its quality and the talent of composer nervous_testpilot, comparing it favorably to other acclaimed soundtracks. Overall, the soundtrack enhances the game's aesthetics and complements its challenging gameplay, making it a standout feature.
“The presentation is all you could expect from a high budget AAA title, beautiful visuals, inspiring soundtrack.”
“The aesthetics are nice, the soundtrack is amazing (I seriously think it's as good if not better than Frozen Synapse's amazing soundtrack, and the soundtrack tier of this game is totally worth it), there's a lot of customization for the teams, and the gameplay is challenging and satisfying.”
“Great soundtrack and a very fun strategy game.”
“The first time you watch the post-match replay and this song comes on, I challenge you to not feel pumped.”
“First of all, let me just say that for heaven's sake, buy the soundtrack tier!”
“It means a complexity, tactical turn-based gameplay, and perfectly tuned random level generation along with nervous_testpilot's soundtrack.”
- stability14 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 71 % negative mentions
The stability of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players reporting significant bugs and glitches that hinder gameplay, while others claim to have experienced a mostly bug-free experience. Overall, the game appears to be in a state of inconsistency, with early access status contributing to varying levels of stability.
“The game is bug-free as far as I could tell.”
“It's early access, but the main part of the game is finished and mostly bug-free.”
“This game, on release, is as buggy as sh!”
“A more buggy crash-filled game I haven't purchased in a long while.”
“It's buggy, it's strange.”
- story14 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The game's story aspect is noted as a unique feature for a sports title, offering a single-player narrative that some players find intriguing. However, many reviews highlight that the story is underdeveloped and could benefit from more depth and customization options. Overall, while the presence of a story is appreciated, it is seen as a starting point that requires significant expansion to reach its full potential.
“And even better, it actually has a single player story.”
“I've never seen a story in a sports type game before.”
“With a story mode and more customization options, it can easily be a 10/10 title.”
“The game is somewhat barebones with a lackluster season/manager mode, but it has the semblance of a story.”
“It's the story/league, robot customization, etc. that could really stand to be fleshed out a lot.”
“No story or career mode, but I am sure there is one to tie in sooner or later.”
- humor8 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is highlighted by the entertaining commentary, which many players find hilarious and a standout feature. However, some users feel that the game's pacing and complexity may detract from the enjoyment, especially for those looking for a more casual gaming experience with friends and family. Overall, while the commentary adds a comedic touch, the game's design may not cater to all audiences seeking lighthearted fun.
“Awesome game with hilarious comments from the commentators.”
“Graphics are enchanting, and the commentators are absolutely hilarious.”
“This game was made for Frozen Synapse users who spend hours on every turn, and it's not funny when you have a family and just want to relax with a beer and play League with your friends and family.”
- replayability6 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game's replayability is significantly hindered by a lack of online community engagement, with very few players active at any given time. Enhancements to robot and stadium customization could improve replay value, but as it stands, the limited multiplayer options make it difficult to recommend for long-term play.
“I think it would add a lot of replayability to the game to be able to do more with your robots and stadiums.”
“The potential for replayability is there, but the current state of the multiplayer community limits it significantly.”
“However, because multiplayer is simply a dead/dying community (most people I have seen online at one time is 6-7 people), I cannot recommend this game, as the replay value is very limited.”
“It would help the replayability a lot since the game doesn't have much of an online community at the moment.”
“I think it'd add a lot of replayability to the game to be able to do more with your robots and stadiums.”
- optimization6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant optimization issues, as players with high-end hardware report struggles with loading times and performance, despite the game's simple graphics. Additionally, the AI is criticized for its slow turn processing, detracting from the overall experience. Overall, while the concept is solid, the lack of optimization hampers gameplay.
“Solid concept but poorly optimized; I have an i7, 12 GB of RAM, and a GTX 580, yet it struggles to load a game that has no complex shapes or high poly count.”
“The AI could use some serious optimization (it should not take 20 minutes to do a turn), and it's not really an American football game (no backwards passes? What is this?).”
“You're given a team of tired, limping robots and expected to pull wins out with them—with better robots available based on your performance.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, particularly criticizing the lengthy and cumbersome tutorial that discourages continued play. This has led some to abandon the game before fully engaging with its content.
“I should love this game, and if I gave it more time, maybe I would, but the very tedious and long tutorial made me give up before I had even begun.”
“The grinding in this game feels endless and repetitive, making it hard to stay engaged.”
“I find the grinding mechanics to be overly tedious, which detracts from the overall enjoyment of the game.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is characterized by its low commitment, making it suitable for casual play with friends over long distances. Players appreciate its ability to foster connection without requiring significant emotional investment.
