Iron Marines

About

Iron Marines is a real-time strategy game that puts you in command of a powerful army of space-age soldiers. Battle against alien threats and challenge challenging missions using cutting-edge technology and cunning strategies. With a variety of units, upgrades, and heroes to choose from, every playthrough offers a unique and engaging experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

77%

Audience ScoreBased on 522 reviews

story20 positive mentions

grinding19 negative mentions

The game features a charming art style and engaging humor, reminiscent of the Kingdom Rush series.
Iron Marines offers a fun blend of RTS and tower defense mechanics, providing a unique gameplay experience.
The game has a variety of heroes and units, allowing for different strategies and playstyles.

The controls are clunky and lack essential RTS features like attack-move and control groups, making unit management frustrating.
The difficulty spikes can be unfair, especially in later missions, leading to a frustrating experience for players.
The game feels more like a mobile port, lacking depth and polish expected from a PC RTS.

story
197 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
84%
6%
The game's story is minimal and primarily serves as a backdrop for the missions, which involve players controlling squads and heroes to complete various objectives across three planets. While the narrative includes some clever references and puns, it lacks depth and engagement, often feeling repetitive and uninspired. Despite the diverse mission types and challenges, many players find the overall story experience to be underwhelming, with some missions dragging on and lacking replayability.
- “Across the 3 planets, around 8-9 biomes, and 28 individual maps, there are a wide variety of mission types including (but not limited to); rescue missions, VIP escort missions, tower-defense style missions, building protection missions, exploration missions, mini puzzle-based missions, and some of the most epic boss missions in the entire genre, bar none.”
- “The story is deeper than it looks.”
- “The game's story was also fine.”
- “Clearly designed for mobile, horrible voice acting that repeats often, lacks depth, it grows stale if not played in short bursts, replayed missions lose their luster, there is a bit of grind.”
- “There's basically no story and the game seems to me horribly unbalanced, to the point where there is the illusion of choice only, but actually you're soft-forced into specific combinations, heroes and upgrades.”
- “I want nothing to do with the story and am not engaged at all.”
gameplay
100 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
56%
11%
The gameplay is characterized by a mix of simplicity and depth, appealing to both new players and veterans with its engaging mechanics and varied mission types. While some players appreciate the focus on micro-management and exploration, others criticize the clunky controls and unresponsive units, leading to frustration. Overall, the game offers a unique blend of RTS and tower defense elements, enhanced by charming graphics and a casual feel, though it may lack the complexity expected from traditional RTS titles.
- “Most clever of all, the exploration of levels, undertaking of challenges, and good gameplay bring you to interact with the achievements - all very clever and named with references and puns in mind; earning achievements gives more upgrade points and coins to empower you in missions.”
- “The moment-to-moment gameplay puts much less emphasis on RTS 'macro' gameplay (the placing & upgrading of buildings, and the queueing/upgrading of units), and much more emphasis on RTS 'micro' gameplay (the positioning and skill usage of individual units/squads/heroes) than a typical RTS game.”
- “The gameplay is fun and rewards good usage of units while being forgiving with most other strategies.”
- “Garbage gameplay.”
- “Mechanically it's a very frustrating game because it just won't do what you want it to do.”
- “The gameplay is very rigid.”
graphics
91 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
53%
44%
3%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their vibrant, cartoonish art style reminiscent of Ironhide's previous titles, particularly the Kingdom Rush series. While the visuals are described as beautiful and detailed, some users noted a lack of resolution options and graphics configurability, which detracted from the overall experience. Overall, the art style is considered a strong point, contributing to the game's charm despite mixed feelings about gameplay mechanics.
- “The artwork is really nice, as usual for Ironhide, with great visual quality, even when dozens of units are chaotically killing each other on screen.”
- “Absolutely stunning art and visuals, and three beautiful planets!”
- “The art style is amazing, with a more detailed Kingdom Rush aesthetic and humor, featuring lots of little winks, references, and easter eggs sprinkled throughout the levels.”
- “There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks.”
- “Did you ever want to play StarCraft 1 with worse graphics?”
- “There's also a big issue where there is little to no graphics configurability in the menu settings; I had to play this game without moving the mouse out of the window, scrolling only via arrow keys as it would not lock to the middle monitor I was playing on (I have 3 across).”
grinding
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is a mixed experience; while some players appreciate the depth it adds through side missions and an expansive tech tree, many find it tedious and repetitive, particularly in late-game progression and hero leveling. The necessity to grind for skill points and upgrades can detract from enjoyment, with some missions feeling unfairly difficult or overly linear. Overall, while grinding can enhance gameplay for some, it often leads to a slog for others.
- “It was tedious to deal with.”
- “Some levels are too linear and late game progression feels a bit tedious and grindy.”
- “In this game, it is just a tedious slog.”
humor
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by its engaging and lighthearted tone, featuring a wealth of pop culture references and Easter eggs that resonate with players. While it diverges from the Kingdom Rush series, it retains a familiar art style and witty dialogue that fans appreciate. Overall, the game is described as funny, casual, and filled with charming character, making it an enjoyable experience.
- “Fast, casual, and full of character, humor, and fun.”
- “However, the art, the dialogues, and the humor are spot on, as Ironhide Games should be.”
- “It has a more detailed Kingdom Rush art style and humor with lots of little winks, references, and easter eggs sprinkled throughout the levels.”
music
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42%
33%
25%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players finding it pleasing and atmospheric, while others describe it as average or even bland. Overall, it complements the visuals and gameplay, but it may not stand out significantly.
- “Lovely drawn, very unique soundtrack, and this game has a ton of action for everyone.”
- “Great gameplay, voice acting, and music.”
- “The art work is perfect (including music).”
- “The game can be a bit bland with its musical arrangement.”
- “The music is average.”
- “Boring music.”
monetization
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
29%
43%
The monetization model for Iron Marines on Steam is favorable, as it features a one-time purchase price without any microtransactions, allowing players to unlock all heroes through gameplay progression. This contrasts with its mobile version, which included in-app purchases, making the Steam release a more straightforward and less exploitative experience. Overall, players appreciate the absence of additional costs beyond the initial purchase.
- “I beat it on mobile (without spending money), so it's nice to see they took all of the microtransactions out of the Steam version.”
- “But the PC version, just like Kingdom Rush (another game by the same developer), has no microtransactions; all heroes are unlocked by progressing through the game, and the in-game currency cannot be bought with real currency.”
- “Iron Marines is a mobile app that's been dumped on Steam as if it was a real PC game (it's not)... it's a cash grab from greedy mobile devs. The game is a shallow, dumbed down, cartoony sci-fi RTS where you fight aliens. Basically, if Starcraft was badly written, comic book themed, and terrible to play because it was designed for iPhones.”
- “While the comic-like scenes and the unique dialogue with the bosses with different heroes add lore and context, the lack of elementary information about the enemy and your troops leaves a big hole.”
- “Price is a bit higher up-front here, but you get all of the heroes, which would normally be in-app purchases.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
75%
Players express a desire for additional game modes, such as PvP or skirmishes, to enhance replayability. While the game is shorter than previous titles, it offers great replay value through its sequentially unlockable missions, allowing players to revisit and experience them multiple times.
- “The replayability is great, even though the game is a bit shorter than usual compared to others.”
- “The game has a high replay value.”
- “I only wish there was PvP, or at least a skirmish game mode, kind of like what Stronghold does, to increase the replayability of the game.”
- “All of the missions in the game are replayable, but they unlock in sequential order.”
- “Talk about replay value.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The stability of the game has been criticized for being cumbersome and buggy, particularly on PC, leading some users to refrain from recommending it.
- “But for me, it was just too cumbersome and buggy to be able to recommend it to someone else.”
- “For PC, this is very buggy.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game successfully crafts a unique and appealing sci-fi alien atmosphere, drawing inspiration from Starcraft while establishing its own identity. The music is noted to be pleasing and contributes positively to the overall ambiance, with a satisfaction rating of 68%.
- “Draws a lot of inspiration from Starcraft, but succeeds in creating a unique, attractive sci-fi alien atmosphere.”
- “The music is pleasing and atmospheric.”