Counter: Side - The Explosive Anime Themed RPG

Games are getting complicated every hour. Before games were more straightforward but now there are a lot of hybrids out there especially this game that we are featuring today. Before if it's an RPG, you play the main character, you can name all you want you found allies on your journey. If it is a tower defense, enemies appear on every side of the screen, put in some towers and upgrade during rounds, well now you can have RPG and Tower Defense all at the same time. It is an RPG but you don’t play the main character you play as a Director, it is a Tower Defense but you don’t put towers you put your employees in the frontline.

It is Counter: Side.

It is an RPG Hero-Collecting game but the objective to be able to win is like Tower Defense. The player will act as the director of a post-apocalyptic agency that fights forces of unknown monsters protecting the world.

You will be deploying your employees to destroy the enemy base on the other side while you are guarding your ship on your end.

The stunning anime theme really struck me the most. Not to mention the mechanics on the actual battlefield. The ultimate skill cut scene is as always amazing and focuses on the beauty of the manga/Anime area.

The game is pretty straight forward. There is gold or the standard currency that you spent on upgrades and repairs on ships and upgrades on your character. There is a premium currency called “Quartz” where you recruit employees or so they are called “counters” through the event banner.

The game itself is very exciting and engaging. There are several stories about characters, characters that can be in your party already or about key characters in the game. It is relative to know the different characters as they did not appear in any of the anime movies or series. It is important to know what cards they play in the story of the game.

The storyline has an element of spy and deception early on. It gets nasty as you go deeper in the story. The different contents of the game compliments the story behind the main character and the predicament she’s in when she wakes up. Similar to a narrative of an Anime series,  that usually starts with a blurry past of the main character, the main character or characters set in a present with very little knowledge of what happened from the time they are unconscious. They are slowly revealed what kind of mess they're in, exactly a little bit too late when the plan of their enemy is already in place. You are like in the middle of an Anime series except you are the one deciding on their fate.

However since this is a game not all of the burden is in your hands. The decision making on how you will make your roster better and flexible is totally in your hands however to who will be in your team is not entirely yours. This is a Gacha game, and it is completely working in RNG. The characters in your story can be slightly different to others and I am pretty much sure the ATK or power of rosters are not all the same for others. You are in the middle of an anime story though there is only one path to it is to beat the monsters on your way, so when will you move forward we can never tell.

The game has its unique element to it which is called the Operators and Ship. There are employees which have different roles however Operators are units in the game that help the whole party on the sidelines. To describe the Operators in simpler words, the skill of your Operator will serve as an additional skill of your Ship.

On the other hand Ships are basically the main unit that you ought to protect during the battle, if your ship is destroyed it is game over.

Like any other Gacha SSR characters are basically the strongest character grade, however the game is balanced in such a way that if you put all of your SSR in just one team, other teams would ultimately suffer. The game works in such a way that you need to spread out your powerful units and build a balanced team as much as possible.

The game uses the rock-paper-scissors mechanism in a way that the game will be balanced. Your employees have roles, Strikers, Rangers, Snipers, Defenders, Supporter, Siege, and Towers. Practically each role is weak to other roles, so it is important to start strategizing the team itself before going to a mission.

It also has a tactical element to it. Going on a mission requires a number of teams where you will be dealing on a board where you will be advancing like any tactical game. You know really how this works, you will be advancing through the square shown to you and when you go through the square that has an enemy ship, you will be in a battle.

A few developer’s notes, a few tweaks in organizing the contents can be helpful for the players for a better gaming experience. The players should be focusing on the game, farming materials for the required leveling up. The other mission can be rewarding most of the time giving the players enough materials and gold, however if it all goes to a point that there are several employees or a ship or operator, Gold can be a tricky commodity to farm. Increasing at least the Gold reward to some crucial contents, to add on the World Map content.

All in all if you love anime and you love a different kind of Tower Defense, Counter: Side is the suitable game for you. It is action-packed and focuses on team building and combination of roles for a certain mission. Though with the Gacha element, you will be strategizing on whatever unit you have, so creativity can be also a key here. The very minimal downside is that the content is all over the place. You will need to stay in the game for long amounts of time tweaking and conditioning your playing style. The game is also generous in rewards however as you go deep diving on the requirement I am not sure if it will be enough for a regular free to play player.

Managing the content and managing your actual roster can be tricky at first but it is hugely beneficial in the long run.