Breach (1989)

Breach (1989)

Breach was released in 1987 by Omnitrend Software for the Amiga, Atari ST, DOS and Macintosh. It is a science fiction turn-based tactical squad combat game. Ten missions are included but a scenario builder is also included with which you can add more missions. There are also some RPG like elements in that your squad leader progresses to each new mission but leads a different group each time. The missions you are able to do are based on your past performance and if your squad leader dies, he is deleted and you have to start over.

Turn-based strategy games in one form or another have been my favorite for a long time whether that takes the form of an RPG (I loved the Gold Box AD&D games for instance) or something like this. This particular game has some issues like the inability to move diagonally and the whole permadeath thing. However, there really weren't a whole lot of games like this so if you like this genre it is worth playing.

Later iterations of the game would come along in the form of Breach 2 and Breach 3. Breach 2 was basically an improved version of Breach. Breach 3 was only available on DOS. These games have mixed reviews so your mileage may very, particularly with the 3rd one. If you want to give the first one a try, the Amiga version is probably the best followed closely by the Atari ST version. You'll have to find an original or try it via emulation as I don't think there are any re-releases of this game or any of the others in the series.

Screen shots above are from the Amiga version and the ad is from the January 1989 issue of Computer Play.