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Frozen Synapse: Red is the eagerly awaited expansion pack to the hit turn based tactical title from Mode 7. In the interview portion of the festivities, Mode 7‘s Paul Taylor and I discuss creating an expansion and advanced design theory. I also get him to spill the beans (a bit) about a potential new project from the team!

This isn’t going to be the standard review. The short version is this: It’s more Frozen Synapse! That right there should be enough for you. For a mere $10 you receive all of the following goodness: First up is a new unit, the riot shield, which allows you to control a room or a section of a map in a whole new way (mobile cover!) while simultaneously allowing you new ways to lob grenades by banking them off of the shield. Warning- this has the potential to go horribly wrong- so plan carefully.

Next, you get an alternate view of the story with a new 15 mission campaign. You also get new challenge missions, a new multiplayer mode “Upload” where you have to defend your team’s hacker, new mutators, new music, and the nifty new “Red Mode.”

Most intriguing of all, you now have the ability to play ALL single player content cooperatively! Even if your friends don’t have the expansion (even though they really should)!

The content truly feels like an “expansion,” and not just a standard DLC that adds questionable value to a game. Frozen Synapse: Red was clearly well thought out, and well executed, providing you with tremendous bang for the buck. If you’re a fan of the original, this is a no-brainer. If you’ve never played before-check out the Complete version. In either case, you won’t be disappointed (although you WILL be challenged).

Highest recommendation.