Mobile Review – Metal Slug Attack
Murder, mayhem, lots of guns, oh and aliens. That pretty much sums up Metal Slug, and Metal Slug Attack brings these elements together in a war of attrition with whoever has the bigger more shootier army wins. The game is played with the aim to break the base of your enemy by overwhelming their soldiers and finally destroying the base itself. While the aim is simple, it does get complicated at times. If you are a fan of the Metal Slug series then you will appreciate all of the characters, enemies, and other tidbits that bring you back to all of the screaming, explodyness you remember.
The majority of the screens are for different sections. One space is for enhancing your units with funds to beef them up, items to give them more statistical benefits and also the ability to ‘evolve’ a unit by upping their rarity and getting them another star. There’s more features you unlock as you get higher in level, which you get XP by completing the campaign mode or also fighting other players in PVP and getting XP for a victory or minimal gains for losing. Myself I haven’t done everything just yet, but I am slowly unlocking all of the extra things. At the time there is a beginner’s campaign that is running that will get you some boosts until a certain level threshold, things like good login bonuses and other helpful tidbits that will help you while going thru the different missions.
Your group consists of the characters you get from the random crank (which is the character draw among other items at times), you can reorder them at any point and you also get to choose your ‘limit break’ (what I call it) which charges over time during the fight and damages the enemy fairly heavily. There is strategy in choosing who to use as the higher AP characters are harder to deploy (you have to build up your total threshold and gain of AP) but they do have very good benefits, so either small AP armies to overwhelm or high AP units to juggernaut your way through enemy lines. I have a decent mix myself for slowly building up and then using the bigger units to start to tear thru their thicker ranks.
Overall the game is pretty fun, the art style still goes on point from the series, and it’s just as chaotic as you would expect. Take a look at some matches going thru campaign mode for an example.
Mobile Review – Pokemon Duel
In addition to Pokemon Go the company had surprised us with another game fairly quickly: Pokemon Duel! The gist of Duel is your Pokemon are figures, and they are used on a gameboard. The board is setup with two entry points which are the corners closest to you and your base space which is the colored flag spot nearest to your bench. Your aim is to either claim the base space or block entry to your opponent so they cannot pull anyone else out.
Now the strategy for this can be pretty intense as each Pokemon has a wheel which dictates what kind of action it’ll take. There are 4 main colors: White, which is a normal attack; Blue, which usually works with evasion; Purple, which is a special attack; and Gold, which is a special as well but can trump Purple. The wheel decisions are done automatically, so when you tap it it stops both wheels at once and what it shows is the results (unless a move respins it to something else or builds up damage [Fury Swipes for example]).
As well as this the movement on the board plays a role as well as you can surround a Pokemon to knock it out and there are multiple paths to take to get to the base space or entry points. Overall there is definitely a pretty intense strategy you will find with this, and if you like board games with different aspects then this will be up your alley. The last point in preparation is plates, which look like cards. These plates are used like items during Pokemon games, boosts to damage from X Damage, Antidote to cure poison, or even a Respin if you think you need one that turn. There are different variations and rarities for these as well.
MTX in the game isn’t very heavy, and you can get a good hunk of Gems from either login bonuses or just going thru the quest line. As well as this there is a PvP system that pits you against others to see who is craftier. Fans of the Pokemon genre will get some interest in the game, but I believe primarily those that like strategy more-so will enjoy it more. Here is a video of an actual PvP match to give you an idea of what a game looks like.
(Video Link is coming)
Mobile Review -Warhammer 40k: Freeblade
Anyone who plays some tabletop games may have heard about Warhammer or some variation of it. Warhammer is a small scale army strategy game where your faction fights with another. The actual game is used with models and figures with dice and codexes, but there have been some good video games based off of it as well (one more notable being Dawn of War). Freeblade is one of the games made specifically for mobile, and is a type of dungeon runner. The process is you are a knight, which is a large mechanical walker imbued with the spirit of a fierce honorable warrior. You have an array of weaponry at your disposal and you are also towering over most opponents (unless they’re big demons or other walkers, then not so much XD).
You have the ability to customize your Knight with different weapons (also different types on each hardpoint), paint schemes, icons, and some physical differences. As well as this in addition to the normal campaign mode, there is additional missions you can do for more medals (which help you progress further) and patrols for more loot and specifically Patrol Medals (also used in conjunction with regular ones). There is also a multiplayer aspect that was added fairly recently that pits you against another Knight automatically controlled but fights based on weaponry. The weaponry and armor gained from the multiplayer games have Valor which is specific boosts to some influences that help your Knight or hinder others. Overall I’ve really liked the game although I was interested due to my preplaying of 40k years ago, but it is a fairly intense shooter, definitely appealing to those looking for action (and big stompy feet).
Mobile Review – Soccer Spirits
Haven’t had a review in awhile, so lets put it into gear with a mobile review! A game I’ve played on and off recently is Soccer Spirits (was 2 I think originally, but now it’s just listed as Soccer Spirits). A game all about soccer… but intergalatic! The game itself has a pretty interesting storyline, a high school team that loves soccer meets up with a smaller rabbit character named Littre. He is the gatekeeper for this region of the galaxy, and after getting information from an unknown source (which is the first person you see when you start and you correlate it later on) feels that the world, or even the galaxy itself is in danger. And the only people who can save it possibly is your group. They don’t believe it at first but after some convincing and actual visual of it all it hits them at that point it’s probably serious.
The gameplay is based loosely on cards (I say loosely only because it’s not actual cards per-say but more of their actual pictures and that it is not based on turns) and enhancing these cards to make them stronger. They have different stats for each kind of player (some are better at guarding, stealing, and shooting for example) and these affect how they play. There are also different elements so that you can either mix-n-match or use a same team element (some leader skills benefit one element than multiple ones). Characters are gained from Friend Points (FP) or Crystals, which are the premium currency. Crystals are actually fairly easy to get from Achievements (daily and one-time), quests, and some events. From my draws Crystals do give fairly good players, but I’ve only had a couple actual good draws than doing it via FP.
Now these have good showing for a game, but there is one slight fault. There is a fair amount of fan-service in the game, not directly but most female characters are… uh well developed? Aside from this the remainder of the game is pretty fun, and the PvP aspect is interesting. It’s not directly interacting with someone but you can tell when it’s not just a story team fighting you and this team has been crafted.
As always, let me know what you think on here or Twitter @StSquiggy and give me some ideas on what to review next!
Game Review – Kingdom Hearts Unchained
Kingdom Hearts Unchained is a mobile offshoot of the Kingdom Hearts universe, but still manages to have a good relation to the storyline of each game. The aspect of the game is that you are one of the chosen for the keyblades, and you are fighting off the darkness in each of the worlds. You don’t see many of the actual characters from the series in person, but they come up frequently as medals, which is shown below.
The gameplay is similar to the hack-n-slash progress, you go thru the entire stage and tear everything and everyone up. You have the option to avoid battles and just head straight for the target they name in the beginning, but the missions they lay out for each stage steers you more towards finishing them off rather than avoiding. Once you finish off the enemy in question you are successful and then get rewarded with all of the things you find sparkling on the ground and as rewards from sealed chests that open at the end of a stage.
Most of your customization actually comes in keyblades and clothing. Your keyblades get stronger with the medals you attach to them, affinity with slots for multipliers and also quality of these medals influence this too. Your clothing is thru an avatar board. This board gives you the base outfit and as you use Avatar Coins you unlock other pieces of it and also get extra benefits that build on your character. This not only applies to ones of your own gender (they have one for each), you can fill both out and unlock bonuses and clothing for all.
It’s definitely a fun game overall, it has the design of the Kingdom Hearts series and follows a storyline close to the games themselves.
Mobile Review – Clash Royale
Clash Royale is a new addition to the SuperCell lineup of games, but this goes a different route than the typical base raid army builders that they have made out of CoC and Boom Beach. Royale runs in a similar method vaguely like MOBA, but instead of a main hero you are focused with, you instead make the army, and send them on their merry way to tear into your enemy. The main target is the central Crown Tower which is where the king sits on, and you have two smaller towers on either side that does the primary defenses. Sending  troops one after the other slowly whittling down the towers or sneakily getting to them is the main methods of winning.
The game runs first by gaining Elixir point by point maxing out at 10 and using this to create units. As the cost gets higher typically the unit gets better or higher quality (like 3 for Goblins and 6 for Giant), but this doesn’t always mean bigger is better. Sometimes having cheaper cards makes for easier deployment and quicker attacks, possibly leaving your rival scrambling to defend his tower. There are plenty of strategies, plus you can watch Royale TV which is a replay of higher ranking battlers duking it out to give you more ideas. Overall it is a fun game, definitely pleased with it and most likely will continue to play 😀
IGN: StSquiggy
Clan: Homestar
Mobile Game Review – Angry Birds Fight!
So, you’ve probably played some of the Angry Birds games, varying from the standard chuck and rain feathery death on piggy rapscallions to other variants like the adventure RPG that is Epic, but maybe you haven’t seen a match-3 combat influenced version? Well that is what Fight is all about.
The main point to Fight is to go from island to island beating down the pigs in battles, and then also fighting other birds to prove your strength and show who’s boss. The pigs generally show up as boat battles where gameplay flows similar to the main battles, but you work up your ship’s defenses as well as your bird’s attacks, and combine power to wail on the larger target in hopes of bringing him down before he sinks you to King Pig’s Locker. As you fight others and win, you get Fight points, which rank you in some way or fashion (I’m not 100% sure how they work exactly yet lol). You also get XP that levels your birds and increases their stats (Str, Def, and Speed). Occasionally if you are lucky you can get items from these fights that increase your bird’s power. The main boosts come from the slot, which is guarded by the Mighty Condor, and you use Gems to pay for a chance to get something stronger. You can buy these but I’ve found they come pretty freely from most events and completing the challenge stages after finishing the main stage. Battles against other birds I want to say is active, as I’ve had a couple fights where the other person went offline for some reason (I’ve disconnected a couple times, not by my choice though), so it lends credence that it is live. All in all though I find it fun, it’s pretty enjoyable for a fast finger flickin’ type of game, so it doesn’t get old since you have to keep on it to beat everyone else to a pulp :P. Here’s also a video that shows a battle in action to give you an idea.
Game Review – The Battle Cats
Been awhile but I have been managing to get some posts going, got plenty to play and review, so lets get to it! One I’ve started so far is The Battle Cats. It is a constant war game similar to some war games on Kongregate where you send an endless tide of combatants towards the enemy base to wreck it. As you get further in you unlock other cats which have different abilities. Some have high attack power, others longer range, among different abilities. It is pretty fun, and if you save up Cat Food or buy (it is the premium currency in the game), you can get other cats that have good abilities too. I’ve been playing it here and there and collected some cat food, got one special cat which is pretty good (Ninja Cat), and running into the point where I need to train up and work on my troops. It is free so it’s pretty decent. The attached video should give some more visual on how a run typically will look like.
Game Review: Final Fantasy Record Keeper
I haven’t been able to keep up with this as well as I’ve been wanting to lately with new job and moving, but I do plan on to as well as I can!
Final Fantasy: Record Keeper is an interesting game in the SqEnix line, as this takes the grandeur of the Final Fantasy franchise and lets you experience the series one frame at a time. The basis on the story is you are a keeper in this realm, and what keeps it protected is all of the ‘records’ of the past. When the records are all of a sudden disappearing, it’s up to the new Keeper (which is you) to go into these records and relive them, going back through and fixing them. As you go through the records, you gain people to help in fixing them. So you would see familiar faces like Cloud, Tifa, Cecil, and others. As well as this you collect equipment from every game. This equipment if you equip it to people of the same game (like the Protect Vest on Cloud), it actually works doubly better on them and provides more benefits. This isn’t as well used in the beginning, but you get more opportunities as you move along.
The gameplay is like a trip through a time portal, you go into the familar environments of these games, like the Mako Reactor of VII and Zanarkand of X. As well as this, you get to hear those familiar tunes of fight music from each game, tailored to that specific game. It’s a pretty fun game, and still fairly new, so there are new dungeons, expanding current dungeons, and events fairly frequently (as of this posting, it’s the Sector Showdown (VII) with Aerith as a prize).
Mobile Game Review – Blood Brothers 2
Blood Brothers 2 is a continuation in the Blood Brothers group, after the first being so successful. The game has a mix of the original game, plus some features of another variation that didn’t make it very far, Blood Battalion. Blood Battalion was a turn based strategy game using the same characters, but a different playstyle. The characters each moved on a map, and attacks were based on speed of the characters (like initiative). It would keep going this way until all units of one side were wiped out.
Blood Brothers 2 is based on the similar style of the first, but instead of the map navigation popular with this game type, it worked off of a battle map of sorts. You can follow paths, but you chose where you wanted to go based on where your enemy was moving. This also builds up Tactics Pts that allow you to damage your enemy, with catapults or other weaponry. Combat occurs with the commanders of each unit fighting against the other unit, up to a max of 5 per side. Each fight can have only three fighting at a time, but the extra two is incase one is incapacitated. Different from the first is each unit is a certain type, like a combat triangle. Each one has a class and is good against another. This makes fights different as you may need to cover each combat type or take a risk and focus on one style per unit.
Overall I like the game, it’s different than the original, which I’m happy about. I’m still just starting in it but I’m moving on up, so I’ll definitely have more opinions on it later once I’ve done more.
Mobile Review – Ingress
I have to say I don’t think I’ve gotten into a game like Ingress like I did :o. The last game I’ve played that was similar was Age of Kingdoms (I think that’s what it was called), and it was interesting, but not as much so like this is.
Ingress is a position based MMO of sorts. What you do is basically there is energy floating around the world, called Exotic Matter or XM energy, and you join one of two factions. One believes this stuff will show mankind a better way, so they’re letting these entities called Shapers to come to earth to use it and change us. They’re the Enlightened. The other side is people who believe the Shapers are up to malicious reasons and want to use the XM energy against them. They are the Resistance.
The key to the game is to gather XM energy to use on portals, which generate this. Portals are typically located at interesting spots, landmarks, busy sections, things like these.
You capture these and create links to others, and these links once linked to another spot, create fields that as in the files say protect the humans from the control of the Shapers (or other faction). And if you find other faction’s portals, you can attack the resonators that are surrounding it to destabilize it and claim it as your own.
All in all it’s pretty fun, not to mention groups have made communities based on doing things together and coordinating with one another. A very different kind of playstyle than most games I’ve done :o.
A S.Harper Mind 