The idea of the game is to take control of various heroes alongside several AI controlled minions in order to take on the opposing team. Each team has several defense towers lining the path to their main base. In the main base, you’ll find the altar from which the heroes are summoned, as well as the Source, which is what needs to be destroyed to win the day. Upon completing matches, you’ll gain gold and crystals to spend on various goods.
Upon firing up the app, you are immediately dropped into a tutorial that teaches you the basics. You move heroes by tapping and dragging them around, and attack enemies by tapping them as well. As you fight, you’ll gain experience and level up, learning new skills and abilities with their own cool down timers. You’ll actually get to take control of three different heroes in a match, giving you something to do when your current hero falls in battle. All in all, a simple and enjoyable system, but it lacks polish. The movement speeds are tedious, even in these small maps. The behavioral AI of your allies is also very wonky, and it’s hard to coordinate any kind of assault.
There’s a campaign with 30 available missions, and a Quick Match system that is unlocked at Level 6. Campaign missions each have two sub-mission objectives, such as keeping one hero alive for the duration of the match, or not letting your Source take damage. Completing both of these is the only way to gain crystals, which are necessary to purchase at least half of the unlockables in the game. Gold and Crystals can both be purchased in-app, and it’s quite tempting to do so considering the prices. The consumable items that increase your health or attack and defense are quite expensive, and on top of that, there are three heroes to purchase on top of your available five. Sub-mission objectives are often very difficult to achieve as it is anyway.
This is a great looking game with massive amounts of potential, but it really needs some patching up. The AI is questionable, the heroes seem to be unbalanced, and there’s very little variety in the gametypes and maps, of which I’ve only seen two so far. This is a game that is just screaming for online multiplayer, complete with leaderboards and achievements. Hopefully all of this can be added in somewhere down the line. As it stands now, I’m going to recommend you give this iOS Universal game a try, as it’s completely free anyway. Just don’t have very high expectations, and try to resist the IAP.
Download the free Appolicious iPhone app
