Battleheart review

Game:Battleheart
Platform: iOS/Android aka Mobile

PLOT
Battleheart really doesn't have too much of story. It's a basic mobile rpg where you command up to 4 party members. The goal is basically to win each battle and progress to different areas.

VISUALS
The game's art style is really charming. It's mostly vector art and looks like it could be related to Castle Crashers. Animations are really smooth and really breathe life into the enemies/characters. The game itself is really colorful, but nothing is too over-saturated. Visuals and monster get recycled throughout the game. This game be a little disappointing, but it does allow you to gauge their difficulty level.

SOUND
Battleheart has a nice little soundtrack only consisting of a handful of songs. None of them are to memorable, but they make for good background music. Sounds are sharp and clear. Blades clashing, powers activating, and fireballs flying all have distinct sounds which make the battlefield come alive.

GAMEPLAY


The main gameplay in Battleheart takes place in its battles....duh. You command your miniature party by dragging your finger from a party member to an enemy. Its really simple and works well. Abilities are activate by choosing a party member and pressing it's icon in the top left of the screen. The game also features rpg elements like leveling up and customizing your team members. Every 5 levels a party member will gain a new ability and usually there are 2 to choose from. The best part is that you're not locked into the ability you choose. You can go back and change it at any time! Party members also have four item slots each pertaining to certain items. Slot 1 is a weapon, Slot 2 is armor, and Slot 3-4 are extra items. Weapons and armor are upgradable simply by tapping on them, checking if you have enough cash then pressing the upgrade icon. There are up to 12 different characters which you can change on the fly.

LIKED

1. Battleheart is really simple, but it doesn't feel dumbed down. Battles usually last 2 to 5 minutes so it's perfect if you want to get a quick battle in while you're waiting for something.

2. This game is longer than most mobile games. You're not going to beat it in an hour...it's more like 7 hours. Which really makes it worth the 3 dollar price tag. 7 hours is almost a AAA game's length.

3. I really enjoy being able to customize my party at any time and that I'm not locked into anything.

4. The game has 3 battle arenas where you can basically fight till you lose. It offers prizes and makes the game replayable.

5. The game doesn't really punish you for losing a battle or retreating from one.

DISLIKED

1. Although the game is simple it still suffers from some issues...mostly in its battle interface. Sometimes your party members will stack on top of each other and it can be really hard to choose the one you want. This gets really frustrating when you're trying to heal someone who is about to die. I'm sure the game is easier to play on the iPad, but it's still a big problem for someone playing on a phone. Also party members can appear to be offscreen sometimes which makes them difficult to select and view their health bar. The abilities of each member is portrayed in the top left of the screen, but party members/enemies will end up fighting in that area of the screen sometimes. Once again this makes them difficult to select and hard to see. I feel like they simplified the battle interface a little too much in Battleheart. If the developers simple put an option for a ability party/part member select bar it would make things way easier. Sure you would be giving up some screen space, but the controls would be tighter.

2. Although there are 12 characters some are just clones and there's only 1 healer class.

3. At this point I haven't unlocked all of the spells of the healer class, but so far there's no way to revive someone in battle. Once they're dead they are out of the battle.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall Battleheart is well worth its super low price tag. If you want a simple mobile rpg game that will last you hours on end then Battleheart is for you. If you want a super deep rpg with insane skill trees and insane amounts of customizing then go pick up a console game. I really look forward to the next iteration of Battleheart by Mika Mobile (if they make one), but it's nice to see a strong mobile developer putting out a pretty polished game for mobile users.