Review: Battleheart, by Mika Mobile

cjvitek

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Jul 5, 2008
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[URL="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/battleheart/id394057299?mt=8&at=10l3Vy]BattleHeart[/URL], by MikaMobile
$2.99, *****

Pros:

? Find, battle oriented RPG game
? Easy to learn and play

Cons:

? No multiplayer
? Limited character upgrades

Battleheart is a fun, battle/fight oriented RPG game recently released by Mika Mobile, the creators of the popular game Zombieville. Battleheart takes the familiar looking style of character animation to a RPG setting, allowing you and your companions to battle it out with monsters.

The game play in Battleheart is very straight forward. On the ?battle screen? you have a field to move around. You move a character by tapping the character, then tapping where you want them to move. When an enemy appears, simply tap the character you want to fight the enemy, and then tap the enemy. Nice and simple, but it can get surprisingly hectic when you have multiple enemies all attacking you.

There are many characters included in the game. You start off with a fighter (yourself) and a cleric. As the game progresses (and you find gold) you can hire people to join your party ? pirates, ninjas, thieves, wizards, and more. Each character has special abilities and traits. The cleric, for example, can heal party members when they get too injured. The barbarian can initiate a berserker attack. They also each have ratings for traditional skill sets ? defense (or armor) and attack. As you would expect, different characters have different ratings ? the knight has a good rating in each, while the wizard has a great rating in attack, but abysmal in defense.

Each character also has a special power related to their class. As you increase in experience, you can gain new powers. This is how the level progression works ? you can choose your specializations at the upper levels. Unfortunately, you can?t also choose how to upgrade defense or attack ratings. However, those can be modified through finding or purchasing equipment ? weapons and armor, mostly. There are occasional magic items, but they seem to be few and far between.

In the town (the base camp setting) you can choose to go to a number of locations ? the Keep to choose what characters are in your active party (people you hire but remove remain in the Keep), the Tavern to hire more companion (as you increase in the game, the companions skills and levels also increase), the Academy for training and leveling up, the Merchant to buy new equipment, and the Armory to sell your excess equipment. When you are all ready, you enter the Battle area, where you choose the battle path to take (each arena unlocks as you unlock the previous battle arena).

This app is a universal binary, and I have tried it on both the iPad and the iPhone. It is playable on both, although the extra space on the iPad helps when moving the characters around. If you have big fingers, you might find it a little difficult to have precise movement on the iPhone. Please note, the pictures included in this review are from the iPhone version, but the iPad version is almost identical. I do wish there was a multiplayer option, where you and a friend could join up to vanquish your foes. Unfortunately, that is not available, but perhaps we can wait till a future update to incorporate that option.

All in all, this is a really fun, and surprisingly challenging game. The charm of Zombieville meets an medieval RPG setting, and the combination is almost impossible to resist. Especially given the fact it is a universal binary, the $2.99 price tag is surprisingly cheap for the game. If you like Zombieville, RPGs, and just want a new game to try, I strongly recommend that you give Battleheart a shot. Five out of five stars.


Rating scale:

* = No redeeming qualities or features, probably not worth it even if it is free
** = Few redeeming qualities, or is simply isn't worth the price
*** = Some good features but also some clear flaws.
**** = A solid app, worth the money if interested, a few flaws or problems or slightly overpriced
***** = Top of the line app, no problems or drawbacks.

Price is factored into the ratings. Ratings are lowered if I feel the price of the app outweighs the benefits/enjoyment/features it provides. Likewise, an app that is a good value for the money will have a higher rating. 
 

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