Type of app: Action-Fighting
Platform/where to buy: iOS or Android; available in the iTunes App Store or available in the Google Play Store
Developer: The Game Bakers
Description:
• Fight with your fingers: slash enemies to trigger crazy combos, tap to guard. A modern beat ’em up with no virtual D-pad!
• The first mobile brawler with asynchronous multiplayer across devices. Rescue your friends, or be rescued by them!
• A true arcade experience with a great combo system and super moves.
• Several heroes with unique combat styles and more than 80 moves to master.
• Hundreds of missions – complete them solo or compete for high scores against online friends.
• An endless scoring mode, unlockables, and collectibles – a ton of replay value.
• Log in to sync automatically between your devices.
• Languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese.
Major features:
Console fighting games have evolved little from the arcade days other than enhanced graphics, but they are such fun that everyone still looks to them for a fun experience. But translating that to a smartphone with touch controls has been difficult.
Combo crew kills the virtual analog sticks and uses just the touchscreen and gestures to deliver their brand of fighting, which is centered on … you guessed it, combos! And you get to choose from different heroes:
– Parker: A name that tops the high scores of all the arcades this side of the continent. Parker’s a natural, inspired by fighting techniques he picked up from video games.
– Gina: A student of the ancient school of Hairjutsu, Gina’s a martial arts master who trained for a year in the mountains.
– Dolph: The greatest action movie star that ever lived, Dolph uses his impressive stature in combat. For him, showing off is almost as important as kicking ass.
The story is tongue-in-cheek bad, where you are out to get ‘Mr. Boss’ by climbing through levels. The graphics, sound and in-game animation all work to push this light sense of satire, and it makes the game even more engaging.
One of the keys to success is seamless cross-platform play – whether on iPhone, iPad or Android you can pick up the game and challenge friends regardless of their platform. And asynchronous multiplayer means you can work with others to make progress. There is no Game Center or Google Play Games support, but if you fall you can enlist a friend on Facebook to help you out by completing teh same area and having their score converted to life points.
Ease of use/Overall performance:
The game eases you into its control scheme, and makes you feel rewarded at the completion of each round, so you want to keep coming back and plugging away. It is an effective way to get your head and hands aligned to use the new control system effectively, and makes the game loads of fun.
You don’t directly control your players, you swipe enemies to attack, double-swipe for combos, tap away to block, and so on. As you proceed you will continue learning, and it all makes sense. It is so much easier than the ‘virtual buttons’ method used by so many games, and it just plain works.
Another cool thing that is a rarity – when you buy the game you are done. No more in-app purchases getting pushed on you at every turn!
Would use again/recommend?: Definitely! I have had a blast playing this on both iPhone and Galaxy S3, and will definitely continue to play in the future. The variety of heroes and moves makes for a load of fun as you battle wave after wave of enemies!
Suggested changes/wish list for updates: Nothing!
Source: Publisher provided downloads
Price: $1.99 for iOS, and $1.99 for Android. Without any added In-App Purchases!
Here is the trailer: