Following the style of Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas but in bitesized local fights, Battlestone is a gem of a game worth checking out.
Review:
Battlestone relies on simple, yet intuitive controls and gorgeous graphics to create a genuinely entertaining experience. Gameplay consists of moving heroes around a stage and killing any baddies that pop up. You can level up your heroes’ abilities, weapons, and inventories. There are guilds for public leaderboards and the ability to duel other players’ heroes.
You can have up to six heroes which they summon using battlestones or gems. However, only one hero can be used at a time. Each hero has its own class, element, and style of play. There are barbarians which function as tanks with high melee and health. Archers have lower health but deadly ranged attacks. Mages have low health but have area of effect damage with their ranged attacks. Each hero has his own special attacks that are beautifully animated and devastating. You can change heroes at any time during gameplay, which affords diverse strategies. I used my mage to damage groups of foes from afar, and then decimated them with my barbarian’s special abilities.
Players control heroes by tapping the screen to make them move or by swiping across enemies to attack them. Tapping an enemy and then tapping elsewhere before the attack occurs will allow most heroes (depending on class) to perform a dodge. The control scheme in Battlestone is easy and works better than other games I have played on mobile devices.
There is minor moneygrabbing common in other Zynga games. You can buy more in-game currencies with real money, but the average player will not require any real-money purchases to enjoy the game. The game gives you a limited amount of “spirit” which replenishes over time. Spirit is used to enter levels or duel other players. I never found the limited spirit to be an issue, but some players may find the limitations to be frustrating.
Battlestone is a gorgeous game. The environments are repetitive but thoroughly imagined. Each character has unique attacks that have beautiful animations: ice walls explode, bows swing around like boomerangs, and earthquakes shake up foes. The menus and UIs are well done. Each subsection of the menu has its own details and is fully fleshed out. Battlestone is beautiful, and there are some hangups for it; there are some sections of the game that drop frames on even my Nexus 4.
Overall, Battlestone is a wonderful game. Its main downfall is its repetitiveness, but the increasing difficulty, beautiful animations, character animations, and intuitive controls will keep players playing. Battlestone does teeter between free and freemium, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself without even considering dipping into my wallet. If you’re looking for a great game to entertain you for 5 minutes or even in half hour spurts, Battlestone is a worthy download.
iTunes Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/battlestone/id572029235?mt=8
Battlestone Forum: http://forums.appsgoer.com/forumdisplay.php?163-Battlestone
MMORPG, MMO, Online Games for free
