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Athenion might not have the pedigree of some other deck-building card games available for mobile, but that shouldn't put you off. This is a game that's packed full of bright ideas, fresh new gameplay modes and enough content that you can lose hours of your life to.

Battles take place on a 4×4 grid, and see you taking it in turns with your opponent to lay down cards. You draw up to five cards from your deck of forty at the start of every turn.

These are the units you're playing in the fight, and they range from hulking monsters to flighty fairies, from magical trees to fearsome undead dragons.

Your cards have arrows on them that you show you which direction they can attack. You'll also notice a bunch of other numbers on the cards. These let you know the hit points a card has, how powerful its attack is and how many soul points it grants you.

Those soul points let you attack your opponent and they're the key to victory. The first player to lose all of their own hit points is the loser.

There's a lot more going on than that though. For one thing you need to pick from one of six different factions before you even get to the fights.

These factions have different strengths and weaknesses and figuring out which of them best suits the way you want to play is the first step of a pretty long journey.

Different factions have different special moves as well. Some let you link together cards to make them more powerful, others are all about sacrificing weaker units to create pockets of dark magical energy. One lets you build giant rock walls that you can use to protect some of your units or power up others.

There are single-player challenges, regular events and much, much more as well. You're never short of something to do in Athenion, and the pace of the matches lets you get a lot of them in in a single setting.

The Good

There's a staggering amount of depth to Athenion. It's going to take you a good while to get to grips with the basics and once you've done that there are layers and layers to peel back. Every time you win you'll figure out a new strategy and every time you lose you'll be trying to find a way to right that wrong.

The game looks amazing too. The cards all sport a brilliant anime art-style and you'll want to collect all of them just so you can check them out. The speed of the fights is a massive plus too – they deliver huge chunks of tactical action in the sort of short-blast sessions that are perfect for mobile play.

On top of that there's a brilliant community to the game, and you never have to wait long to find an online battle. There are a number of different modes that let you practice with different decks, take part in intriguing events and fight it out in ranked and casual multiplayer matches.

The Bad

There's a pretty steep learning curve here, so if you're not in for the long haul then you might be better finding your card-based fun somewhere else. Even when you've got the basics down you've still got a lot to learn and it can be punishing to come up against an opponent who knows more than you do.

There are also a lot of currencies, crafting materials and other rewards to figure out. The game does tell you what they do, but the tutorials are pretty brief and you're left on your own for a lot of the time to try and get to the bottom of things.

Overall

Athenion might not be the easiest game to understand, but once things start clicking it becomes something really rather special. There are some brilliant ideas here and they're woven into a bright tapestry of gorgeous visuals and wonderfully paced mobile play.

It won't be to everyone's taste, and it's fair to say that some players are going to put it down before they've even got to the good bits, but this is one CCG that it's well worth sticking with.

8.2

OVERALL

Replayability 8.1

Game Controls 8.2

Graphics 8.7

Sound/Music 8.2

Gameplay 7.8

FREE

Athenion: Tactical CCG

ZERO-bit Company Limited

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Purrfect Date ($4.99) by Bossa Studios is a dating sim that focuses heavily on cats, while also being wrapped in a shroud of mystery, humor, and drama. If you enjoyed other cat-lover games such as Cat Quest, Super Phantom Cat 2, and Cat Bird, but want a title that has a super interesting story filled with felines, then Purrfect Date is for you.

While I consider myself more of a dog person at this point, I still love and adore cats (just slightly less than dogs). But overall, I'm just a huge animal person, so I definitely can't resist any game when cute animals are involved, no matter what species. I've had my fair share of cat-themed games, with my most recent favorite being Cat Quest, but I can't help but check out a new cat-filled game if it's released. And Purrfect Date is one that does not disappoint, especially if you just love cats.

$4.99

Surgeon Simulator

Bossa Studios Ltd

$4.99

I am Bread

Bossa Studios Ltd

$4.99

Cat Quest

The Gentlebros Pte. Ltd.

Free

Super Phantom Cat 2

Beijing Veewo Game Co., Ltd.

Free

Cat Bird!

Raiyumi Inc.

Visually, Purrfect Date is gorgeous with the unique, hand-drawn visuals throughout the entire game. Cute and cartoony graphics greet players from the get-go, and in some ways, they remind me of my Saturday morning cartoons when I was a child. Both the humans and cats that you come across in the story are all unique, distinctive, and have their own personalities that you'll be able to discover by playing. Purrfect Date also utilizes a bright and vibrant color palette that is sure to appeal to the audience, but some scenes are also darker and gloomier, which helps set the tone. The soundtrack is endearing and whimsical, which I found to be a delight to listen to while playing. The game also has realistic sound effects that play to match the situation and dialogue that you're in, which adds some depth.

While Purrfect Date classifies itself as a dating sim, it's not as straightforward as you originally think it is when first diving in. It's also more of an interactive visual novel, with a bit of romance with felines.

You take on the role of a researcher who just landed a job on the appropriately named Cat Island to work with Professor Pawpur. You're there to help research and take care of the cats that live on the island. Just from this, it already sounds like a cat lover's paradise, right? But things take a dark turn pretty early on in the first chapter, as you discover the possibility of Were-Cats. Turns out there's more to Cat Island than you originally thought, and it's not a serene, feline loving paradise.

Since Purrfect Date is more of an interactive visual novel, there's a lot of reading involved. The story advances through the dialogue, and there's a lot of exchanges between your character and associates, as well as cats. However, you can choose to be either a male or female for each chapter, and there's a few different appearances to pick from for each. There's also a wide variety of cats to find on the island, and your Cat-A-Log device is able to scan and provide information on every feline you come across. The information includes breed, age, and color — you know, all the highly important details when it comes to identifying cats.

As you play, you'll have to make decisions that affect the outcome of the story's ending. There are 18 different endings that you can get, so there's a bit of replay value if you want to find out what all of the endings are. In each chapter, you'll have the opportunity to do research for the antidote for Were-Cats, recon with NPCs that you've met to investigate further, and even develop romantic relationships with the cats themselves. The only mandatory action is research, though.

Each time you decide to do romance, research, or recon, it will take up some energy, which is represented by hearts. You can rest to replenish your energy if needed, but that does mean missing out on another activity. Players can choose to do romance and recon as much as they want, with each opportunity filling up on of the progress bars. However, once you do research three times, then that chapter will close and the story advances. So ideally, you'd want to make sure that you're done with everything else before continuing with research, as there's no way to go back after you make your decision.

Since you are a newly appointed researcher in each chapter, that means you'll have to pick only one cat if you choose to date them. You can do the romance action up to five times in a chapter, and three recon and research actions. Again, while the only mandatory thing you need to do is research, the choice of romance or recon affect the results of your research. Therefore, you'll need to choose wisely, especially when it comes to the tougher decisions that affect your relationship with your feline friends.

The makers of I Am Bread and Surgeon Simulator have a new crazy concept game for you to try.

The Good

Purrfect Date is an interesting and unorthodox mashup of dating sim and interactive visual novel. The handcrafted graphics are cute, the sound design is realistic, and controls are simple, since everything's done through taps. The story gets you hooked in right away, and I love the humor and dark twist in plot. I mean, Were-Cats, who knew? I certainly wasn't expecting that when I was starting the game, but now I need to know more.

The Bad

If you aren't a big fan of reading, then I hate to break it to you, but that's a requirement for Purrfect Date. Everything is revealed through the dialogue, and while you can skip through it, you'll be missing vital parts of the story, or even just the humorous puns and whatnot.

And if you hate cats, well, this game is not for you.

The verdict

As a cat fan, Purrfect Date is a nice surprise on the App Store. I didn't know about the game before this week, but it's certainly a fun, interactive visual novel experience. Plus, dating the cats (crazy cat lady style) is fun and silly, which is to be expected from the same people who developed Surgeon Simulator. And honestly, the visuals are charming and appealing to everyone, and the sound is great.

Purrfect Date is available on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for $4.99.

8.7

OVERALL

Game Controls 9

Graphics 9

Sound/Music 9

Replayability 8.5

Gameplay 8

$4.99

Purrfect Date

Bossa Studios Ltd

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