AppReviewToday- All

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

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews

Highwind ($0.99) by Selva Interactive is a unique shooter that involves paper airplanes, and a lot of them. If you enjoy shooters such as Danmaku Unlimited 3 and AKA TO BLUE, but want a touch of minimalism, then Highwind is one to check out.

Life gets hectic (it definitely has been for me the past few days), so there's nothing better than sitting down to unwind and relax. Usually for me, this involves puzzle games of some sort, but every now and then I need something different. If it's not puzzles, it's probably an arcade game that involves shooting things up. I'm a big fan of bullet hell shooters, but when I saw Highwind, I was intrigued by the style. It's definitely a game that is different and unlike anything you've played before, which is never a bad thing.

$4.99

Danmaku Unlimited 3 – Bullet Hell Shooter

Sunny Tam

$7.99

AKA TO BLUE

TANOSHIMASU CO.,LTD.

Free

KAMI 2

State of Play Games Ltd

Visually, Highwind has a simple and clean aesthetic that works well. Since the focus in Highwind is on paper planes, the graphics feature a paper origami style look and texture that is basic but pops out thanks to the color and shading. It's reminiscent of games like KAMI 2, which is lovely. Highwind's color palette is a great mix of bold and vibrant hues with subtler, muted tones, so everything contrasts nicely. Animations are buttery smooth and fluid on my iPhone 8 Plus, with no lag or choppiness in frame rate. There's also an upbeat and soothing atmospheric soundtrack that I found rather relaxing. The sound effects are fun and sci-fi style. The developers did an excellent job with Highwind's visual and audio design.

In Highwind, while there are levels, players have to start from the beginning on each run. This part is a little annoying, as I wish that there was a way to just select the stage you want to start from. Still, it's fun to watch your progression over time. The game is also randomly generated each time, so the enemy waves are different on your plays. The goal is straightforward: defeat all of the enemy ships in each wave, while avoiding other obstacles in order to move on to the next stage. While it sounds easy enough, the game's unique mechanics make things much more complicated than they seem on the surface.

The controls are simple but take some time to master. Your paper plane ship is centered on the screen and remains stationary. However, the background appears to shift to give you that sense of movement for your ship. You cannot manually move your ship around. When you tap on the left side of the screen, it will activate your shields to block incoming enemy attacks. Tapping the right side of the screen lets you shoot your plane's weapon, and a long-press does a charge attack.

To set Highwind apart from other games is the fact that you have a limited resource for your shields and bullets. There are gauges on the left and right sides of the screen to tell you how much charge you have for your shield and weapon. If they're completely depleted, those functions won't work. Fortunately, they replenish rather quickly, but still need time to do so. The key is to manage your resources wisely between defending yourself and attacking. You also can only take three hits before you die, and it's game over.

Another thing about Highwind that makes it challenging is the fact that sometimes you can't reach the enemy ships. There are special items that will spread your bullets out when they hit them, causing you to hit enemy ships that are moving in at an angle. Some enemies also fire bullets that can be deflected with your shield, so it's all about timing.

Once you clear a wave, there will be a mini-game of sorts before you move on to the next round. These mini games are usually obstacle avoidance courses, and you'll want to do as best as you can. As you play, you earn coins for defeating enemies, and if you get hit by an attack or run into an obstacle, you lose some coins.

After the mini-game, you're awarded with an opportunity to upgrade your plane. You can choose to upgrade your shields, ammo, or health. These upgrades cost 100 or 200 coins each. If you don't have that much, and took some hits prior, you can also heal for 60 coins.

Once you've taken too much damage, then it's game over. You get points awarded for your performance, and these accumulate over time to unlock rewards. These rewards include new planes, and each plane has their own strengths and weaknesses. You can see the stats for each plane on the Plane Select screen, where each stat is color coded (blue shields, yellow ammo, and green health). There are also additional game modes that vary the gameplay mechanics; there are a total of five different variations.

Highwind is a beautiful arcade shooter that is unlike anything you've played before.

The Good

Highwind is a unique shooter that truly is unlike anything you've tried before. The game has a gorgeous origami-like style and the sounds are special and distinctive. While there's only one game mode, the randomly generated enemy waves and unlockable style variations keep everything fresh and interesting. It does take some time to get used to the controls, since your ship doesn't move, but this is what makes Highwind stand out in the App Store.

The Bad

While Highwind has a lot of interesting aspects going for it, the "dodging" aspect of the game is a bit boring. You basically just need to get your shields up in time to deflect enemy attacks, and well, it's not the most exciting thing ever. I'm not sure how this part of the game can be improved, but it would help if there were slight tweaks.

The verdict

Highwind is an interesting and fresh take on the arcade shooter genre. The minimalist art style and music are soothing, the controls work out well, and the gameplay mechanics bring a real challenge to the game. I like that there are plenty of unlockables that you can obtain in the game, and there's a lot of replay value with the randomly generated stages. I just wish dodging attacks was a tad more fun.

I recommend Highwind to anyone who is a fan of arcade shooters and wants to play something different. You can find Highwind on the App Store as a universal download for the iPhone and iPad for $0.99.

9.2

OVERALL

Sound/Music 10

Replayability 9

Graphics 9.5

Gameplay 9

Game Controls 8.5

$0.99

Highwind

Selva Interactive

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews