Mobile game reviews
DEEP, BEAUTIFUL STRATEGY. Free with IAP
THE RECENT TREND of “Gacha” games, where free to download titles are subsidised by purchasing the chance to get higher ranked heroes and equipment, has been largely (and rightly) criticised for heavily reducing the quality of the game itself. This is mainly due to the shallowness in gameplay that is required in order to allow those who pay to effectively dominate play over the original design ideas of the developers. But in the case of Langrisser, which on the surface follows this playbook, I found one of the best strategy games on mobile.
Langrisser is a lesser known Japanese Strategy RPG series that has effectively been condensed and shrunk onto a mobile platform. Players sit on an isometric grid, where active scenarios are drawn either via the central story or a specific event, and choose a team of variously-classed heroes to defeat a predetermined set of enemies. Each hero has a specific set of skills, abilities, and strengths/ weaknesses against other classes, making deployment of your heroes just as important as the battles.
Each battle, both story and event, is fully voice acted by both Japanese and English actors, while the art and animations are beautifully crafted and produced. Battles are difficult but not overly so, and the random system of summons and upgrading characters is both fair and fun. On top of the base story mode, the game also manages to incorporate condensed versions of earlier games as part of the hero upgrade process, providing a backstory to the main quest as well as a practical element of progression. Heroes are all completely different, limited in number, and come complete with evolving back stories.
Additionally, there are both “offline” and real-time options for multiplayer PVP battles, as well as the ability to team up in order to co-op play much of the item farming quests and other limited time event modes. There’s a lot packed into this package, which is also effortlessly detailed and presented unlike many other games of its type. A must play!