Elemental game turns addictive
Hero Academy
(out of 4) IOS Free (but that’s how they get you) Rated E
Writing a review of a turn-based ipad game on an ipad is a punctuated process. Get a couple sentences in, and there goes the alert: my turn! Wouldn’t want to keep an opponent waiting; flip over to Hero Academy, see how badly I’m being outplayed, make my futile counterattack, and back to work. A couple minutes’ typing, another alert, another opponent . . . my iproductivity, such as it ever was, has evaporated.
But, what a rare and excellent heat for it to evaporate under. In a world where so much strategy gaming is of the real-time variety, where Star
Craft is a cyber-sport and battle prowess is measured in clicks-persecond, a solid, polished, well-balanced turn-based strategy game like Hero Academy is a welcome treat. The fact that it’s free — or, let’s say, “no cover” — just makes it all the sweeter.
The setup is elemental. Home team vs. Away across a 5x9 grid, each team defending their fragile goal crystals, while aiming to shatter their opponent’s. Units of varying abilities — strikers, healers, etc. — deployed as they are drawn, cardlike, from reserves. Each turn, all a player’s moves — deploying units, moving, attacking, castings spells and beefing up your troops — come off a single counter, making play quick and tactical decisions razorthin.
As with all good strategic/tactical games, this basic simplicity is a vehicle for real depth of play. Hero Academy is by no means an easy game. The implication of the word “academy” in the title is in fact a bit of a cruel joke, implying as it does some degree of training or handholding, when in fact — despite generous tool-tips that teach/remind the basics of play — the only “academy” here is the Academy of Hard Knocks, getting your butt handed to you over and over again by other players until you wise up and start doing some butt-handing yourself.
Getting in line for the hard lessons is easy. Getting a match going is click simple, whether you have friends playing ( HA has Facebook connectivity, naturally) or are queuing for random matches; it won’t be long before you’ve got sev- eral games on the go, each with its own strategic concerns to keep straight — and its own pace of play. There is no timer to Hero Academy, meaning you and your opponents make your moves whenever you have a moment to do so. In theory this makes for the perfect mobile game, ready when you are; in practice, you’ll find yourself hovering over your idevice, eagerly awaiting your opponent’s moves, dropping everything else as soon as you hear the alert tone. It’s one of those palm-itching kinds of games. A good-looking game that packs a lot of character into its cartoony designs and animations, Hero Academy is more polished and professional than many (okay, most) free games . . . and it really is free, with no limits or walls popping up demanding a toll once you’re hooked. But, if you like, you can always purchase a more suitable avatar to represent your bad self; only $0.99 for the “sampler pak” of portraits! And, hey, while you’re shopping, a buck’ll let you pick your uniform colour . . .