Game Reviews

Suits and Swords

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Suits and Swords

Mixing genres in new and interesting ways seems to be a bit of a trend of late. There's the rhythm-action brawling of KickBeat, the sports-platforming of OlliOlli, and the city-building action-RPG of Kingdom Conquest II.

Suits and Swords looks to be attempting the same kind of feat: blending two different styles of play into one cohesive whole.

It looks like developer n-Space has chosen the classic combo of RPG and puzzle game, as popularised by the Puzzle Quest series and Puzzle & Dragons. How will it stand up against these titans? I'll find out over the next week, as I play the game and jot down my findings here on Pocket Gamer.

First impressions

It's impressive how the universe of Suits and Swords feels so "complete". Each land you trek across is named after a suit in a deck of cards, and characters are named directly after - or are derivatives of - terms for playing cards and card games.

You're a Battle-Jack, called Black Jack, and you play Blackjack. The lead villain is a floating disembodied head called Joker.

This clown menace isn't on a level with a Kefka, and the story isn't immediately as engaging as the best examples from the RPG genre either, but he's enough of a villain to push you forward through the stages of the main story.

If you've ever played Blackjack you'll be right at home with Suits and Swords, as it replicates that game while adding magical elements that allow you to add to or subtract from the score of your hand.

You have to get as close to 21 as you can without going over, and if you're closer than your opponent (who acts as dealer) you deal them damage.

It's a cool idea, and one I'm keen to see more of.

Day 3: James Bond 007 on the Game Boy had the same problem

When you hit a wall in the story of a traditional video game, you can always tell why: it's usually because it's either cruelly difficult, or because you aren't good enough to proceed further.

With casino games there isn't usually that problem, as the fun is in simply playing a round of cards, placing bets, and seeing what fate has in store for you.

If you try to combine a linear narrative, where progress is reward for success, with a system of play that determines success predominantly on luck, you're asking for trouble. When you make that same game free-to-play, and pair a 'Game Over' screen with the suggestion you should spend money to win, you're asking for people to lose interest very quickly.

As you might be able to tell, seeing more of the story is proving troublesome as I keep getting beaten. Trounced, actually.

In a game of Blackjack, a hand of 19 is pretty good. Not great, but okay, and certainly enough to see off most other hands. In Suits and Swords, it's practically suicide to Stand on anything less than 20, and even then the dealer usually has an ace and a picture card up their sleeve.

I'm starting to get really frustrated, and this is made all the more galling by a UI that is just a little too small for human hands, and therefore fiddly to interact with. It's also not the fastest game to get into as there are multiple loads, and after missions the engine stutters a little. For a game that looks this basic, that shouldn't be happening.

I'm really bored of losing, and I'm hoping this changes in the days to come.

Day 7: Pardon my language

Fortune did not smile on me today, as I accidentally tapped 'hit' after using up a lot of +1 magic cards to get to 21. The word that I spat was not appropriate for Pocket Gamer.

The same problems highlighted earlier in the week persist, and they only get worse the more you play. Armour and weapons unlock as you progress, but you'll still need to splash out on the consumable IAPs that are the magical powers.

"Victory through purchase" isn't a satisfying gameplay mechanic, as being able to add or subtract against a score that's randomly given to you feels like expensive cheating rather than enjoyable gaming. Besides, it's not like spending money is going to guarantee you a win, as your opponent can (and often does) end up with 21 through "luck".

This "luck" seems heavily weighted in the computer's favour, leading to preposterous situations in which I, a heavily armoured human knight, routinely lose to an owl. When Suits and Swords starts throwing ad videos and other interstitials into the mix, you know it's time to walk away.

I'm glad my time with this is over, because I hate to feel cheated, and Suits and Swords feels like it cheats in everything it does.

How are you getting on with the game? You can tell us and the rest of the PG community about your experiences by leaving a comment in the box below. Click here to learn about our free-to-play review policy.

Suits and Swords

If you want a decent game of Blackjack on your phone, I'd recommend getting any of the numerous other, much simpler games out there that provide that, and not this slow, poorly conceived, unfairly difficult fantasy take on the game
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Peter Willington
Peter Willington
Die hard Suda 51 fan and professed Cherry Coke addict, freelancer Peter Willington was initially set for a career in showbiz, training for half a decade to walk the boards. Realising that there's no money in acting, he decided instead to make his fortune in writing about video games. Peter never learns from his mistakes.