That old adage of buses springs to mind with
Blades & Magic. Stunning RPG gaming goodness has been a little thin on the ground for us mobile gamers for, well, forever. And now, two of the buggers have turned up at once.
Like Gameloft's
Rise of Lost Empires – which we'll review very soon –
Blades & Magic has been lavished in masses of glorious development effort. Indeed, the game relies on the renowned 'Abyss Engine' as its glorious undercarriage and its role in Fishlabs crafting such a fantastic RPG shouldn't be underestimated.
A gushing start, then, and deservedly so. Nevertheless, so that we may continue, lets get the few foibles that
Blades & Magic suffers from out of the way, shall we? We can then truly get stuck into bandying around the kind of praise that's levied towards Wayne Rooney as soon as he touches the ball. Even when he manages to do close to bugger all with it.
Sorry, bit of tangent there.
Anyway, most RPGs are made or broken by their storyline, and it's the one area where
Blades & Magic stumbles. It's all fairly standard fantasy fare, with orcs, dragons, and dwarfs aplenty.
Lord of The Rings fans will be in heaven and, thankfully, the way the story is rolled out via gloriously detailed cut-scenes suits the game perfectly. But die-hard fantasy haters might find all the goblin talk and battles between dark and light too much to bear.
The translation from the game's original German leaves a little to be desired, too. Several grammatical errors pop up, which can be confusing, especially when the text really starts to roll. It's not a major deficiency but it does remove a layer of sheen from such a stunning game.
Though most of the published screenshots show off a glorious 3D title,
Blades & Magic actually consists of a fair amount of 2D action. You move around the game map via a standard top-down screen, populated by several villages and areas to visit. You simply have to move your little icon to the area you wish to meander along to, and you'll make the trip. Easy.
Once there – or even during your journey – you'll encounter an enemy to make bloody battle with, and that's when the true visual beauty of
Blades & Magic makes an appearance.
Looking much like a beat-'em-up, you have the opportunity stack up to five separate moves that your character will unleash in order to bash the opponent into submission. Initial encounters see you simply repeatedly choosing standard offensive movements in order to deplete your enemies' health bar. Hardly the kind of depth-filled goodness you expect from an RPG.
As you progress, however, more and more spells and abilities become available to you, making battles less a test of how quickly you can mash the select button, and more a true analysis of your tactical skills. All this is made the more enticing by the promise of extra customisation via the upgrading of your skills as you see fit.
Battling monsters hands you experience points, which as you'd expect can be splashed out on upgrading your character's abilities. So if you want an extra slice of power for your meathead warrior, focus on adding points to their strength stat. They'll then find slicing through necks increasingly easier. It's standard stuff, but you can't beat customisation to make your character feel like your very own.
Take every component of
Blades & Magic separately, then, and not one of them will amaze you. What you'll have in front of your are effectively the traditional elements of a standard RPG, however well realised those elements may be.
Embark on the game's journey, though, and you'll be hooked. Because once you've lost a few hours building up your character, exploring the sprawling, convincing gameworld, and engaging in its enthralling battles, you'll realise this is so much more than the simple sum of its parts.
