If you recall back in March, we were excited about an upcoming game by Foursaken Media called Heroes and Castles 2. We are delighted to tell you that the wait is now over! Heroes and Castles 2 [$1.99] has a high return on investment because for such a cheap price you get a massive single player campaign and an unprecedented online experience full of perennial action and enjoyable challenges. You will find yourself on the battlefield leading numerous soldiers either to their glory or to their doom – this is yours to decide.
This 3rd person experience was designed as a blend of Castle Defense, Strategy, and Action-RPG – very popular genres in the mobile gaming sphere. In this game, your duty is to rally your army to fight for the human race and defend the castle from the constant, monstrous invasions. The game has no established story but it becomes clear to you that you have certain objectives and responsibilities as a hero.
You will fight off against hundreds of enemies (literally) with the aid of your own units from which you choose. Each enemy unit has a weakness so you have to select your troops strategically in order to counter the fierce invaders. You can customize your hero based on race, class, skill and weaponry. So you will find great variety in terms of customization that will enrich and distinguish your character from all the rest. You will find it hard to stop some invasions at times and this means you will have to keep trying by changing your strategy until you eliminate the waves of evil. You can invade enemy lands and conquer them as well but you will have to possess the skills to defend them too.
This may sound as if taken from a Lord of the Rings movie but you will find your natural allies to be Dwarfs and Elves (Shout-out to Gimli and Legolas from LOTR). You can summon numerous troops to fight beside you from Humans, Dwarfs and Elves to clash against the might of evil. In addition, there are plenty of enemy races such as the Undead, Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, Spiders, Mummies and their catastrophic technology. Sometimes your troops will not be enough to stop the enemy so you will also need to build towers and upgrade your castle walls for better defense.
The game supports Multiplayer in the form of Co-op and PVP! We tried both and we absolutely loved them. Both can be played in Global and Local: In global you get auto-matched with a random player or can choose to invite a friend; and in local you can play with your friend by creating a room on the same Wi-Fi connection. Initially, you will not be able to play Multiplayer because the game wants you to learn the basics. So you will have to level up your character until you reach level 5 and then you can access online mode by speaking to the ‘Guild Master.’ He is easily found in the castle vicinity with the words ‘Guild Master’ on top of his head and all you need to do is talk to him. The online experience was surprisingly fun and competitive. There is a chat mode available online so that you can communicate with your ally when you team up with him or to taunt your enemy in PVP.
Heroes and Castles 2 is a graphics warehouse with breathtaking environments and special effects but you can decrease special effects, level detail, lighting and shadows if you wish to avoid any form of lag or hindrance. This seemed helpful to do when playing online as it slightly decreased the lag. Otherwise, it is very impressive as you get to see hundreds of combatants on the field in a battle which you are a part of.
In terms of controls, they were not as accurate as we would want them to be but they were sufficient enough to pull off an epic performance against the enemy and avoid embarrassment. Fortunately, you can customize your HUD as you wish and increase or decrease sensitivity as you wish. The game supports MFi game controllers as well and it would be interesting to play this game using this method.
In conclusion, if you want to re-live the memorable battles of Lord of the Rings then Heroes and Castles 2 is a moderate dose of that experience. With its economical price, large game content, strategy development system, full HD enhanced graphics and a splendid online experience, we find that this game delivers more than it demands. While greatly lacking in its story depth, it presents one of the best online experiences by far and if you have the patience to go through its somewhat extensive tutorial then, truly, you will find yourself well pleased by a well-formulated game.
DN Reviews 