As in all RPG hack and style game, the main character (Tehra) has to go around killing monsters, trolls, dragons in order to save the humankind.

At the early stage of the game, you are limited to a simple hack and slash style and also a firebot magic. As you reach higher game level, you will pick up more armors and magical skill that grant you higher destroying power.

There is no experience point in the game, so you can’t power up your character’s traits nor equip your character with better weapons. However, with more gold, you can upgrade your armor and magic to higher level. A powerful armor is the demonic wrath that you get after killing the boss in stage 2. This demonic wrath gives you the ability to transform into a brutal devil with devastating killing power and immune to all attack. It gives you a sense of invincibility during that short period of time.

Initially when you first started the game, there is little guidance on where you have to go and what you have to do. There is no map for you to see and no arrows (like Gameloft style) to guide you. You just have to figure out the way yourself. The orcs is the most common enemies you will face and they never seem to die. When you kill one, the next one respawn. The undead (skeleton) is slightly more difficult to kill, but they don’t respawn. The undead archer is rather annoying and their lightning arrows is difficult to avoid at close distance. You often have to suffer several damages before you can kill them. One good thing, Tehra always run faster than the enemies, so if you are sick of fighting, you can always…err…run. Not a very glorious thing to do for an heroine, but when you need to complete the mission and all these enemies keep pestering you, running seems to be the best thing you should do.

One thing that I dislike is that there are very few recovery potions around. If there is any, their recovery effect is dismal. In places where you are dealing with the bosses, you only have 1 life potion around and it only recovers less than 10% of your lifebar.

The graphics is expected of any RPG games and is nothing short of spectacular. The sound is normal stuff and nothing to wow about (it almost sound similar in all RPG games).

It was stated that there is an online mode that allows people to compete worldwide, but I can’t find such options in the game itself. There are still very detail about this for the moment, probably the online world competition mode refers to the submission of your high score to the scoreboard (If that is the case, that is kind of disappointing). It will be great if you can play in a MMRPG setting.

All in all, this is not a bad game, but it is just a tad bit of difficult and lack of several features (such as more recovery potions, able to change weapons, upgrade character’s traits etc) that can make it even better. At a price tag of $3.99, I would say it is a steal.

Tehra Dark Warrior [iTunes link]

The objective of the game is to move a small black ball from the left to the right of the screen. Each screen comes with different obstacles that you have to bring your black ball to cross. There is nothing much to control except tilting your phone up and down and touch the screen to make the ball jump.

As easy as it looks, some of the area can be quite challenging. Often, you have to crack your brain and use your wit (and some trial and error) to complete each stage. Occasionally, you’ll also recive aids from friendly forces and also get to ride in different type of vehicles.

One thing that I love about the game is the dark ambient background and soundtrack that make the gameplay very soothing.

Trundle is a short game that can be easily completed in one (or maybe two to three) hour. It is definitely not enough to keep you occupied for a long period of time, but if you are looking for something free, fun, addictive and suitable for all age groups, then Trundle will be the one for you. For your info, additional levels pack will be make available for purchase in the future.

Trundle [App store link]

The creator of OMG Pirates! is Mika Mobile, also the creator of the popular Zombieville USA. The story is simple. You fight and kill pirates to defend your home. There are a total of 9 missions and 3 bosses. Each mission get more difficult than the previous. Once you have completed the 10 missions in the normal mode, the Hard and Survival mode will be unlocked and you can play it again at a more challenging level.

The gameplay is set in a 2D sidescrolling background. A good thing is that you are not defined to 2D movement. You can move up, down, left and right and they have been useful in dodging the enemies’s bullet and cannon. The control is easy. There is a joystick to move around, a green button to jump/block and a red button to attack.

The best part of this game is the leveling system of the character. As you kill a pirate, you gain experience points. When your experience bar is full, you level up and gain a new skill/combo to fight the pirates. The higher levels you achieve, the more powerful is your attack.

There is also a special power meter that fills itself up as you inflict damages to the pirates. When the meter is filled, simply tap on it to unleash the special power and send devastating lightning bolt to your enemies.

Like you, the pirates also can move, block and even attack you. They can be outright despicable too, always get behind you and attack you from the back (You can’t block attack from the back). One of the trick is to keep jumping (since they can’t hurt you when you are in the air) to the corner of the screen and make sure that none of the pirates get behind you.

At the end of each mission, you will be ranked from Apprentice to Master, depending on your performance. If you die too often, which you definitely will at the start of the game, you will be ranked as “terribad” that really show how bad you are. If this invoked bad feeling in you, you can always go back to the same mission and improve your ranking. Also if you achieve several 5, 10, or 15 master levels, you can unlock some cheats, which add more fun to the gameplay.

You don’t get to see stunning 3D graphics here, but the cartoony characters and effects can be quite visually pleasing too. The soundtrack for each mission is exceptional. You can hear the sound of sword swaying, the rumbling of the cannon explosion and the realistic “arrggghhh” when the pirates are cut up into half. Well done!

Unless you are not into fighting game, this game can easily take up every second of your time. To complete the normal mode is not a difficult task, since you can always continue after you die. The challenging part is in the Survival mode where there is no end to the waves of pirates. The excellent gameplay is what makes this game shine and I think it worths every single cents you pay for it, especially when it costs only $1.99.

OMG Pirates – $1.99 [iTunes link]

Friday Mobile Game Review is a new section that reviews mobile game (iPhone and Android) on a weekly basis. Game developers who are keen to get their games reviewed can submit your requests here.

Defender Chronicles: Legend of the Desert King is not the latest game in town, but it is one that makes me yearn for more. I can’t remember how many hours I have spent trying to complete the maps and power up my heroes. Like any other tower defense game, your aim is to build obstacles along the enemy’s path and prevent them from reaching the destination.

There are seven maps for you to crack and each map comes with four different difficulty levels: Novice, Casual, Master and Heroic. The easiest being Novice and the most difficult is Heroic. You can first start with Novice or Casual. The Master and Heroic mode are only available when you have completed the Casual and Master mode respectively.

Defender Chronicles is a fixed path TD, which means you can only place your guilds at predetermined location. There are three kind of guilds that you can build: warriors guild, archers guild and mage guild. The mage guild is not available for the first few maps and is only unlocked when you achieved a certain level. The archers guild is the most versatile tower as it can hit both land and air creatures, but it can’t stop enemies from walking pass it. Warriors guild is effectively at stopping down the enemies. The mage guild is the most powerful tower, but it is also the slowest.

Throughout the game play, I discovered that the emphasis is not on where to put your towers, but which tower to place at each location. There are plenty of locations (too many that I can’t fill them up  in some maps) where you can place your guild, so it is in a way similar to those freestyle TD game. The pace of the game is very fast and it requires you to make quick decision. Yes, a lot of trial and error is required too.

The control of the game is extremely easy. Tap on the specific location follow by the guild that you want to build. Upgrading and selling of guilds is also a matter of simple tapping. As I mentioned earlier, this game is pretty fast-paced, so it is necessary to simplify the control as much as possible.

The RPG element is what set DC apart from other TD games. At every map, the hero is always positioned as the last gate and acts as the last defense to your guild obstacle. When you have completed a map, your hero will gain experience points and skill points. The experience points level up your hero and improve its stats and its army stats. The skill points allow you to improve the stats for individual skill. (Tips: Improve the Cunning skill as much as possible. It will help in the later part of the game.) You will also gain tokens where you can use it to buy special items/inventory/armories etc.

Unlike many other games, this game is rendered in 2D view. But don’t be fooled by this, it has visually beautiful maps and well-animated characters. There won’t be any moment that you’ll feel the graphics is lacking.

Conclusion

If you like both TD and RPG type of game, then Defender Chronicles is definitely the one for you. The RPG elements set itself apart from other TD game. Not only is it the first of its kind, it is also the best. Be warned, this game is ADDICTIVE. Be prepared to spend hours after hours on this. There is even a community that discusses the strategy of this game. So if you have difficulties with any of the levels, remember to visit the forums for walkthough and strategy guides.

Defender Chronicles is currently available at the app store for $2.99 (originally $4.99) [iTunes link]

Friday Mobile Game Review is a new section that reviews mobile game (iPhone and Android) on a weekly basis. Game developers who are keen to get their games reviewed can submit your requests here.