Iron Blade Medieval

 

Iron Blade: Medieval Legends, it seems like Gameloft have just about got it perfect – barring a few targeting and progression issues.

It's a remarkably fun and challenging experience, with surprisingly deep combat and lovely graphics to take in, though its somewhat repetitive set-up can grow weary in a short amount of time.

Iron Blade is definitely a very shiny game. Most of the time its presentation is slick and precise, and there are plenty of gouts of blood to keep hardcore players happy. But scrape away that sheen and you’re left with an experience that, while it isn’t exactly empty, is a little bit lacking.

There are some neat ideas here, and trawling through a fantasy representation of medieval Europe is entertaining. But in the end the spectacle slowly drains away and you’re left with a game that’s a bit too repetitive for its own good.

Iron Blade largely revolves around you fighting an arena full of soldiers, hacking and slashing until they're all dead and you move onto the next set of sword fodder.

Attacking is simple – just tap the right side of the screen to swing your sword, or swipe towards an enemy to change target and fire an arrow at them if they're too far away for your blade.

Enemies will also make a move against you, but a swift tap of the left side of the screen when the incoming attack icon pops up will deal with any blows.

It solves some of the problems of hack and slash third person adventures on mobile, but in doing so it manages to create a whole bunch more. It’s by no means terrible, but you can’t shake the feeling that it could be better than it is.
The game sees you playing a disgraced Templar. There’s a story about heresy and demons and a bunch of other stuff, but it’s just padding to push you from one violent level to the next.

The combat takes its cues from the likes of Assassin’s Creed. You’ve got two main controls. Tap the right of the screen to attack, tap the left of the screen to perform a parry. Buttons along the bottom of the screen let you unleash special moves when they’re ready.

It’s a dilution of a familiar system for sure, but it works pretty well. Icons flash above enemies when they’re about to try and stab you, giving you a chance to react with a parry and turn the tables.
There's also a handful of special attacks to use, which rotate as you use them, giving you an edge when you're surrounded by guys who want you dead.

The only real issue is the targeting system – you have no control over the camera, and the only option to change target is to swipe in their direction.

This is fine in most instances, but if an enemy you want to hit is stood behind another foe, you simply can't attack them unless they move closer to you.

With its medieval settings and interesting storyline, this could have been a truly great RPG if not for the tedium built into it. Instead, the developers chose to make players pay for progress rather than things they might actually enjoy, and the result is a feeling of resentment that gets stronger each time you play. Having invited you into the Campaign with its noble main character and well-handled combat, Iron Blade: Medieval Legneds RPG pulls up the drawbridge, refusing to let you in 'til you've upgraded your gear umpteen times. Unfortunately, the only way to do that is to collect gold and resources by repeatedly replaying battles you've already won. Battle rewards are random, which means it takes a long time to get exactly what you need for the upgrade, and even when you do, you might not have enough gold to make it happen. That means after an hour or so, you're stuck, unable to move the story along or do anything new. You can of course, spend a hefty amount of money to force things along, but it's hard to say just how long it'll be before you run into another raised drawbridge. The app tries to alleviate the boredom with resource-collecting “events” (where you fight the same monsters again and again) and the chance to attack other players and steal their resources, but it's just not enough. In the end, it goes back on its promise to deliver anything legendary, and you're left with a sad iron blade in need of an upgrade.
Foiled

Poor targeting can also foul up your ending score – to reach a three-star rank you need to beat the level in a short time, but this becomes nigh-on impossible if you keep swapping enemies.

This also isn't helped by the levelling system, which leaves you with weak equipment a lot of the time, making it difficult to kill quickly.
There’s no running around between the fights. Once you’ve cleared a wave of bad guys your character will automatically leg it off screen. Everything goes black, then he’s running up to the next bunch of bad guys. There’s usually about four waves to hack to bits to complete a level. Your health doesn’t regenerate between the scraps though.

Your main focus outside of the fighting is making numbers go up. You need to forge, equip, and upgrade pieces of armor and weaponry in order to keep up the battle. The game will lock you out of levels if your equipment isn’t up to scratch, which is pretty annoying.

And getting new stuff isn’t easy. So you’re left with going back through older levels to grind the XP level of your gear up. Then you need to hit a variety of events to get materials to evolve them. It’s here that the grinding repetition really kicks in. And even when you’ve got better gear, you’re still basically doing the same thing.
Everything you take into battle scores some experience points for each piece of equipment, but levelling up this way is incredibly slow.

Instead you'll need to grind out equipment from collecting chests or re-doing missions, half of which will be useless and need to be fused into existing equipment to make it better.

It's pretty straightforward stuff, but it never seems to really help, leaving you stuck grinding endlessly before you can make even the slightest impact.
It’s a shame, because there’s a lot of potential here. When the game is flowing well, and you’re dancing around your enemies deflecting blows, firing off arrows and smashing bad buys with your shield, you feel like you really are a super-powered knight from an imagined past.

EPIC MEDIEVAL ODYSSEY
o Defeat countless threats by battling possessed and demonic forces to complete the explosive story.
o Immerse yourself in the rich history and fantasy of the Middle Ages -- a legendary world where cold, hard steel meets elusive arcane powers.
o Fight your way through scenic European landscapes to bring the light back to Notre Dame, defeat the undead hordes in Scotland, and banish the vampires in Transylvania.

CRISP, INNOVATIVE COMBAT
o Indulge yourself in our combat-focused gameplay, specially designed for mobile. Release your inner warlord!
o Develop your own combat style: Link up taps and swipes to perform unstoppable combos that will crush your foes.
o Amazing special attacks and finishing moves that end in decapitation, dismemberment and other mortal blows.

MASTER LEGENDARY POWERS
o Unlock, manage and upgrade a variety of weapons and armor to best express your fighting style.
o Unleash devastating spells and skills on your foes.

CASTLE-CONQUERING PVP
o Attack other players and crush their defenses to claim their resources.
o Manage your domain resources and improve castle defenses to ensure better odds of keeping them safe.
o Acquire and upgrade castle-defender units that protect your domain while you are away.

You can raid other player’s bases as well, stealing their loot, and build up the defenses of your own by unlocking new characters as you play. Everything feels like it’s just about in place, but then the grind kicks in and nothing new gets added to keep you interested.

Iron Blade certainly looks good, and sometimes it plays brilliantly. But it slips into old mobile habits to quickly, and rather than embracing the violence that lies at its core, it turns it into a bit of a drudge.
Overall, Iron Blade has a lot of good ideas – solid combat, great graphics, and plenty of violence to keep action fans happy – but it falls short on a few fronts.

Its targeting is serviceable but a little too flimsy, flinging you between enemies when you really just need to focus in on one, and levelling up just never seems to make an impact.

It's definitely worth a look if you're in the mood for a good hack-and-slash, but unless you're willing to grind, you might not find much enjoyment here.