Quality games used to be hard to come by on Android. That has changed over the last year, and with games like Bladeslinger to look forward to, the year of 2012 didn’t look so bleak anymore. Well 2012 came and went, and no Bladeslinger. Luckily, for us android gamers looking to get our hands on some action controlling the games main character William Gaston, the lovely bunch over at Kerosene games released Bladeslinger last week.
For those who didn’t catch the game hub weekly last Saturday, Bladeslinger is an action Hack N slash with some pretty graphics and a cool story-line. It feels a lot like God of War, and many other Hack N slash titles out there when it comes to play style. The game centers around our hero, William Gaston, who has come home to Hammers Peak after a long time away at war. A dark corruption has taken over the inhabitants of Hammers Peak and You alone have the power to stop it. Use your special “gunblade” to slash enemy’s apart or shoot them down. You can obtain special abilities that enhance your attacks and upgrade your skills and attributes as well.
First off, let’s take a quick look at the controls. There are two main types of controls, and from what I can tell compared to the iOS version, that’s one extra way to play the game. You can either attempt to use the games innovative and intuitive gesture control system, where everything is controlled by suggested one hand finger swipes and taps, or you can use the classic control system which has left and right area controls for movement and camera panning, with swipes for your slash attacks and buttons for your punch, shoot, and dodge abilities. If you have never played Bladeslinger before, the classic control setup is recommended, but if you want to go balls to the wall, dive in head first with the gesture setup. (This is how Luma Arcade and Kerosene Games intended the game to be played anyhow.)
Graphics wise, Bladeslinger has much to offer those who are looking for a visually stunning and appealing game to play. Standard graphics settings still allow for some beautiful eye candy, but if you happen to have a device with a powerful processor like the Nexus 7, the extra attention to detail is awe-inspiring. Motion blur, depth of field, advanced lighting effects, lifelike rain and water drops on the camera are all special effects that you can expect when playing this on a device that has the Tegra 3 chip in it. I would imagine when the time comes for the Tegra 4 we could even see some improvements to the special effects. Combat looks amazing by the way. You certainly should not be disappointed in this area.
When it comes to features and story-line Bladeslinger has these covered as well to give the game a nice well-rounded yet high quality aura about it. The game costs $2.99 up front, and will come with IAP as well. It may seem at first that the IAP are less of an option, that is until you unlock the games arena mode, which should allow for some nice grind time for gold and Spirit gems as well as other items. Gold is your typical currency in-game, but some of the more sought after abilities and upgrades will cost spirit gems, which you can find in fragments throughout the main storymode as you play, or in Arena mode as rewards for longer lasting combat. The game is part of an episodic series of titles that it seems Luma Arcade and Kerosene are looking to release. More Content and other modes are coming soon as shown from the games menus and select screen. Overall, Bladeslinger was more than worth the long wait and definitely lived up to the hype. It takes up a fair amount of space but nothing when compared to the size of some of the titles from Gameloft. Just make sure you have a good few hundred mb open and you should be fine. I do recommend playing this on a higher end device though if you have it. Anything less than a dual core processor is just not going to run this well. The game is simply too demanding. That being said, it also doesn’t deserve any downvotes or negative comments because of device compatibility.
If you’re looking for a really bad ass game to fill your weekend with and haven’t already picked this up, I highly recommend it. Who out there has already beaten the game? What’s the longest someone’s lasted in Arena mode? http://youtu.be/dmzidw2IwlY