The mobile phone market is huge and potentially very profitable and many publishers obviously aspire to conquer it. Carrying out such a titanic undertaking, however, requires not only the right idea, but also the right execution: a set of aspects that must be assembled and finished with great care, and which is certainly not trivial to get right, especially in the first shot. .
Well, in light of its four million dollars in four days, Warcraft Rumble seems to have at least taken the right path. Born from the idea of Tom Chilton, former lead designer of World of Warcraft and considered a PvP guru by his colleagues, the Blizzard title uses the tower attack formula similar to Clash Royale to give us an experience that, however, It is mainly decreased in the field of PvE battles.
Are we looking at the next big free game hit for iOS and Android devices? We think so and we will explain why in this Warcraft Rumble Review.
Gameplay: Warcraft Royale
We mentioned at the beginning how Warcraft Rumble refers to the tower attack mechanics introduced by the classic Clash Royale, while still using a focus primarily dedicated to PvE. In this case, the objective of each challenge is not to destroy static towers controlled by a human, but to eliminate a computer-controlled boss with constantly changing characteristics, after having overcome the troops that he will send against us and at the same time trying. to prevent our bases from being demolished.
The scenario of the scenario is basically what we already know, a map developed vertically that often does not fit in the margins of our smartphone screen and that we have to navigate from bottom to top, positioning the units (which gradually become available according to the action point indicator at the bottom fills) near the initial turret or the points of interest that we can conquer, and then let them automatically advance against enemies.
The early levels are effortless to complete, acting as tutorials compared to the more advanced stages of a campaign that is already quite long and substantial, which will see us face numerous scenarios based on the Warcraft universe, each with five challenges to overcome, as well as special missions that include particular modifiers and extra tasks that will allow us to grow when the difficulty begins to be important.
Warcraft Rumble's gameplay is not solved, in fact, by saturating the map with troops, but it presents different problems to be solved from time to time and factors to take into account, for example the nature of the units that are sent against us and their typology, based on the now inevitable rock-paper-scissors style. System that makes some characters more or less effective, more or less resistant depending on the opponent they have to compete with.
Lo strategic depth of the Blizzard game is guaranteed not only by these aspects, but also by the presence of specific units that will search for resources around the stage, thus helping us to quickly increase the number of action points available to summon warriors or individual attacks; as well as the possibility of destroying and conquering intermediate enemy turrets to literally intensify our offensive.
The characters that we will have available during the games, which are resolved in three and a half minutes, are taken liberally from the Warcraft universe and require the creation of a "deck" made up of six different heroes, to which is added a captain with unique abilities: the devastating Grommash Hellscream, for example, or the fascinating Jaina Proudmoore, or even the goblin Sneed aboard his Shredder, coming from a short list of ten unlockable iconic figures.
Structure, updates and microtransactions.
As we have mentioned, Warcraft Rumble can currently have a fairly long and challenging campaign, which will see us explore almost twenty scenarios, culminating in a fierce and desperate confrontation with the dragon Onyxia in its legendary cave, once we reach level 100. way. inevitably we will find some Obstacles related to the free-to-play model., but only when we have completed more or less half of the challenges.
Paywalls clearly refer to the game's improvement system, characterized by a board where we can spend the gold earned to buy new cards for the different characters we have and thus improve them, or resort to the traditional prize chests. Then there are obviously the microtransactions, with some more substantial packages (treasures from €4,99 or Arclight Boost from €19,99) and the classic gold bags (from €0,99 for 90 coins to €99,99 for 12.000 coins).
It is certainly possible to accelerate progression by purchasing these packages, but this is in no way an obligation: When the challenge becomes difficult, the game never stops offering alternative challenges. that allow you to improve enough to overcome the obstacle in question, perhaps repeating already completed missions on a higher difficulty level to obtain new rewards.
We already know what you're thinking: and PvP? Are there pay-to-win dynamics? The answer is "no", in the sense that, on the one hand, the system restores all unit upgrades during competitive matches, on the other hand, it leaves certain unlockable abilities that affect the characters' strength intact. However, we are talking about a secondary aspect to the single player mode, it is worth repeating: you may not even try the multiplayer mode without missing anything.
Technical realization: orcs and cartoons.
As we wrote when we tested Warcraft Rumble, Blizzard used a cartoon style for the graphics. which follows the aforementioned Clash Royale, but which certainly gains several points thanks to the charm and popularity of the characters from the world of Warcraft. In fact, for fans of the series it is very fun and entertaining to find familiar faces in an almost "chibi" version.
Clearly An enormous amount of work has been done in purely numerical terms., if we take into account that each scenario includes five different main enemies in addition to the basic troops, to which are obviously added the fighters that we can unlock: we are talking about hundreds of characters, each equipped with a decent set of animations and specific verses . .
As for the scenarios, since they are short corridors it is clear that we cannot expect who knows what, but here too the developers have tried to find the greatest possible variety, recreating in a more or less convincing way the elements that characterize the original. settings. in the end very valid colonna sonora, which includes themes that will stay with you.
Conclusions
Tested version iPhone digital delivery app store, Google Play Price Free Holygamerz.com 8.5 Readers (18) 6.6 your voteWarcraft Rumble is a great game, a tower game that draws heavily on the Warcraft universe, but is absolutely accessible even to those who don't know the settings and characters of the Blizzard series. Packed with cartoonish and well-differentiated characters, with strategic gameplay of surprising depth and a fairly long and challenging campaign, as well as fun alternative modes including PvP, Blizzard's title is certainly destined to generate monstrous numbers on iOS and Android, and is He deserves them all.
PRO
- Very solid and fun gameplay.
- Rich in content
- Stylistically very nice
AGAINST
- Unavoidable paywalls that can, however, be bypassed
- Some pay to win items in PvP
