Do you know that feeling when you start a game and, from the moment you begin playing, you just know it’s going to be a bumpy ride? Well, that was exactly what happened to me while playing Blades & Battles.
Blades & Battles is a beat ’em up in the same vein as games like Golden Axe. So, expect hordes of enemies, boss fights and a simple combat system that’s easy to learn. But before we take a look at the gameplay, let’s first take a look at the story. Or at least the little bit of it that’s there.
The story in Blades & Battles revolves around King Arthur. In the intro scene, we see King Arthur and his mate Lancelot heading into battle against an evil sorceress who has kidnapped their wizard buddy Merlin. It’s up to Lancelot and King Arthur to save their friend and defeat the evil sorceress. And that’s about it when it comes to the story. No bigger plot, no grand scheme, just plain and simple: “Here’s a bad guy (or girl, in this case), now go kill them.” This is, of course, in line with the games it tries to mimic, but nowadays, I expect a bit more, as the story feels rather bare-bones.
As for the gameplay, Blades & Battles lets you fight waves of enemies that enter the screen from either side. These range from simple soldiers to magic-wielding sorcerers and giant monsters. To advance, each and every one of them has to be slain, which can be done using simple combos or ‘magical desperation attacks’. These act as ultimate attacks that consume all your mana at once. Sounds easy, right?
Well, that depends on the difficulty setting you choose. The game offers three modes: Easy, Normal and Hard. I found Easy to be a walk in the park, while Hard was a tough nut to crack. And not just because of the stronger enemies, but also because of the sluggish and sometimes unresponsive controls. More than once, the game simply wouldn’t react quickly enough to my inputs, leading to unnecessary damage or even the occasional untimely death. That gets pretty frustrating, especially on the higher difficulty setting.
If you were hoping to learn new skills along the way, you’ll be disappointed. Although defeated enemies drop money, giving you the impression that you’ll be able to spend it on upgrades, it only serves to increase your leaderboard score. There is no leveling system or way to learn new moves. So, throughout your entire run, you’re stuck with the same moves, which become quite repetitive after a while.
When you first start the game, one of the first things that catches your eye is the color palette and graphical style used by the developer. There is an option to switch between a 16-bit pixel art style and a more modern 3D look. Whichever style you choose, the game has a very dark appearance, and most characters consist of huge blocks of color without much detail. Some of the levels are simply too dark for my taste, and overall, I found them rather boring to look at.
The sound isn’t much better and quickly becomes repetitive. The same clunks and clanks can be heard over and over again, while the soundtrack itself is largely forgettable.
If you enjoy games like Golden Axe and want to try just about everything the genre has to offer, Blades & Battles might provide a few hours of entertainment. However, the game is simply too mediocre to recommend at full price. If you still want to give it a shot, I'd suggest waiting for a sale.
