Brawler fans rejoice! Smash Legends, from publisher LINE Games and developer 5minlab, is limbering up to step into the ring, and it looks like a fantastic casual twist on the genre. Right off the bat we love the game’s cartoony …
Brawler fans rejoice! Smash Legends, from publisher LINE Games and developer 5minlab, is limbering up to step into the ring, and it looks like a fantastic casual twist on the genre.
Right off the bat we love the game’s cartoony aesthetic and its diverse array of colorful characters. The whole thing has a fairytale-inspired look, and takes place in the intriguing-sounding Library World – a realm beyond the clouds where stories gather.
Various story characters pass through Library World on their way to new adventures, but conflicts and disputes have prevented this literary wellspring from creating new stories. The only solution is to channel the violence into matches with rules, allowing order to return.
So, you’re fighting for the future of storytelling. No pressure.
Smash Legends takes its cues from a range of awesome PvP games. The core gameplay sees you trying to knock your competitors out of an arena ring in frantic three-minute battles, viewing the fighty action from a novel top-down perspective.
To join one of these battles, you just need to log-in and head to the lobby. The game’s matchmaking system will do the rest, throwing you into the arena with evenly matched opponents and letting you duke it out for glory.
Smash Legends supports cross-play, too, so you could find yourself facing off against a PC-playing rival. The UI has been designed to suit each platform, but no matter what device you’re playing on the controls are super-simple and streamlined.
This means that touchscreen input is every bit as effective as keyboard and mouse. It also means you’ll be in with a fighting chance even if you’re an absolute beginner.
Success in Smash Legends is all about managing your HP. The lower it goes, the higher your chances of being evicted from the arena. But don’t worry – you can return to the fray once you’ve been thrown out, depending on your ringed-out distance.
There are six different modes to choose from. Duel is a straightforward 1v1 mode where you take on a single opponent in a best-of-five-rounds match. Dominion, meanwhile, is a 3v3 mode in which you have to take and protect capture points for as long as you can.
Then there’s Team Deathmatch, a simple 3v3 race to rack up ten kills, and FFA Battle Royale, an eight-player free for all where the last player standing wins.
Crown Guard is another 3v3 mode. The goal in this one is to kill the other team’s leader three times, while the four-player Harvest mode sees you harvesting fruits by destroying mandrakes. Much more wholesome.
There are eight playable characters – or Legends – in Smash Legends, including novel twists on well known fairy-tale characters. They each come with their own unique backstory, as well as their own strengths and weaknesses in battle.
Once you’ve added one of these Legends to your roster you’ll be able to strengthen and customize them, too, ensuring that everybody has their own personalized squad to play with
Smash Legends is a hugely promising prospect, and we can’t wait to get our hands on it when it launches in the first half of this year on the App Store, the Google Play Store, and Steam.
